IN THE GARDEN | Which plants to buy now that spring is in the air

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Sensed by the warmer weather, longer days, happy sounds of swallows returning, weaver birds building nests, pollinators buzzing around flowers, frogs’ calls romancing their mates, new flowers and leaves appearing on coral trees ... spring is in the air.

Mother Nature’s growing season announcement is an invitation to visit our nurseries now brim-full and tempting us with gorgeous new plants.

Before you venture out though, take stock of the spaces in your garden which need sprucing up.

There are always gaps in the garden bed, new areas and those that need refreshing with additional plants.

Some may have proven successful through the year prompting you to buy more of the same.

It is a good time to fix the soil, redefine edging outlines, ready to introduce new plants.

What plants did I place in my nursery trolley and what inspired me to choose them?

The plants I chose had to fill the following needs: To bring colour, successful perennials so they would still be performing their duty this time next year, mostly comfortable in the sun, some indigenous, others garden stalwarts and those tried and tested, recommended by gardening friends.

Salvia Mystic Spires, which I planted around the church garden last year have thrived, their bushes have spread out and have been in flower since last spring.

I maintained them by regularly cutting off dead flower spires and removed old growth regularly.

They responded well this year by producing healthy growth and a number of new deep blue flowering spires.

Agapanthus are my favourite indigenous flowers and the reason I have grown quite a number in the garden as they make a gorgeous summer show.

I also have white unhybridised agapanthus collected from around an abandoned farmhouse in the Beacon Bay area.

They are growing together in flower borders fronting the house. When not in flower they add variety to a number of different leaf shapes.

They attract snails so patrolling their flower bed regularly to remove them is important. (Amalinda Nursery had the ordinary pale blue agapanthus on sale for a very reasonable price.)

On my last visit to this nursery, I bought another Agapanthus Praecox which has white flowers. It can grow in the semi shade and sun growing to 40cm wide and 40cm high.

Agapanthus Poppin’ Purple was a new find for the garden as it stood out on the nursery floor with its deeper coloured blooms.

The label says it is faster growing than other varieties reaching 60cm high and  45cm wide.

The flower umbels are smaller but stand out because of their deep purply blue blooms. It flowers throughout the year, is waterwise and “durable”.

A water feature, bird bath or plinth calls for reed-like plants to grow around it mimicking how a water feature in the wild will look surrounded by reeds.

Not only for this application, reed-like leaves serve to create a whimsical appeal in the garden bed. I have used two different tough indigenous dietes for this purpose to great effect.

These are Dietes grandiflora which have dark green leaves with white, iris-like flowers with yellow and mauve markings borne on long stems and Dietes bicolor which bear yellow flowers with brown blotches.

They grow prolifically along the east coast. The dietes look well grown en masse too.

Inca lilies (Alstroemeria aurea) are worth collecting especially those with flowers borne on long stems.

The flowers last for up to three weeks in a vase. Unfortunately, the long-stemmed variety are not easy to come by.

I have collected mine through the years and when we’ve moved house have seen to it that they are uprooted and planted in my new garden.

Indian Summer is a specific variety of Inca lily which is readily available now on nursery shelves.

It’s costly but worth it as it flowers from early spring until autumn producing golden yellow blooms with orange and rose undertones with streaks of burgundy on the inner petals.

The foliage is bronze purple. On picking the flowers for the vase, rather than cutting off the flower’s stems, give them a gentle tug to remove them from the growth below.

Keep the plant tidy by pulling of spent foliage too. Plant them in fertile well-draining soil.

I have found they like their roots to be cooler than the upper plant. (morning sun and afternoon shade).

Verbena peruviana are colourful free-flowering perennials in shades of red, pink, purple and sky blue, have proven a great success as a ground cover, as a subject for hanging baskets, rockeries or with their trailing habit planted to dangle over the edges of a pot which has been planted up on their own or with a shrub or tree.

I planted them in a garden bed which does not get much attention and they have thrived, bringing a colour carpet to the planting at ground level.

Seeing their success has given me the idea to use them in the five trough-shaped planters on the veranda.

The plants also provide a pretty edging to a flower bed.

The verbena flowers are a rich source of nectar, attracting butterflies, hummingbirds and bees.

They thrive in full sun in well-drained soil.

Lemon Verbena are also grown for their aromatic foliage in herb gardens and used in brewing fragrant teas or air fresheners.