LOVELY LEWISIAS
When I was at the garden centre in search of winter colour I didn’t just buy pansies and lavender — I added to my collection of lewisias (Lewisia cotyledon).
These very pretty plants are a type of succulent that grows to around 15-30cm high and about 20cm wide.
These plants do well in Tasmania’s generally cool conditions as they come from elevated regions in the US. Lewisia cotyledon is native to the west of the United States and is found along the border between California and Oregon.
Each plant forms a rosette of leaves and sends up stems topped with clusters of small, starry flowers in tones of apricot, pink or white. There are lots of variations in flower colour, however, including stripes. There are also double flowered varieties.
These plants are definitely best grown in shallow containers with good quality freedraining potting mix as they need very welldrained conditions.
Overwatering or wet soil leads to root rot, but when they are in the ideal pot, they simply flower and flower. Their peak flowering is from winter to spring, but often the plants are in constant flower. To keep them in bloom, simply remove the spent stems and water when the soil is beginning to dry out.
Quiz answers: 1. Dublin 2. Charles Dickens 3. Denmark 4. Diamonds 5. Offspring 6. Black, red, gold 7. New South Wales 8. Bass 9. True 10. Peter Weir 11. Peace 12. Australia 13. Kurt Fearnley 14. Steven Spielberg 15. Turkey 16. 20th century 17. Go 18. Potassium, krypton 19. Maui 20. Tom Selleck 21. False 22. John Landy 23. Veal 24. Sulawesi 25. Sydney 26. Steven Richards 27. Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi 28. Geography 29. Hilary Mantel 30. 1996
Target word answers: meow, morrow, mower, serow, smew, sorrow, sower, swim, swore, weir, wire, wirer, wise, wiser, wooer, wore, worm, wormer, wormier, WORRISOME, worse, wrier.