Well summer is well and truly here. This week we have had temperatures soaring up to 40 c and the garden and people are really feeling it. To add to that many including myself have gone back to work. So we look at the gardens in our drought ridden country with their lack of water and cringe a little......well i do. But some of the plants are thriving, and the crepe myrtles are starting to come out.
One type of plant which flowers and grows beautifully in this climate are the Poas, and grassy plants. In my garden I have several, including Lomandra longifolia Tanika
which is seen above hiding between the Iris's and the Crepe Myrtle, also a lovely Australian poa, called Poa Labillardieri ( think that's how you spell it) which is a real keeper and hows beautiful feathery flowers. Its a smokey grey colour and I've planted it in between the Callistemons up the back and they love it there, they told me!! This is what it looks like 
and finally another liovely blue grey grass which has got to be one of my all time favourites, and now i've got a job i'm going to buy a whole lot of it so I can have a mass planting of it out the front of my garden.
Blue fescue, or Festuca glauca. The truth is I absolutely love this stuff. The colour the texture and enmass its just beautiful, and .......
....... at the risk of sounding like a broken record( showing my age there!) its drought proof.
And the beauty of these plants beside the fact they are beautiful, is they grow with very little attention and you can cut them back about once a year and they'll come right back.Remember......all comments are good comments and if you want a Culture sheet about any of these plants let me know and I'll be happy to send it to you.
Hi Serena
ReplyDeleteI'm a recent convert to grasses. I bet that Tussock grass looks well with the inflorences of the Callistemon. Is Poa slow growing?
Rob
Hello Serena .. We actually share some of the same grasses ! .. yes, I can grow some amazing grasses here in Ontario .. and I love them to change the look of the plants from flowers to wow ! .. contrasts are wonderful to have and they do the job !
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures : )
Here the poa isnt a slow grower but am not sure about a cooler climate, having said that they are pretty tough. A great ground cover. Here in my garden the lawn is a dreadful weed and sends runners into the garden, the poas are tough enough to cope with them and hopefully with time.... outdo them. I'll post some pics of the ones in my garden over the weekend.
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