What a magnificent month is that of April! I have a birthday, which usually includes catching up with some family and friends and as of 2023 it will also be the birthday of my 1st grandchild who was born last night! A new era is dawning!
Besides silly things like birthdays, April heralds being able to have a blanket on the bed and a hotty which equals much better sleeps, and even the beginning of fire season which is something I really enjoy in the evenings or on desolate Winter days.
In the garden and around the farm, the Autumn colour is exploding, and we’ve had quite a bit of blessed Autumn rain. We’re still ridiculously low in the water tables, the dams are still stinky puddles and lots of places are still bone dry underneath, but at least the top layers are staying damp and the plants and paddocks are having happiness happening.
The roses are producing stunning Autumn blooms, they are so much more sophisticated at this time of year compared to the brash Spring display. A lot of the once flowerers are having a bit of a second go again, and I’ve noticed the Veilchenblaus on the road frontage have carried on intermittently since December and are now quite covered again! Ours is not to reason why…
Many of the Salvias in our gardens start to come into their own at this time of years too. The Winter flowering ones start about now, and the late Summer ones are still at their finest. They add so much interest to the gardens, especially if there’s a lot of once flowering roses about, whose foliage starts to look pretty tired at this time of year. In general the Salvias have such bold, lush looking foliage and the blooms in a myriad of different colours really star in the fading garden. Blue is probably the colour most associated with Salvais, and they certainly come in every shade of blue imaginable, but besides blue we have white and indeed black (Discolor), red, yellow, orange, purple galore, and many shades of pink. What’s more they come in every shape and size from low ground hugging to small trees. It is indeed a magnificent genera.
April is also prime time for making cuttings, so I’m busy on a daily basis getting as many as I can in pots. I’m also potting up a few newly rooted roses made from Summer cuttings. It is a slightly depressing task making Summer cuttings, but a few successes make it worthwhile to get a few more roses available for sale before the Spring. Whilst the “take” is pretty low, those that do decide to grow do it very quickly compared to cuttings taken in Autumn or Winter.
So onward towards Winter we go, I have some big jobs to achieve this Winter in the garden, so hope the weather Gods are kind to us!