SPRING FLOWERING SHRUBS

When I began the establishment the garden surrounding our home Das Helwig Haus B&B it was made up almost entirely of annuals for the first few years. Annuals are spectacularly colourful, but create an immense amount of work. Ground must be prepared, seedlings grown or purchased and then planted out. In the following months they require nurturing before finally they repay you with a riot of colour and perfume. Although considerably more expensive to establish, trees and shrubs are only planted once and as they grow add structure to gardens. I chose to plant a number of trees and shrubs – some for their foliage and others to give flowers. Underneath the trees or around the shrubs I planted an understory of bulbs or ground covers, only leaving a few areas, like borders for the annual positioning of seedlings.

Spanish bluebells under the Pussy Willow tree.

The Spanish bluebells are the last of my winter into spring flowering bulbs.

My site on a slight slope allowed me to create a low terrace of shrubs immediately above this bed of Spanish bluebells under planted with jonquils. The jonquils have completed their flowering season, but one of three flowering quince bushes is still in bloom.

Flowering quince and jonquils.

It was in 1993 that my husband picked up acorns from under mature English oak trees in a Toowoomba park and suggested I try planting them. The result has been two magnificent trees, positioned outside our garden fence. They are evidence that, “From small acorns large trees grow.” They hold their frost browned leaves until the end of August to be replaced in September with the bright green of spring foliage.

English oaks and Forsythia

In the photo above you see the bed of bluebells, the raised terrace of shrubs under planted with jonquils and across a path the golden Forsythia. It is a native of China, Japan and South Eastern Europe and is widely cultivated for its showy yellow bell-shaped flowers.

Forsythia

That is not to say that I don’t have any flowering annuals to greet the spring. A blue cornflower self-seeded a portion of my garden. I’ve transplanted many of these volunteers into other areas. The ones I allowed to remain undisturbed have now begun to bloom.

Blue cornflowers

On the subject of blue – for many years I’ve been attracted each spring by the sight of a blue flowering shrub, called Blue Pacific – ceanothus, which I have seen blooming each September in Granite Belt gardens. I obtained one last year and planted it in a space amongst conifers, partly because like the conifers it remains evergreen. The label said it was very hardy and rapid growing, reaching a height of 2.5 to 3 metres (7′ to 9′) by 1.5 to 2 metres (5′ to 6′) wide. Regular pruning is recommended after flowering to maintain compactness and prolific flowering.

Small Blue Pacific shrub

It is my expectation that within a few years this blue flowering shrub will have completely filled the space in front of the pink flowering Diosma.

Blue Pacific blooms

Diosma is called Breath of Heaven from the Greek ‘dios’ divine odour because of the fragrance of the leaves when crushed. The Diosma most commonly grown in Australian gardens belong to a genus of four or five evergreen flowering shrubs from South Africa called Coleonema.

In addition to the green foliage plant I have a hedge of golden leaved, pink flowering Diosma.

Diosma hedge

Heath like, these shrubs have very small leaves and flowers with a heather like scent. The lankier varieties may be clipped into shape, but I haven’t yet trimmed this hedge. As our visitors arrive this year when we open our garden for the Australian Open Garden Scheme on 7/8th November, they will enter the garden by walking past this hedge.

Book cover

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.

To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au

Internationally it is available on the Amazon.com website.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=

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