Cayenne Pepper

Capsicum annum, Cayenne Pepper

This is another of my chillies which is just starting to change from green to red. The cayenne variety is long and thin with a slight hook at the tip and is quite an ancient cultivar dating from pre-Columbian times and first referred to in 1542 in French Guiana. It is hot and suitable for drying by threading on a string and hanging in an airy place. When crushed and powdered, just a pinch of the resulting cayenne pepper will add plenty of heat to a special dish.
Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana has a tropical monsoon climate with little variation in temperature. The Botanic Gardens which is situated at the end of Avenue Charles de Gaulle was established in 1879.

Jardin Botanique en centre ville de Cayenne
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Cayenne Coat of Arms

Dymondia margaretae, Silver Carpet

Dymondia margaretae, Silver Carpet

I have just been reading about this plant on xericworld.com and its use as a ground cover/ lawn /erosion control plant in the southern Californian landscape scene. It is a ground hugging plant native to the shifting sand dunes of coastal South Africa and is sometimes given the name of mini Gazania as it produces tiny yellow daisy like flowers in spring and summer. It grows by sending down a tap root every few cm when soil is present. This means it will not grow over garden edging and is most suitable to use around flag stones or in gaps between paving in the way Mondo Grass has been used. During dry spells, the leaves curl upwards and show their silver underside which can be very attractive as well. One other use mentioned for it which I thought was interesting is as a an "understory" with Bonsai.
I have seen Dymondia used in some commercial landscape projects so I might just have to add it to my propagation list for this year.

Sturt's Desert Pea

Swainsonia formosa, Sturt's Desert Pea

Over this summer there has been some good rain over the central and outback parts of the country. The most dramatic pictures of this rare event were those of the waterfalls cascading down the sides of Uluru (Ayer's Rock). All this rain can only mean one thing ,a great year for desert wildflowers. My favourite central Australian plant is the Sturt's Desert Pea, a plant which many coastal gardeners try to grow without much success. It has adapted to desert conditions by developing a long taproot which goes a long way underground in search of water.This makes it difficult to keep very long in a pot and be sold in nurseries. Very occasionally grafted specimens become available but the coastal humidity can make these very short lived.
Recently at a craft show, I saw it used as a decorative motif on a cloth applique work.This is pictured below.

Sturt's Desert Pea is also the floral emblem of South Australia.The botanical painting below is by Alison Ashby, who devoted her life to preserving as well as illustrating the wildflowers of her home State. Some 1400 of her flower painting are in the collection of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

Sturt's Desert Pea by Alison Ashby

Miss Alison Ashby (1901-1987)
Awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion in 1975

A Collarette Dahlia

It is coming around to the peak flowering time of Dahlias and I really like the simplicity of the Collarette varieties. I saw this one at a show a couple of weeks ago and I like the way the pink colour of the outer petals looks like it has been applied with a watercolour paint brush. The technical term for the outer petals is "ray florets" and the inner row are "petaloids" which are usually less than half the length of the rays. The whole flower appears flat with the ray petals having a rounded tip. Collarettes grow to about a metre high and can be used in mixed flower borders or in the vegetable garden. You could get away without staking them as well.

Bleeding Heart Vine,Clerodendrum thomsoniae

Clerodendrum thomsoniae, Bleeding Heart Vine.

Though tropical in origin,( it's from West Africa), the bleeding heart vine can be grown across a range of climates and is even hardy enough to flourish as an indoor plant in cold climates. Like many tropical plants from Africa it has adapted to keep on growing through drought conditions without sustaining a lack of vigor. It is not a particularly rampant climber in warm temperate climates and makes an ideal pot plant when treated as a shrub by shearing off the climbing tendrils as it grows. It will also flower in the shade hence its popularity as a verandah plant in bright light with no sun. The floral display over summer is impressive and lasts for several months. Each crimson flower is subtended by a white bract which contrasts well with the very dark green heart shaped leaves. If growing it in a pot it responds well to liquid fertilizer in summer but is best kept on the dry side during winter. Specimens grown indoors or under cover are susceptible to scale and mealy bug, and, as always, the attendant ants are a dead giveaway that these bugs are present. Cuttings of firm young wood strike easily at this time of year.

Catnep/menta de gato

Nepeta cataria, Catnep

Before tea arrived in Europe from India and China, the brew of choice was made from this plant. Today it is mainly grown by cat lovers who like to give their pets the opportunity to enjoy a wide a diet as possible while providing some additional stimulation from the chemicals contained in the plant leaves.There is nothing like a contented pet in the household. Though this short lived perennial is not a particularly attractive plant it does bring many beneficial insects to the garden warranting its inclusion on the fringes of say a vegetable garden. Butterflies and bumble bees love the flowers during the heady days of high summer. I like the big blue striped bumble bees which make such a lot of noise as they forage around amongst the flowers...sadly not a common sight these days.The plant does produce a large quantity of seed which will come up in all sorts of unexpected places but these are fairly easily removed. Leaves can be dried if you like to make those muslin filled bags for cats who like to play football as one of their leisure activities.

Sammy, who likes schmoozing and listening to old records by Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks

Die Echte Katzenminze
Deutschlands Flora in Abbildugen
Jacob Sturm, 1796

Acalyphas again

A garden in North Queensland mid 20th Century

I found this photo taken probably 50 years ago when the colourful shrub Acalypha was all the rage. Bernie from berniesgarden.blogspot.com made an interesting comment when I posted a couple of photos of new varieties I had bought. He said the Nurseries where not stocking them as much anymore and they were becoming hard to get. I think they are regarded as old fashioned but I am still hoping for a revival of interest in these hardy and colourful shrubs. The big wholesale Nursery, Redlands Nursery in Brisbane have released a range of them for anyone interested. They sell to retail outlets in Queensland and New South Wales.