Thursday, February 4, 2016

MY FAVOURITE GARDEN FLOWERS

I must begin this with wallflowers which was a flower my dad often grew in his garden.  Perhaps it reminded him of home as I believe they are grown quite prolifically in England.  They are certainly very beautiful.


Erysimum is a genus of flowering plants in the botanical family Brassicaceae (that must mean they are related to cabbages etc  Now that is interesting).  They are native to southwest Asia, the Mediterranean, Eutope. Africa, Micronesia and North America through Costa Rica.  Many are endemic to small areas.  Apparently wallflowers come in many colours but those that dad grew always seemed to be yellow or orange.

Wisteria also comes to mind although I've not grown it nor do I think I've ever seen it grown.  Have seen lots of wisteria on film and have always though how beautiful it is. It is a genus of flowering plant in the pea family that includes ten species of woody climbing plants native to the Eastern United States and to China, Korea and Japan.  Isn't this picture from Wikipedia beautiful.


I am sure there must be others but these are the only two I am aware of.  If you know of other "W" flowers I would be interested to hear about them.

(thinking to self....I wonder if wisteria would grow in Perth?)

15 comments:

  1. Most of our wallflowers are purple. Beautiful things - though they have triffid tendencies and happily take over the garden.

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    1. I think those dad planted were the real old-fashioned wallflowers as they were definitely all orange or yellow.
      That was of course over 60 years ago and I imagine there have been many improvements (or not) to wallflowers over the intervening years.
      You didn't mention wisteria and I am wondering if it grows well in Canberra.

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  2. It does. Beautifully. There is wisteria at Old Parliament House. And we had one, but an insect pest killed it.

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    1. Will have to think about it although not sure how many more years we'll be here at this house.

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  3. I think wisteria will grow in Perth, you have a similar climate to us here in Adelaide and wisteria is quite common here. When I lived in Holsworthy Army Base, our front porch had a beautiful wisteria covering the western side, so we put our old two-seater couches out there with the old coffee table and had an 'outdoor room'.

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    1. It's so strange that I don't remember ever seeing it growing here. Over the years I've always checked out gardens when driving past (as a passenger of course and not driving myself) and it just does not ring a bell. I may have seen in our deep southwest where it is much cooler than Perth.

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  4. You do need to be careful and not disturb the roots though otherwise it will send out suckers for miles and years.

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    1. Obviously it has bad habits as do so many introduced plants. Thanks.

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  5. While I love Wisteria, is that the climbing vine that can choke and strangle trees?...:)JP

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    1. Thanks for the warning JP. It's such a pity that many plants that are popular have bad habits.

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  6. Hari OM
    Both lovely - and according to Burke's B.Y., wisteria is fine over your way... It can become invasive if not 'held back' though. I adore it and it's perfume. Another W is weigela; a pretty shrub when it flowers in spring, but with interesting foliage for the rest of the year too... YAM xx

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    1. I had intended to check it out but with all the warnings about it being rampant I may have second thoughts. We already have two so-called miniature bougainvilleas that have taken off in the back garden. I wasn't aware of weigela and when I looked it up it is definitely a plant I've not seen but is very pretty. Thanks for your interest. xx

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  7. There are newer developed varieties of Wisteria that don't 'sucker', so ask around at your nurseries, you may find one suitable and they are beautiful when in full bloom. Well worth having one.

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    1. Thanks, I just may do that. There is an old picket fence that could do with covering up.

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