What's in the Basket

What's in the Basket

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I did a spot of picking for a few small orders this week, accompanied by my cat Tabitha. Tabby has been with us since she was very young, found by a forestry worker in the bush and abandoned by her wild mother.  She has always come picking with me.  Until I had her, I didn't know that cats liked to go for walks with their significant humans!  She frolics around while I pick, and talks to me every now and then.  When I'm finished, I whistle and she comes running to go home.  Just like a dog really ...

In the basket, I have some Pink Ice Protea, a lovely Banksia Occidentalis in deep red, some (hidden) new season Red Gem Leucos which seem to be a bit late this year.  The deep pinky red at the top are a plant I've only added in the last 18 mths.  They are a lovely variegated form of Leuco called Jester - rich pinky red with a central green stripe. This is the first time I've picked them to use, and while there's not enough for a commercial crop yet, they are lovely to use in small bouquet orders.  There are also some fabulous stems of eucalyptus foliage.  I'm not sure of the variety but they are a type of peppermint I think - they certainly have a similar growth habit.  The leaves are covered with that lovely greyish blue bloom that some eucalypts have, and they smell fabulous. The insects haven't found them either so they are lovely and clean.  Fun to use in a bunch adding colour and texture.  You can also see some short stems of Brunia Albiflora I've picked in readiness for a wedding this week.  They are smaller flower heads and will be great in the table arrangements in short pots.  

What's in the Basket?

What's in the Basket?

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We've been at Swallows Nest Farm for 4 years, and not long after we arrived, I found a basket at a local op shop which said "BUY ME"!  It has become my constant companion on the farm.  I use it for everything from planting to pruning to picking and even delivering bunches.  When we are picking large wholesale quantities collecting into a trailer attached to a small tractor, I always have my trusty basket to take the flowers to the tractor.  

Boronia Heterophylla, Leucadendron Lemon Spice, Grampians Thryptomene, Berzelia Button Bush

Every now and again, I look down at the basket and admire its contents.  Then, I'll whip out the iphone and snap off a photo. 

Isopogon Formosa Pink Cone Flower, Red Gem Leucadendron, Berzelia Button Bush

I have quite a collection of these basket photos now, and have decided to start a regular (or irregular!) post on the blog called "What's in the Basket?"  This will be the first of many so you get a kind of overview - a Year in a Basket!

Leucadendrons Maui Sunset, Safari Sunset, Inca Gold, Tall Red, Safari Gold Strike and Protea Neriifolia 

The basket is quite large but sometimes it gets overloaded - the flowers in the photo above make it look so small!

Grampians Thryptomene, Richea Dracophylla, Berzelia Button Bush, Telopea Speciosissima Waratah

Retail bunches ready for delivery to a local shop.

I'm looking forward to sharing what's in my basket. I hope you enjoy taking a peek!

More Waratahs

More Waratahs

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Spring is definitely upon us here in Southern Tasmania.  There are beautiful warm days with glorious blue skies, followed by bitterly cold days with snow and hail, and ferocious winds.  The grass is thickening and lush green, and there is a smell in the air that promises summer.  

At Swallows Nest farm, the flower thats getting the most attention is still the Waratah.  We have a few  varieties - there are the large early flowering ones, and then the later pinkish ones.  We have some late flowering rich reds and some wonderful Wirrimbirra White.  They flower from September through to October and into November when the Tasmanian Waratah, Telopea Truncata, starts to flower.  

I came across the following picture on the internet recently and thought it was a wonderful use of a pink waratah.  I certainly hadn't seen them in a bouquet like this before.  Our white waratahs are popular for wedding bouquets, but these look fabulous and striking too.  Great idea.

Of course, as the rest of our waratahs begin to pop, I will be putting up pictures of them.  The differences in varieties can be quite amazing. 

The other news is that I'm planning a small giveaway! Stay tuned - details will follow ...

Tall Red

Tall Red

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August is the month that heralds the beginning of spring colour among the Leucadendrons here at Swallows Nest Farm.  This lovely leuco is called Tall Red - an uninspired name for such a wonderful plant, I always think.  It is a selected type of Leucadendron Eucalyptifolium, which is characterised by its profuse, pointy leaves and vigorous growth habit.  It is wonderful as a foliage plant throughout the year, with a lovely red colour and long stems making it very useful.  Sometime in August, depending upon the weather conditions, it starts to sparkle and make itself much more noticeable.  The foliage changes from a rusty red to a pinky, bright red with yellow parts in the areas that get less sun.  Gorgeous lime green cones emerge.  Branches are covered in these flowers making them a beautiful textural cut flower.

In the picture above, you can see the colour variation caused by the level of sun the leaves are getting. The bracts around these cones are creamy with a pink tinge.  The more sun they receive the deeper the red colouring.  Sometimes, the colour will change along a single stem.  There are so many flower cones on each stem that the variation adds to the charm of this plant.

The cones act as pollen presenters and over a period of weeks become yellow as they "present" their pollen.  They look lovely at this stage, like little yellow pom-poms.

This picture shows the lime green of the cones as the stems of Tall Red wait to be put in bunches in the packing shed.  

Tall Red looks fabulous in mixed bunches at this time of the year - imagine how it would be missed in this bunch.  Even though it has lovely long stems, it can also be cut down and the flowers used in box arrangements or posies.  Its multi-flowered stems add texture and colour with a long vase life.  A truly Lovely Leuco!

Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the Air

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Spring is just around the corner, and many of the plants are beginning to wake up after their winter rest.  There is a riot of colour among the many types of leucadendrons.  Over the next few weeks, I will be featuring some amazing spring flowering proteaceae but here is a sneak peek!

All of these lovely leucadendrons are late-winter or early-spring bloomers.  They create a mass of colour and texture at this time of year.  I think you'll agree that the effect is wonderfully cheery!

The Black Fringe

The Black Fringe

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There are hundreds of species of Protea - and so many more when you add the lovely hybrids.  One of the most well-known traits of a Protea flower is the fringing.  At Swallows Nest Farm, we grow a small number of bushes of this lovely Protea Neriifolia, which as you can see, has a spectacular black fringe.  This pink variety reminds me of a 1950s party dress, with its bright colouring and black trim.  The Neriifolia flowers over a long period of the year, and at the moment is producing some beautiful flowers on lovely long stems.  I have had fun photographing these beauties, trying to capture their shape, colour and texture.

This is a close up of an immature flower, showing the "hairy" fringe beginning to turn black.

This photo captures a whole flower bud.  You can see that the fringing is white at this stage.  The black develops as the flower reaches maturity.

In this picture, you can see the difference between the Protea Neriifolia, and the hybrid that is the staple of the cut flower industry, the Protea Pink Ice.  The shape, arrangement of petals and black fringing are immediately apparent.  The centre mound of flower spikes differ in colour too.  

At this time of year, the pink of the proteas looks spectacular with the yellow Inca Gold Leucadendrons, and the dainty pink and white Thryptomene.  

The Protea Neriifolia are a stunning addition to a bouquet.  I really love them! 

Inca Gold

Inca Gold

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One of the leucadendrons that begins to "sparkle" at this time of the year is one called Inca Gold.  For most of the year it is a limey green with little red tips but in winter, after the solstice here in southern Tasmania, it starts to turn bright yellow.  

This picture was taken in May.  The flower heads had formed but were still slim, with more growth to come.  It's pretty at this stage with its pink stems and tiny red tips, but not spectacular.  It's good for filler in a bouquet of cut flowers.

This photo was taken mid June.  The flower heads look more plump and the stem length is good, but they are still lime green.

The Inca Gold begin to change around the beginning of July and make a fabulous contrast with the Safari Sunset Leucos.

When they reach their brightest, its easy to see why they are a winter favourite in the cut flower trade.  Spectacular cheery colour and long lasting blooms make these Inca Gold worth waiting for.

Winter Colour

Winter Colour

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Winter has produced some beautiful blue-sky days for us lately, and today was no exception.  This stunning unedited colour (taken with the trusty iphone4) shows where this variety of leucadendron gets its name - the Safari Sunset.  As they begin to flower, the red bracts around the flower presenter change to yellow and you can see this starting to happen here.  Flowers sold at this stage are often called Tri-Colour Leucadendrons, because they turn from red to pink to yellow, like a sunset.  And with that wonderful blue backdrop, they are particularly stunning!

This leucadendron is of the variety that I most recently wrote about in Lovely Leucos part 3.  If you want to compare the colour change, click on the link.  A few short weeks ago, these Red Gem leucadendrons were a bronzey red.  Now as they start to flower, they become a warm clear yellow, with red tips.  This bright yellow will last until the flowers and pollen presenters have done their work, and then the bracts will close around the centre again and return to being red.  

Leucadendrons are such a colourful cheery plant to be growing in winter.  And at every season they provide different colour.  I'm so happy to be growing them!

New Plants

New Plants

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I'm very excited about the arrival today of our new batch of plants.  As I've mentioned recently, winter is a great time for planting at Swallows Nest.  Last year we put in around 200 new plants.  This year, we're being very restrained - only 36!  But when they arrived today, I was so surprised by the size of them.  They were much larger and more advanced than I expected.  I can even see the beginnings of flowers on some stems, long enough to pick if and when they form properly.  I have been chasing these plants for a few years now, so there is an extra excitement at having finally been able to source some!

So what are they?  They are a type of Brunia which I have written about before.  We planted some new  Brunia last year - Brunia Albiflora which have a white flower.  These new plants are called Brunia Stokoei.  Absoloutely stunning cut flowers on long stems with beautiful architectural silvery spheres that have tiny rings of flowers - in this case pink.

We ordered the plants from a nursery in Victoria, and the horticultural transport company that brought them across Bass Strait for us wouldn't deliver them to the door, so we had to pick them up.  I'm glad there were only 36 - they were so big that they filled the entire car.  

Notice how soggy the ground is?! Great planting weather! 

This is the beginning of a flower spike, and you can see the balls starting to form.  I'm looking forward to the first flowers!!!  In the meantime, its digging holes and planting.

Please note that the first photo is not mine.  Click here to see its original home!

Lovely Leuco's Part 3

Lovely Leuco's Part 3

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Red Gem are a fabulous Leucadendron.  The protea books all tell you that they are unsuitable as cut flowers, because their stems aren't long enough, but here in Tassie, they are spectacular and regularly grow to 80 and 90 cm stem lengths.  These beautiful red leuco's are so versatile for so many reasons.  They have large flower bracts, tulipy in shape.  Their colour ranges from deep red, early in the season, to bronzey red, and then in winter to bright yellow, before they open to reveal their pollen presenters.  

They are a great plant to grow too - they have a special type of root system called a lignotuber, which means they can shoot stems from old wood, and even from below the ground.  In the "old days" they were regularly pruned with a chainsaw!!! I certainly wouldn't do that to them, but they do love to be pruned, and produce many new flower stems afterwards.  

We don't regularly prune our plants, but use the picking process as an opportunity to prune.  It's such a lovely job, picking these Leuco's. Not only am I rewarded with masses of lovely flowers, but i can almost hear the plants' pleasure knowing that I am also setting them up for a great crop next year.