Laying a boarder with concrete capstones - PART 1

A few years ago (2011) I planted a long narrow strip of Pink Rain Lilies, Zepheranthes rosea at the back of our old family homestead at Alafua which grew magnificently, spreading by seed and bulb division. When it was in full bloom it was a startling profusion of pink that was truly stunning and delightful to see.

Zepheranthe rosea with Ninja Cat Clan Kittens (From Front to Back) Stoney, Rocky and Pebble.

So of course I could not help imagining what a slightly longer and much wider bed would look like. One of the problems that I had with this bed was the lack of definition or boarders delineating it from the lawn. This posed both aesthetic and practical problems. Aesthetically it looked messy and raggedly. Although I am a big fan of the English Cottage Garden which only looks unstructured compared to the French Formal Garden, a large undefined bed of flowers probably does not quite fall into English Cottage Garden definition. More importantly though were the practical considerations.

There were three issues that made having a clearly defined boarder critical for practical reasons. The first was that it would clearly define the flower bed and enable people (little people especially) to see where the flower bed started to avoid the plants being walked on or even driven over. The second issue was that from past experience it has been difficult to police the mowing and having a boarder would not only clearly identify the limits of the lawn but also provide a barrier of sorts. The third issue is related to the pestilent encroachment into the bed by various grasses which I have been trying to eradicate.

Kyllinga polyphylla

The primary culprits are Kyllinga polyphylla and Kyllinga nemoralis both which I have resorted to eliminating by either a slow miserable death due to lack of sun by covering them with come old corrugate iron roofing. The other method has been using a straight edge spade to scrape them up and out. The first is a long slow but painless process (for me) while the latter while assuring faster results is rather tedious and strenuous at times.

Flower of Kyllinga polyphylla

I have used both methods, the second for areas adjacent to beds or to clear the areas that I wanted planted immediately and the first for the huge patches of Kyllinga polyphylla in the centre of the huge back lawn as well as some areas adjacent to various flower beds as well as some smaller patches of Kyllinga nemoralis.



Kyllinga nemoralis

As for herbicides I abhor them so that has never been an option. I have heard of some natural herbicides such as coconut oil and other natural products being used instead of chemicals but was not able to get any and in any case I want to do a bit more research on them for any potential side effect to the other denizens of the gardens and surrounding areas of bush such as the resident Wattled Honeyeaters and Cardinal My, not to mention the squadrons of honey bees.

 

No herbicides are definitely not an option. If you want to know more about the dangerous and disastrous impact of chemical herbicides and pesticides from human health to environmental impact I have included some links below you might want to look at.



Stoney contemplates the proposed enlargement of the Rain Lily bed

So I wanted the boarders very clearly defined to give some structure to the bed as well as to protect the plants both from damage and incursions as well as to make it easier to maintain. The first thing I did was stake out the general area I was looking at extending the bed to. I wanted to make it the full length of the veranda but the presence of a lemon tree meant that that was not possible (especially since I have an aversion to cutting down trees unless absolutely necessary).

Additional information:

For more on Kyllinga nemoralis and Kyllinga polyphylla read my earlier post: Intriguing Plants - Weeds and Flowers

For more information on pesticides visit the following:

http://www.pan-germany.org/download/fact_paraquat2.pdf

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110214115442.htm 

Binomial Name: Zepheranthes rosea

Taxonomy: Phylum: Angiosperms – Class:  Monocots – Order: Asparagales – Family: Amaryllidaceae – Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae  –  Tribe : Hippeastrea   – Subtribe: Zephranthinae  – Genus: Zepheranthes – Species: Z. rosea

Common names: Zepheranthes, Fairy Lily, Rainflower, Rain Lily, Zeypher Lily, Magic Lily, Atamasco Lily (English) kili’o’opu (Hawaiian) mo’u’upo’o (Tahitian)

Binomial Name: Kyllinga polphylla

Taxonomy: Phylum: Angiosperms – Class: Monocots – Subclass: Commelids – Order: Poales – Family: Cyperacea– Genus: Kyllinga – Species: K. polyphylla

Common names: Navua sedge(English)

Binomial Name: Kyllinga nemoralis

Taxonomy: Phylum: Angiosperms – Class: Monocots – Clade: Commelids – Order: Poales – Family: Cyperacea– Genus: Kyllinga – Species: K. polyphylla

Common names: ??? (English) kili’o’opu (Hawaiian) mo’u’upo’o (Tahitian)

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

 

Hurricane Evan Part 2: The Aftermath

Hurricane Evan Part 2: The Aftermath

The Hurricane did tons of damage. The rivers and creeks overflowed and washed away homes and everything in their paths and flooded ...

Our property at Malifa had several meters of property washed away. Luckily the trees and plants I had planted mimimised the loss. After the Hurricane I could not help noticing how the root systems of the avocado trees, Indonesian Wax Roses and Torch Gingers could be seen holding the remaining embankment together. These avocado trees that certain people had criticised me for planting. Interestingly and sadly I could not help wondering how much more would have been saved had the breadfruit trees and Fuafua trees that had been chopped down had  been retained.

 

 

 

It never ceases to amaze and infuriate me how despite all the talk of not cutting trees along waterways and all the programmes and blah blah about how important these and plants growing along the waterways are in preventing soil erosion etc ... people still have this demented urge to cut trees down and clear land on the banks of waterways.

I know grass is a plant but the root systems of lawns will do very little to prevent erosion. As for cutting down sickly or unsightly trees or trees that are too big and pose a danger in high winds; that is fine as long as you replace them with another tree. Actually my preference is for the rule of planting at least two trees for every tree you cut down.

Unfortunately here in Samoa there is this insane mania for cutting down trees and either not replacing them or replacing them with what I call excuses for trees.

Torch Gingers before Cyclone Evan (Malifa)

 Torch gingers after Cyclone Evan (Malifa)

Yet even with all the death and destruction caused by the cyclone nature is resuming its activity and there are some startling moments of surreal beauty all the more stunning because of the stark contrast between the destruction and devastation surrounding you.

 

The only good thing about the hurricane is that all that rain has the zepheranthes all popping up with flower buds. Mind you it is possible that this would have happened anyway as it is the rainy season although the sudden emergence of so many buds where previously there were none is astonishing. Maybe I did not really notice them when I looked a few days before the hurricane but I am sure I would have noticed because I do recall seeing a handful here and there and mentally rubbing my hands thinking of all the seeds I would have once they flower are pollinated and seed.

Photo of Zepheranthes flower buds

But now its a totally different story as there are a multitude of buds and the seed load will be exponentially bountiful indeed.

Here are some pictures of all the flower buds practically bursting to flower.

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

 Facts:

Cyclone Evan struck the Samoan archipelago on 13 December 2012. It was rated as Tropical Cyclone Category 4.
The Samoan archipelago is comprised of the Independent State of Samoa and the American Territory of American Samoa.

Additional information:

Here my current blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Hurricane Evan PART 1

Hurricane Evan PART 1

Not long after I arrived in Samoa Hurricane Evan struck ... pretty much without warning. I say that not merely because on the morning of the hurricane I was delighted with the rainy weather and taking advantage of it to do some gardening: planting some cuttings of Indonesian Wax Roses and weeding the tautalaititi out of the Zepheranthes beds. No ... I say it struck without warning because although the night before there was some public announcement warning that scrolled across the screen briefly on the TV that was about high winds and possible flooding in low lying areas, but nothing about a cyclone.  Maybe there was one but I did not see or hear anything and no one mentioned anything about a Cyclone approaching to me.

It was only as the evening approached and I commented on how the constant rain and wind seemed like pre-cyclone weather that I found out that there was indeed a cyclone approaching. Someone said that that was supposed to have been passing by us but then decided to stop by for a visit.

As for me planting things in the rain that is how I prefer to do things as otherwise it is just too hot. For me rainy weather is perfect planting weather. It is cool and overcast and the rain is not only refreshing but saves me having to go around watering everything. Preferably I try to do major transplanting into the ground during the Rainy Season which also just happens to be the Cyclone Season.

No biggie it was windy in the morning and throughout the day but the Cyclone did not really hit till that night and lasted throughout the next day and night.
 

During the cyclone we could not do much else but sit around looking outside. Fortunately the house at Alafua has a long overhang and even with all the wind not much rain got into the house even though it has big screened windows without louvers.  I cannot recall who drew the plans of the house but I like their thinking since the wide overhang all around keeps it well shaded and there is absolutely no need for louvers which I hate with a passion. I was even able to go out during a slight lull in the cyclone and take some pictures and videos of some of the damage although the quality of the images are not that great. This is because I do not have a waterproof camera and the only way I could take photos was to stick it in a clear plastic ziplock bag and seal it in and then go outside. I stayed mainly under the overhang of the house but also went to the old butchery shed but after a while all the rain drops on the plastic made taking photos pointless.

Here are some pictures of the cyclone viewed at Alafua. The pictures do not really give a good idea of the strength on the winds. According to reports there were gusts of up to 210 km/h (130 mph). The wind uprooted lots of trees or broke branches off. The rivers and creeks overflowed and washed away homes and everything in their paths and there was considerable flooding in all the low-lying areas especially in Downtown Apia such as Taufusi, Fugalei, Lalovaea, Maluafou and Mulivai areas.

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

PHOTO of Cyclone Evan

 

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

 

Facts:

Cyclone Evan struck the Samoan archipelago on 13 December 2012. It was rated as Tropical Cyclone Category 4.

 

The Samoan archipelago is comprised of the Independent State of Samoa and the American Territory of American Samoa.

 

Additional information:

As I said I will be posting the photographs of the statues on another blog which will cover “A blog about art, sculpture, food, history, culture, literature among other things. Basically this blog will be a catch all for other topics that I cannot logically cover in my existing blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

 

or some planned blogs

·          fait justicia ruat coelum - Let Justice be done though the Heavens Fall (Socio Legal issues):

·          ventus me vocat – The Wind calls me (Occult and esoteric matters, Ancient beliefs and belief systems, magic and religion): http://ventusmevocat.blogspot.com/