Tasks for May
Autumn camellias
Sasanqua camellias begin flowering in early autumn and continue into winter. The leaves are glossy dark green and a foil for the dainty flowers with their fluted or ruffled white, pink or red satiny petals surrounding golden stamens.
Their growth habit is neat and attractive and their variation in form makes them suitable for growing in many parts of the garden – tall for boundary plantings, as specimen shrubs in the landscape, as slender columns to frame doorways and steps, and as rounded plants for screening. The foliage can be clipped and controlled in a townhouse garden and there are compact varieties for containers.
Season of plenty
The generosity of autumn can be seen in the fallen leaves, a wonderful gift to gardeners that can be used in different ways: • Spread as a mulch around shrubs and trees. The leaves will eventually decompose and enrich the soil. Mulching also helps retain warmth and moisture in the soil and prevents weed seeds from germinating. Make sure you don’t pile the mulch up against the stems and trunks as this may cause the plant to rot and die. • Added to the compost heap. Add alternate layers of brown (dry) and green (wet) material: two-thirds brown to one-third green. • Converted into leaf mould. This is a slow process that can take a year or more, but it’s well worth it. Collect leaves, moisten them so they will rot more quickly and place in a black plastic bag that has a few holes made with a fork and the top tied loosely. Store in a secluded part of the garden. When it is black, crumbly and sweet-smelling, it is ready to use as a mulch or as a compost for sowing seed.
Spring tapestries
Plant a spring quilt of vivid colours with bulbs of deep blue grape hyacinth (Muscari ), purple and red anemone, lavender Freesia, velvet-textured Sparaxis and violet Ixia.
Sow a bright patch of orange Namaqualand daisy with dainty blue flax (Heliophila coronopifolia) for an attractive indigenous spring display. Sow seed thinly so that each plant can grow without competition from its neighbours, in full sun and in ordinary garden soil.
Soft misty colours of amethyst and opal blend easily into the floral landscape. Combine rose-pink alyssum and pansy or mauve viola and catmint with the silvery-grey foliage of santolina and lamb’s ear (Stachys). Where more height is needed, grow ‘Foxy’ foxglove, pink and mauve snapdragon, scabious and larkspur with the occasional splash of purple heliotrope.