Garden of the Month: June 2021

The Garden of the Month for June 2021 is the Mixed Borders!
Do the HCP Mixed Borders impress you most of the year? We certainly hope so. These gardens were created from bare land in 1996 and still undergo significant changes, especially when new people with new ideas take over managing one of the three borders. The Victoria Horticultural Society provided the initial funds for irrigation and members of the VHS’s Hardy Plant Group provide the volunteers, the annual funding and the landscape ideas.
A mixed border is a combination of trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, bulbs and annuals. Ideally it is coordinated for colour and a range of sizes, shapes and textures and does well in its microclimate. When it impresses you it has met an important goal. The Hardy Borders volunteers experiment with different methods of pruning and new plant introductions so there is always something of interest happening in the borders, especially with the many changes in the NE border.
This month, intriguing flowers are opening on the Calycanthus x raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’ (Raulston’s allspice), Apios americana (Hopniss or potato bean) vines are snaking out of the soil, the Restio paniculatus (Restio or Cape reed) is putting on fine new feathery growth and new green foliage is flushing out on the dark purple Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’.
This information is available as a handout from the front desk with photo references to help you identify the above plants (or click here to download).