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.
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| 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
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
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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/
