Favourite Corner - Spring 2014. Gunsteling Hoekie - Lente 2014

I can't believe it's been a year since I last did a "favourite corner" post. How time flies, hey. This time my post will be more focused on a favourite shrub than an actual favourite corner, but the shrub is in a corner, so what the hell...

Japanese Quince/Blomkweper

Chaenomeles japonica is normally grown as an ornamental plant due to its beautiful orange-red to bright-red flowers. They also produce small quinces. Yes, they are perfectly edible. James Wong filled my head with mini-quinces and rumptopf about a year ago now. The rumptopf is still outstanding, as the mini-quinces are still very much outstanding too. 

I must be honest; I have no idea how long this little shrub will take to fruit. I just hope it's not seven years or an equally ridiculous amount of time. Even worse - I hope it's not a "Speciosa" flowering hybrid which doesn't produce fruit. The horror! That's the thing with most South African nurseries: the plants are not properly named and the naming might sometimes even be a bit dodgy. Oh well, let's just hope for the best.

Botanical name: CHAENOMELES JAPONICA

Common name: Japanese Quince/Flowering Quince

Volksnaam: Blomkweper

Native to: Japan

Date planted/sowed: June 2013

Ease to grow: Extremely easy to grow

Costs: The shrub was a gift but costs around R85.00, plus compost of around R10.00/bag

Notes: Grows well in shady spots, but doesn't flower or produce fruit as well

Favourite Corner - Spring 2013. Gunsteling Hoekie - Lente 2013

Although I'm more of a winter person, Spring is probably the most beautiful season in any garden. The abundance of flowers, new growth in the backyard veg patch, new shoots on trees and iridescent green leaves on deciduous ones. What's not to love?

I want to take this chance to share my favourite garden corner of the season with you:

My favourite corner/My gunsteling hoekie

It's actually a wild mix of grasses, ground cover, indigenous plants, self-seeded volunteers, a huge trunk and an unidentified bush. Oh, and some stones added for effect. I think the result is quite striking. The mother can take most of the credit for this creation though. Can anyone identify the big shrub behind the trunk?

Originally, only pink impatiens was planted, but the bush somehow multiplied into normal pink, dark pink, white and variegated impatiens. Wonderful!

Impatiens galore

The ground cover plant in this spot is Mexican Daisies, or Erigeron karvinskianus. Quite a mouthful for such a petite plant. It might have petite pink and white flowers, but it's an aggressive grower. It survives even the worst neglect and water shortages. A great bonus in an often-neglected garden *blush. 

Dis nie soseer uit pure nalatigheid nie, maar aangesien ons area al deurgeloop het onder erge droogtes is dit slim om waterwys te plant. The neglect is not always voluntary, but sometimes due to serious droughts in our Garden Route area. Therefore I would recommend the Mexican Daisy to all gardeners in this region of South Africa:

Mexican Daisies

The latest addition to this spot, as I wrote about previously, was a Clivia. How happy am I that it turned out to be a red one! Weereens dankie aan 'n dierbare Tannie vir die geskenk!

Red Clivia and pink Impatiens

Do you have a corner in your garden that just makes you happy instantly?