The Perfect Plant

I can find the beauty in most plants but like everyone else I am always on the hunt for the perfect plant. You know the one – grows in full sun or part shade, does not require me to fight with my twisted and kinked hose every day to water it, looks good even when I forget to fertilise, flowers most of the year, doesn’t have a scent so I can’t drive the neighbours batty and doesn’t require me to trim it to make it look good!  Oh, and I forgot to mention only grows about a metre so it looks good in a garden or in a pot and it doesn’t mind the cold or the heat!



Pieris 'Temple Bells' in Bud

You are all laughing now because you think the perfect plant doesn’t exist. Well I think it does. 

Are you ready for it? The perfect plant is called Pieris Japonica 'Temple Bells'. Now when you all go rushing out to your local nursery to get the perfect plant, you must make sure you ask for Pieris japonica 'Temple Bells' as I don’t know any other Pieris that grows as well in Ipswich.

This highly ornamental plant has extremely dark green lush foliage that forms a dense mound.  In the warmer months its new growth is a brilliant red that fades to copper then green.  Though it is slow growing it still forms a nice shrub in a year or two.

It’s the almost continuous flowering that makes this plant perfect. The flowers can start their show as early as March.  The plant becomes covered with small lime green bell shaped buds that as the weather cools grow and open to form pure white bells that appear to be dripping off the plant. The flowers remind me of the lily of the valley flower. By the time the warmer weather kicks in, the white bells have dropped leaving the greenish ‘bell holders’ still on the bush for another month or so.   It almost seems that the plant is in flower for more than half a year due to its three phase flowering process.

I have grown this plant in a pot in full sun for years now and it has always looked fabulous.  It can thrive in some shade too. As Pieris Japonica 'Temple Bells' won’t win any medals for fastest growing plant but not the slowest growing plant either - you can expect it to reach around a metre in height.

Pieris 'Temple Bells' in Bloom

This beautiful plant can be used as a feature plant in a pot or as a low hedge in a garden. It is versatile, easy to maintain and looks good all year whether it’s hot or frosty cold. Always use excellent quality potting mix (I use Searles' Peat 80) or garden soil and try to fertilise every season with a complete organic slow release fertiliser (I use Plant of Health's Organic Link).

Pieris japonica 'Temple Bells' really is the perfect plant. Give your garden some TLC this weekend and get a Pieris.  It will reward you all year.

Trevallan Lifestyle Centre Garden Competition

Voting

Well the finalists have been announced - Leonie Peasey, Marie and Basil Streeting, Barry Beetham, Deb Sutton, Tracey Patterson, and Agnes Maskalans.  Congratulations to you all.

It’s now up to the public of Ipswich to decide who has Ipswich’s Best Garden.

All I can say is “Oh my goodness, these gardens are amazing!”  You, the public, will have trouble deciding on a winner

To vote for your favourite garden just "Like" or comment "my favourite" on the post that contains your favourite. 

Don’t forget to share on Facebook too and let all your friends know how amazing Ipswich’s gardens are.

Don’t forget it’s all about what does your garden mean to you not who has the neatest lawn or the prettiest flowers!

Finalist Six in Ipswich's Best Garden Competition

Basil and Marie Streeting

Our Garden means so much to us. It's changed over the years and with the water restrictions we have had to adapt.  Our main love is our cacti and succulents because we love anything unusual and they are easy to maintain. We are always amazed at the show of flowers from some of these thorny and sometimes unattractive little plants.

Our epiphyllum cactus are our love and when hanging baskets bloom in October they are a special sight. We are like kids again, going out every hour or so to see them as they fully open.

We completely 'rocked' the bottom half of the yard last year after we lost it all with the rain.  It nearly killed us but gives great satisfaction.

Our garden eases our pain, our worry and any fear for the future. When we come into our garden we are at peace. Times means nothing and all we need is a few pots or an empty space, each other and the world is ours.

Our garden is 'us'. We are etched into every inch of it and just like us it's not perfect. It's quirky, it’s fun and like us frayed a bit on the edges.

I love being a gardener because we are a special breed. We understand why your nails are dirty and you are covered in soil. We don't care if you look a mess and you have to duck into Woolies for milk. When I see someone like that I cry 'Comrade' and we are instantly linked by the same passion.

Finalist Five in Ipswich's Best Garden Competition

Deb Sutton 

I'm not sure when my love of gardening started, for as long as I can remember I have loved flowers. Above all else I must have flowers.

My Grandmother spent her spare time gardening amongst spectacular annuals, Mum (87) has been a keen gardener for 65 odd years. I guess it's been born and breed in me, although my four siblings are not gardeners.

My present garden, 15 years in the making started with a bare block, bar a small Poinciana tree. It's been done my way, mistakes and all. No plan, just making a garden when money and time permitted and adding to it over the years.

Today it's not what it started out to be, due to the large Poinciana spreading its limbs much wider than its allotted space. So what was once a sunny perianal garden has been altered to a shade loving area.

I like to break up the plantings with other things; an old plough, cast iron bits and pieces, wagon wheels, seats, fountain, statues, a church door, a ruin, birdhouses, a secret garden, a chandelier and lots of pots.

The garden is filled with cuttings and plants from family and gardening friends- lots of memories. I am at my happiest at the end of the day, sun going down, glass of wine in one hand and the hose in the other.

Finalist Four in Ipswich's Best Garden Competition

Leonie Peasey

I am the custodian of a garden that has not been loved for 20 years. The previous owners belonged to the ‘large trees, woodchip and roundup’ school of gardening – easier to maintain between tenants!

After removing a 22m gum 3m from the house, a 10m ficus planted directly behind a timber retaining wall, digging up monsteras with roots tracking under the driveway and raking up many layers of woodchip, I found grey, compacted, hydrophobic soil, with clay not far from the surface.

A spade was no use – a mattock was my tool of choice, there were no bees, earthworms or frogs.

It has been a labour of love and a voyage of discovery to bring my garden to life. As a novice gardener, my original vision was overly ambitious and I have planted inappropriately at times, which saddens me when I see plants struggling and dying, but I am learning.

Two and a half years on, my garden is beginning to prosper from the planning and hard work – the foundations have been laid and I can build from here.

I look at my garden and instead of seeing how much there is still to do, I sit and appreciate the beauty of the young plants, the butterflies they attract and see an occasional bee and delight in the first green tree frog.

It is still a young garden, with a long way to go, but when I dig over moist friable soil, rich with homemade compost and earthworms, I know that what I have given in labour and love, is being returned tenfold, and will continue for years to come.

Finalist Three in Ipswich's Best Garden Competition

Barry Beetham

My garden satisfies my eyes, my nose, my tongue, my stomach and my muscles. It even contributes to my sleep.

I have pot plants, flowers, trees and grass so my garden satisfies my eyes. Have you ever seen up to 30 zygo cactus in purple flower, or the pleasantness of lovely green CSIRO experimental grass that grows where other grass won’t grow or a variety of foliage and prickly pot plants or healthy vigorous vegetables or tall lady finger bananas ripening in bunches in in one place? This truly satisfies my eyes. Have you ever walked down the garden path and enjoyed the odours and perfumes from flowers and fruit and native bee honey? My garden truly satisfies my nose.

My tongue and stomach? Sensational dragon fruit, heavy bunches of bananas, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, caulies, gooseberries, cassava, mangoes, strawberries, figs, Ceylon Hill Cherries, sweet potatoes, peas, beans and so much more really do satisfy my tongue and stomach.

Walk into the garden and there is always something to do – exercise the doctor says is essential for good health; yes my garden satisfies my muscles. And sleep? Yes getting tired for garden work contributes to my satisfying sleep.

Challenges and variety add to the spice of life.  Sometimes too much rain and at other times insufficient rain; so the challenge of water confronts me. Hence water tanks and a system to harvest precious rain water for gardens, trees, pot plants and some lawn. The various grubs challenge!

Variety inspires. 

Hence now red, orange and white zygo cacti have been added to the collection of purple zygo cactus. There are leaves large and small in a variety of greens. Not just one orange tree or mandarin but several with blood orange, Valencia and Washington navel. Tight skinned and loose skinned mandarins as well. There is a variety of tubers to eat such as cassaa, sweet potato and English potato.

Yes my garden is an enormous part of my life and is well a passion and I love it.

Finalist Two in Ipswich's Best Garden Competition

Tracey Patterson

I love my garden.

It gives me such great pleasure to work in it, regularly adding to and re-sculpting its design and composition. At the end of a long day, I enjoy nothing more than relaxing with my husband and family, surrounded by my beautifully landscaped ‘canvas’, replete with trees, bushes, shrubs and colourful flowers. My husband and I have spent many happy hours together creating our ‘master piece’, and we continue to derive much enjoyment from the time we spend developing, altering and ‘refocusing’our horticultural efforts in our on-going quest for perfection!

My quaint letter-box welcomes you to my garden. As we cross the bridge, the rippling water echoes the serenity of its goldfish inhabitants.

My garden offers peace and tranquillity, a place of solitude to ease the tensions of a busy day. Its calming influence on my family and my pets is legendary!

My garden is welcoming, with its fascinating colour blends and intricate design. It is so therapeutic to stroll around catching glimpses of my hand-made glass mosaic objects, which all have their own special spots.

The plants in my many pots scattered throughout the garden are so diverse, interesting and attractive. We also have two reclusive ‘pot men’ peering through the palms!

My garden means so much to me.

Finalist One in Ipswich's Best Garden Competition

"PARKSIDE on Thorn" - Agnes Maskalans

Our garden is our haven, a retreat from the rest of the world. It is a delight for the five senses, a garden where one can immerse oneself totally and experience the sight, sound, smell, feel and taste of nature.

The sight of flowers blooming, the bright plumage of the tropical parrots flitting amongst the trees and the wonderful array of colours and textures provided by Mother Nature, is a feast for the eyes.

Our garden is also an aural experience, where one can listen to the delightful chatter of birds, the patter of raindrops on the tin roof, the rustle of leaves, as well as the crunch of gravel as you walk through the rainforest.

At night, the captivating scents of jasmine, daytura and cunjevoys intoxicate and delight, surrounding our home with a fragrant perfume.

There is nothing like the tactile experience of the cool sensation of grass underfoot, the gentle breezes that caress and the foliage that gently brush against you as you wander through Parkside.

It is also about the gourmet delight of being able to garnish and flavour home cooked meals with leaves plucked from the herb bushes or to savour the taste of eggs, freshly laid by our chickens.

Our garden is a family garden. We share it with birds, lizards, frogs, insects and our pets. We love to hang out in our garden and have many spots to do so. Our garden allows us to connect with nature and feel grounded.