Fresh foliage and flower buds of Acanthus mollis Hollards Gold in late winter

The crazy warm weather in Sydney over the last week has certainly brought the garden alive, with growth seemingly happening before our very eyes. My main preoccupation at this time of year is getting the necessary pruning, weeding, fertilising and mulching done before all this growth really takes off. The job is somewhat daunting, especially this year, when I seem to be rather behind for some reason. I have found that having my garden divided into various 'sections', each with their own eccentric name, breaks the task down into manageable chunks, and gives a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the gardening stint.

Some of the weeds and shrubs for pruning in the corner of the garden

Some of the weeds and shrubs for pruning in the corner of the garden

Though in my younger years, I was able to garden, literally, from dawn to dusk, these days three hours is my physical limit. To quell frantic thoughts such as, 'OMG, how am I going to get all this pruning, weeding etc, done?', I pick one area to be my focus for my gardening session and blot out all thoughts of the rest of the garden. This weekend, one of the half-day's work was on a back corner of the garden that was riddled with weeds and full of shrubs that needed hard pruning. To be frank, it was a complete mess.

Flower heads on Euphorbia characias supsp. wulfenii in the corner

Flower heads on Euphorbia characias supsp. wulfenii in the corner

Concentrating my attention on a corner like this, really seems to make me look properly at what is going on in that spot, rather than rushing off to do the next section in a mad flurry. Yes, we are confronted with the horror, but we also become aware of joys that might have been overlooked in our haste to move on: unexpected self-seeding of desirable plants (hidden beneath the weeds!); the glorious fresh growth on shrubs and perennials, often in luscious lime-green hues; the opening of spring blooms; and the fruition of plant combinations conceived months or even years before.

Euphorbia pulcherrima needs heavy pruning each year

Euphorbia pulcherrima needs heavy pruning each year

The intense, almost meditative focus, especially when pruning, also brings up thoughts as to whether certain plants should ultimately be removed to reduce the giant task of pruning at this time of year. My garden, with its plethora of warm-climate shrubs and shrubby perennials that have to be hacked back each year to keep them shapely, has quite a workload in this regard. This didn't worry me in my salad days, I now am looking at replacing some (definitely not all) of these with shrubs that keep their shape, rather than needing drastic cutting back each year. I recall my mother reaching a similar realisation in her latter gardening years. It is certainly instructive to note how much work certain plants demand of us.

Some of the prunings ready to be put through the mulcher

Some of the prunings ready to be put through the mulcher

The other downside of lots of pruning is the disposing of all the green waste it generates. Ours goes though a big, petrol-driven mulching machine to make compost to use on the garden beds; it is a huge job (not done by me!). I have also been pondering how the pruning regime might be able to be staggered a bit more through the year to spread out the load. I have always done most of my pruning in August/early September, but I plan to experiment with doing a bit more of it in winter next year. I was always scared of late cold snaps killing off new growth, but overall our winter was apparently regarded as 'mild' this year and I will see how I go next year. Certainly, all these thoughts have been swirling around in my head as I have been doing the pruning this year!

Streptosolen jamesonii

Streptosolen jamesonii

Having different garden areas not only helps to break down the work of gardening, but allows scope for different colour themes with the yard. The zone that I have been doing this weekend is devoted to hot-coloured flowers and leaves, and I have noticed there is quite a lot in bloom at the moment. Red, yellow and orange Abutilon are particularly floriferous in late winter and early spring (though their actual flowering time is from March to November), and they are joined by clouds of fiery little floral trumpets of Justicia floribunda (syn. Justicia rizzinii), a lovely yellow perennial wallflower, the marmalade trusses of Streptosolen jamesonii, and banks of orange Clivia in shaded areas. Self-sown seedlings of the vibrant yellow-bloomed annual Calceolaria mexicana are scattered across the soil where dormant Dahlia lie.

Dutch iris in the corner

Dutch iris in the corner

The dramatic lime-green bracts of Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii have opened and are set against the crimson foliage of Iresine herbstii 'Brilliantissima'. The lime-gold fresh foliage of Acanthus mollis 'Hollard's Gold' (pictured at the start of the blog) is a delight, and the buds of its flower spires are starting to peep up amidst the leaves. Just now, the bright blue flowers of Dutch iris, planted so many months ago, after being inspired by them in a friend's garden, are starting to open, providing a wonderful contrast to the yellows, oranges and lime hues of this area. More blue comes from the stars of Ipheion uniflorum, nearby the gold-lime, textured carpet of groundcover Sedum mexicanum and the fountain-like leaves of Carex oshimensis 'Everillo'.

Getting this corner pruned and weeded made it look so much better, and I felt content and ready to tackle the next section tomorrow!