This is my front porch. Welcome. Lets have a look around. Just don’t touch anything. Here we have a collection of fruit trees, herbs, perennials and random things that needed somewhere to sit. I hope you like latin names. It’s good practice. On the right we have the plum tree Prunus ‘Billington’ (I’m not actually sure what it’s latin name is, it’s some sort of plum species cross), with lemon thyme (Thymus citriodorus) underneath it, and the peach tree Prunus persica ‘Golden Queen’, with spearmint (Mentha spicata) below. The other herbs here are lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), common mint (Mentha cordifolia) and french tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus). Then there is Dianthus ‘Passion’ with it’s lovely red flowers, the large purple succulent Echeveria gibbiflora ‘Violescens’ and the small purple succulent Sedum spurium ‘Fuldaglut’.
And on the left, we have the citrus collection: lemon (Citrus limon ‘Yen Ben’), Tahitian lime (Citrus latifolia) and the latest addition, which needs to be potted up, orange (Citrus sinensis ‘Best Seedless’ on dwarf rootstock). My kaffir lime is currently on the kitchen window sill, but may have to move outside to join the others soon. My apple (Malus x domestica ‘Granny Smith’ on dwarf rootstock) is also here, with a rather small bay tree (Laurus nobilis), which The Husband had to be banned from using until I say it has grown enough, and some comfrey (Symphytum officinale), which needs a bigger pot too so it can grow large and wild and I can use it to make comfrey tea to fertilise the garden. The random fullas include a maple tree, my portable Christmas pine tree, which I have grown from a wee seedling, brought up from Christchurch and am probably a little too attached too, a rhododendron, an alstroemeria, a purple cabbage tree, a native sedge and Verbena ‘Merci’. I’m getting lazy. I know the names of all of these, except for the maple, but it’s too much typing. Ah, Sundays.
It’s time to get excited. The peaches are coming! My peach tree is cranking out the baby fruits. Last year it had two teensy-weensy peaches that were subsequently blown off in the strong Canterbury winds. It pays to position your fruit trees in sheltered places. The front porch seems to be doing the trick. I have also realised that the peach needs to be watered almost every day. It’s in a large planter, but since it’s not actually a dwarf variety it’s not reeeally supposed to be in a planter. It seems to be doing ok for now though. Boy, I need to go large pot hunting…
My Billington plum tree has one lonely fruit growing on it. The other flowers got pruned off during necessary first (or second?) year pruning. Pruning young fruit trees is a harsh reality, but it must be done to reap the future rewards of good fruiting and easy maintenance.
Hope you enjoyed visiting my front porch.
Please come again. That must be said in an Indian accent.
Please come again!
Wild Hope Homestead 