Keep Cool Colours, Borage and Pimms

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Design with Cool Colours in the Garden
This colour series hopefully has made you use the colour wheel because it is the gardener’s best friend when it comes to creating a pleasing garden palette.
It's based on the three primary colours -- red, yellow, and blue.
A full colour wheel looks like a rainbow, with red and orange next to yellow, followed by green, blue, purple, and violet.

Cool Perennials photo M Cannon

We know that warm colours are red through chartreuse while cool colours are green through violet.
Let’s find out about using the cool colours this time. Talking with English Garden Designer, Lesley Simpson.


I hope that’s inspired you to try several different combinations of cool colours:
how about blue, pink and white, you can’t go wrong with that combination, or silver, white and blue for a supercool combination?

Cool Colours in Garden Design photo M Cannon

Then there’s the romantic touch with soft purples, blues, pinks and whites. They would look good around a bird bath, garden seat or other ornament you might have in the garden.
If you have any questions about choosing cool colours in the garden or have some information you’d like to share, why not email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

This weeks Vegetable Hero is Borage or Borago officinalis.I thought I would add this to the Heroes segment because I was asked last weekend why on earth I was growing it???
I have some growing in my veggie bed you see as well as around my roses.
Borago officinalis is a native of Northern Europe (Aleppo) and it is now naturalized in most part of Europe and in the temperate region of North America. It has been grown in kitchen garden for its herbal and culinary properties and for honey from its flowers.
Did you know that Borage was used by the Ancient Greeks and the Romans?
They believed that the herb was a source of courage and comfort.
It was usually steeped in wine or brandy and given to travellers before a long journey or to soldiers before battle.

Borage photo M Cannon

In medieval times borage tea was given to competitors in jousting tournaments as a morale booster and again as a source of courage. "Always borage brings courage", was a popular rhyme of the day.
Borage is an easy growing annual plant with vivid blue flowers and leaves with the flavour of cucumbers. It is considered a herb, but is I have ig growing in my vegetable gardener and I’m not the lone ranger on this one.
Did you know that Borage is in fact considered a good companion plant for tomatoes, squash and strawberries?
It’s even supposed to deter tomato bugs and improve the flavour of tomatoes growing nearby.
Easy to grow. Borage has a cucumber aroma and is great added to salads - it can be used like spinach as a vegetable or added to spinach and cabbage.
TIP:
 It's also slightly salty in flavour so if you're on a salt reduced diet you need to grow this plant.
The fresh blue flowers can be added to salads, candied and used as cake decorations or dried and put in a pot pourri.
When to Grow Borage
It’s very quick growing. If you put in some seeds today, you would have Borage in 8-10 weeks before harvest.
Use leaves before flowers appear, otherwise they will be 'hairy'. .
To sow seed in the garden, this is what you have to do.
Borage likes a sunny spot with well drained fertile soil.

Borago officinalis photo M Cannon

The warmer months are best when soil temperatures are between 10°C and 25°C. (Show °F/in)
Here’s a tip-Borage grows best if direct seeded. 
Where to Grow
Barely cover the seeds with soil and keep well watered. They are tolerant of any type soil, even poor dry soil.
Space plants 20 cm apart as they grow quite big and you might want to stake them because they flop over quite a bit in windy weather.
Borage is a tall annual plant, attractive but rather gangly plant, often grown in flowerbeds as well. Borage has vivid blue star-shaped flowers. Will grow almost anywhere but prefers well-drained soil
Borage dies down in the winter in colder areas but mine has been going most of the winter. Although it’s only been flowering when spring started.. It self seeds quite vigorously and spreads around the garden. Luckily, it is so attractive that it adds to the general design. So if it’s not growing in the right place, transplant it or give it away
Can be transplanted when young but older plants don’t move well. The root system is quite weak at the early stage and no problem to pull out
Culinary hints - cooking and eating Borage
Has a slight cucumber taste which goes well in salads and when cooked with silver beet or cabbage and cauliflower.
The flowers make a pretty drink decoration when frozen in an ice-block.
Use the cucumber-tasting leaves fresh in drinks.
Older leaves will get prickly, making harvesting anything on the plant a bit unpleasant because they're slightly prickly to touch.
The young leaves and flowers do add a bit of flavour and a great deal of colour to salads, soups, dips & spreads, open face sandwiches. Chopped leaves of borage are added to soups just after you’ve taken it off the heat. Because boiling, frying and simmering loses the borage fragrance quickly.
As with all edible flowers, use only a little until you know how they effect you. Borage is reputed to be a gentle laxative.
I quite like blue borage flowers in my lemonade.
Summer cocktails and other drinks are also garnished traditionally with leaves and flowers. The English like Borage flowers in their Pimms!
In Germany, sauces prepared from herbs are very popular in summer. Green sauce is made in Frankfurt and its ancient formula contains seven herbs - parsley, chervil, chives, cress, sorrel, burnet and borage.
Lemon balm is a popular extra herb.
Why Is It Good For You?
Well apart from uplifting the spirits, Naturopaths have used Borage for colds, Menopause symptoms and inflammations to name a few.
One cup of Borage-either leaves or flowers has lots of Vitamin A , B1,2,3,6and B9, large amounts of vitamin C and about 15 other nutrients that include protein iron and calcium.

Borage is open pollinated and it is very easy to collect and save the seed from flowers allowed to remain on the plant and turn brown.
The blue flowers are very attractive and this plant can easily find a place in the flower border as well as the herb garden
Apart from anything else, you’ll never find Borage leaves or flowers for sale in the shops
So grow some yourself today.
If you haven’t room to grow Borage, try getting some Borage oil capsules, 

AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO FOR TODAY?

THE GOOD EARTH

An alternative to compost bins and worm farms.


Greg Hales with his Composting Cannon

You probably have heard that worm farms are great for the garden, but there is a bit of work involved with changing the layers and keeping the worms cool during warm weather.
Then there’s the compost bin.
How many of us have a compost bin in the corner of the yard but never bother to turn the compost or actually put it on the garden?
Seems like a hassle, and who has the time?
Here’s an alternative. Let’s find out about a portable worm farm. I'm talking with Greg Hales.

The other alternative is to dig holes in the garden, but in some scraps and then cover it up doesn’t seem that great.
By composting directly into your garden bed or pot, the composting cannont delivers nutrition and worms right where your plants need it.
Saves you the trouble of getting it out of your worm farm doesn’t it?
If you have any questions about composting cannons, why not write in with your question or ask for a fact sheet. Greg's website www.compostingcannon.com.au

PLANT OF THE WEEK

GYMEA LILY Doryanthes excelsa

Plant of the week this week has a few common names.
Common names are often confusing especially if plants have different names in different states.

Doryanthes is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Doryanthaceae. The genus consists of two species, D. excelsa and D. palmeri, both native to the coast of Eastern Australia.

But there’s no mistaking this plant once you see it, you’ll remember it no matter what name you choose to call it.
Let’s find out some more…I'm talking with Landscape Designer Jason Cornish

Doryanthes or even Dory’s is probably just as easy to remember as Gymea Lily.
Plants do best in deep soil and grows as a large clump with numerous sword-like fibrous leaves, to 1 m in length and up to 100 mm wide.  
Plants grow in a rosette form, only flowering after more than 7-10 years.
The red, trumpet-like flowers each 100 mm across are held on a compact terminal head on a leafy flowering stem 2-4 m high. For this reason, and because they are surrounded by brown bracts, the flowers aren't that easily seen from the ground.
Did you know that honeyeaters love the nectar of the large flowers?
Besides that, Aboriginal people (in the Lake Macquarie district of NSW) used to roast the stems, after chopping the stem off when it was about 40cm high and as thick as a person's arm?
They also roasted the roots which they made into a sort of cake to be eaten cold.
If you have any questions about Doryanthes, why not write in to realworldgardener@gmail.com

 



Wrens, Garlands and Autumn

REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney, streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network. www.realworldgardener.com
Real World Gardener is funded by the Community Broadcasting Foundation
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The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/
Just click on 2RRR to find this week's edition.
The new theme is sung by Harry Hughes from his album Songs of the Garden. You can hear samples of the album from the website www.songsofthegarden.com

WILDLIFE IN FOCUS

with ecologist Sue Stevens
Are you like many people from all over Australia when visiting botanic gardens, like to know what birds they can find there?
Pictures are one thing, but sometimes little birds, are quite cryptic.
You might hear their song, but spotting them is another matter.
It helps to know a few different calls in case you can’t at first spot the bird and RWG has been describing and playing the calls of different birds for over three years.
Listen to this…..

• Just remember if you come across a habitat pocket, that is, an area of vegetation which is being used by small birds, it should be protected - even if it is 100% weeds.
• It needs to be protected until alternative native plant habitat has been created and has been seen to be in use by the small birds for at least an entire year, including a breeding season.
• Perhaps call the bushcare officer at your local council if your concerned.

If you have any questions about the white Browed Scrub Wren, why not drop us a line to. realworldgardener@gmail.com

VEGETABLE HEROES

This vegetable hero has never featured before, because it’s a bit of an unknown.
Chrysanthemum coronarium is the latin name for chrysanthemum greens.
Chrysanthemum is also known as edible chrysanthemeum or Garland Chrysanthemum.
What is it?

It’s an annual leaf vegetable that is used when young in Asian cuisine.

• The flowers can also be seeped to make tea, in fact in Asian supermarkets you can buy the dried Chrysanthemum flowers in the tea section and make your own tea.
• I’ve tried it, it’s quite a pleasant tasting tea.

Did you know that the chrysanthemum holds significant importance in Japanese culture?
Yes, apparently the chrysanthemum is seen as a symbol of long life and royalty.
The image of the chrysanthemum flower is used as Japan’s Imperial Seal. In fact, the highest order in Japan known as, the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, and it’s the most distinguished honour a citizen of the county can receive.
Ever heard of National Chrysanthemum day at the Festival of Happiness? This is celebrated in Japan in autumn.
Chrysanthemum coronarium, is native to the Mediterranean and East Asia.
There’s also a variety growing in Crete where the species is called mantilida.
It’s also used in China where it’s called choy suey which became know as ”chop suey” by westerners.
Did you know that chop suey roughly translates into boiled leftovers?
Garland Chrysanthemum has a slightly mustardy flavour and a crispy texture, and an important ingredient in Chinese hot pot, Taiwanese oyster omelets and chop suey.
They can be stir-fried, parboiled, steamed and sautéed. Use raw or slightly wilted in salad preparations in lieu of dandelion greens, endive and kale.
In Korean, Cantonese and Japanese cuisines it’s often used to flavour soups, stews, hot pots (such as sukiyaki and nabeomono), stir-fries and casserole dishes. But the Japanese like this green the best.
Types of Chrysanthemum Greens.
There are a couple of types of Chrysanthemum greens, and the difference between them is the leaf-type.

So what do they look like?
The more deeply lobed, almost divided-leaf varieties are closer to the wild species, and tend to be easier to grow, but are strongly-flavoured. 
The broad-leaf varieties will be more work to grow (though really not difficult) and give you more succulent, delicious greens.
There’s also many “intermediate” varieties between these two groups that aim for highly producing, but still delicious foliage.
Occasionally you will find these delicious greens in Asian or maybe at the nurseries but even if you did, the choice of varieties would be low.
If you want to try these Chrysanthemum greens you need to buy the seeds and grow them yourself.
They’re actually available as seeds from major seed suppliers in Australia.
www.succeedheirlooms.com.au
www.greenharvest.com.au as Shungiku
www.mrfothergills.com.au as Microgreens
Growing from seed.
The best times of the year to grow Chrysanthemum greens in cool temperate and temperate districts in Australia is Spring through to Autumn.
Plants aren’t frost tolerant but can be grown in spring and autumn in arid zones.
In sub-tropical areas late autumn, winter and spring is better, and in tropical districts, wait until the dry season.
In warmer districts, or if planting in warmer months, once the heat starts to kick in you can’t keep plants from bolting.
Chrysanthemum greens are a quick crop, and sowing them every couple of weeks will give you a continuous fresh crop.
You can start off in small pots if you like, because do transplant much better than many greens.
Otherwise direct-seed them and thin after germination.
Chrysanthemum greens are great for balcony and patio gardens.
1 or 2 plants grown to maturity will give two people a regular supply of greens.
They are best grown in full sun though they can take a little shade.
Shaded plants tend to get elongated and thin-looking and don’t last as long into the warm season.
They also tend to have problems with insects.
These greens aren’t picky about soil, though the more rich the soil, the more bushy, succulent and happy the plants look.

•  Water plants regularly, and feed occasionally with any balanced fertilizer like fish emulsion or kelp.
• Compost or worm tea is a must for leafy greens as it is to almost any crop. Pinch off flowers when you see them develop.
• Space out plants about 7-10 cm apart (depending on variety) if you want each plant to reach its full height which is around 10cm.
• However, if you plant very close together, you can harvest as young greens by sheering off tops. This can be done successfully a few times but will need to be replanted after a few sheers (if you want to maintain good quality).
• You Chrysanthemum greens should be ready in a little over 4 weeks!

What do they taste like and what do you do with Chrysanthemum greens?

• Greens can be eaten fresh or stir-fried.
• The taste is unique:, they have a nutty and slightly perfumey flavour.

HINT: When you cook them, cook them very lightly.
They can tend to become more bitter if overcooked, and their delicate flavour lost.
They can be quickly blanched or steamed but again, just slightly to retain their unique flavour.
Don’t forget the flowers are edible too.
ry floating a bunch on top of a winter stew, as a garnish. Very pretty.
Tip: Most often you see the divided leaf varieties, which are still delicious will last in the fridge moderately well.
You can propagate the tips by putting them in water and letting them grow roots.
Why is it good for you?
Chrysanthemum leaves are a nutritious green rich in fibre, Vitamins A and C, calcium and flavonoids.
The leaves are particularly high in potassium, having more potassium than even bananas.

AND THAT WAS OUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY! 

DESIGN ELEMENTS

with landscape designer Louise McDaid

The design series ‘green gardens started a couple of weeks ago, is about mainly using foliage in the design of your garden.

If you find flowers unrelieable or too short term in your garden, creating a garden that is constructed with different types, shapes and texture of foliage is a great way to provide year round interest.



You’ll never have to say, summer is boring because that’s when my garden hasn’t got much on show. Or whatever season you find that your garden’s lacking interest.
Today, landscape designer Louise, looks at autumn coloured foliage and how it fits into the green theme.
Let’s find out what this is all about.

Whether you live in a cool climate and have the luxury of trees changing colour in autumn, or in a warmer temperate or tropical climate.
The colours of autumn can either be used year round-that’s the yellows, golds, deep reds and burgundy colours, or by just using the turning foliage of deciduous trees.
Like an artists’ pallet, you can create your own tapestry of colour in the autumn garden.
It’ s only limited by your imagination.

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Doryanthes excelsa

Plant of the week this week has a few common names.
Common names are often confusing especially if plants have different names in different states.
Also called Giant Lily, Flame Lily, Spear Lily, Illawarra lily, Gymea Lily.
But there’s no mistaking this plant once you see it, you’ll remember it no matter what name you choose to call it.

Doryanthes is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Doryanthaceae.

Of this genus there are only two species, D. excelsa and D. palmeri, both native to the coast of Eastern Australia.

Each plant grows from a thickened under­ground stem which is gradually pulled deeper and deeper into the ground by the roots con­tracting during periods of dry weather.
The leaves are up to 1m long and form a rosette which gradually expands as it matures.

The red-maroon flowers rise up out of the rosette around 2-3m high.

Best view from an upper storey window or from a distance.

The flower petals are amazingly thick, leather and quite chunky.

 

Flowering occurs from Spring to early Summer in temperate districts and from October to November in cool temperate climates such as Canberra.

The fruit is a woody capsule which splits open on ripening in Janu­ary or February from which brown, flattened and slightly winged seeds fly out.

Propagation is by division of established plants or from seed.

Seed will germinate readily within 2 months if only a year or two old and is best sown in autumn. However, plants grown from seed will not flower until about 8 years of age.

 Although the foliage is resistant to frost damage, the developing flowerbuds need protection in areas of heavy frost such as a hessian frame as used in the Australia National Botanic gardens.

The genus Doryanthes was first described in 1802 by the Portuguese priest, statesman, philosopher and botanist José Francisco Corrêa da Serra (1751–1823), a close friend of Joseph Banks.

Doryanthes or even Dory’s is probably just as easy to remember as Gymea Lily.
Did you know that honeyeaters love the nectar of the large flowers?
Besides that, Aboriginal people (in the Lake Macquarie district of NSW) used to  roast the stems, after chopping the stem off when it was about 40cm high and as thick as a person's arm?
They also roasted the roots which they made into a sort of cake to be eaten cold.