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Canberra Today 15°/18° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Crinkly thrills of colourful petals

WITH the cool summer continuing, except for the odd warm day, the leaves are already turning into their glorious autumnal hues.

There has certainly been mixed success with tomatoes this year lacking the consistent hot weather that they require. I have had numerous calls regarding tomatoes and I will touch on them later in this column.

Autumn-flowering shrubs are certainly flowering earlier this year. Take Lagerstroemia indica or Crepe Myrtle, for example. I used to say these were autumn flowering, but now most varieties were in full bloom at the end of January.

CREPE Myrtles were named by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus after Magnus von Lagerstrom (1691-1759), a Swedish merchant who, in his travels, brought back new plants from around the world to Linnaeus. These delightful plants with the common name due to the crinkly petals were first introduced into England in the 18th century from China and Taiwan by the early plant hunters and then introduced into the US. With modern plant breeding, especially by the National Arboretum in Washington, many new varieties have been introduced. These are a cross between Lagerstroemia indica and L. fauriei.

Many of these new varieties were named after North American Indian tribes and are known as the “Indian Summer” series. Here is a selection now available from your local garden centre:

Lagerstroemia indica “Natchez” is an elegant, vase-shaped tree to 8m tall and a spread of 6m with delightful deep pink flowers.

L. indica “Biloxi”, a smaller-growing small tree or small shrub ideal for the smaller garden or courtyard growing 3mx 3m with lilac flowers.

L. “Sioux” a strong, vase-shaped small tree to 4m x 3m with pink flowers.

If you are into standard roses consider “Acoma”, a pure-white flowering standard crepe myrtle. This will grow higher than standard roses and give a stunning display planted alternatively with the roses.

Growing smaller still and could be grown in a large container is L. “Yuma” to 3m tall and 2-3m spread. Incidentally, these super shrubs have now been planted in Monaro Street, Queanbeyan, in the streets of Penrith and are now being considered for our streets in Canberra.

It used to be the practice to heavily prune Crepe Myrtles in winter, as they flower on the new-season’s wood. Now it is recommended that only a light prune after flowering has finished just to keep a good shape and encourage new wood in spring.

Two other special features are the wonderful colours of the exfoliating bark in winter, which is a feature in itself, especially for floral artists; and then the wonderful autumn colour after flowering.

THE next meeting of the Horticultural Society of Canberra is at the Wesley Church Centre, National Circuit, Forrest, 7.30pm, Monday, February 20. Jim Jackman will be speaking about Australian Furniture Timbers. You do not have to be a member, all are welcome with supper provided.

[box]In the garden this week…

  • Move pots around to face north and the sun. If they stay in one position for too long there will be sparse growth on the south side.
  • Tomatoes split if watered too often or the ground is waterlogged. This can also cause rotting on the bottom of the tomato.
  • Tomatoes showing papery brown patches on the fruit is usually caused by sun scorch.
  • There are more entries on growing tomatoes in the latest “Canberra Gardener” than any other plant. Buy a copy at your local newsagent or bookshop for growing all plants in our local climate.
  • Keep applying Multiguard Snail and Slug pellets to strawberry plants, especially after rain. This is the pet-safe one recommended by Dr. Harry Cooper, the TV vet.[/box]

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Cedric Bryant

Cedric Bryant

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