Continuing on from my previous post I would like to talk about another genus, the Rosaceae  or pear family that I have found extremely rewarding for ornamental tree foliage in my garden.  They are very adaptable to a variety of conditions and I would describe them as ‘tough’ as everything must be in my garden. One of the first ornamental trees to turn during   Autumn is the  Pyrus ussuriensis, Manchurian Pear, of which I have a several, their spreading  habit with its red scarlet & gold foliage during fall is spectacular. Other pears I have growing are:  The red spire pear, Pyrus calleryana “Redspire” which has large white flowers with yellow & orange autumn colour. The Pyrus salicifolia  Pendula,  Silver Pear, a very elegant tree with dense weeping foliage grey green in colour with delightful brown fruits in Autumn . 

Pyrus calleryana , Snow pear

The Chanticleer Pear, Pyrus calleryana, Chanticleer Pear an upright pear with white flowers and plum to claret autumn foliage was another choice.  And the last of my pears is the Pyrus calleryana” Bursnozam” , Snow Pear Burgundy Snow, which has a beautiful upright shape, white flowers and yellow to red vibrant autumn foliage. These trees have brought me great joy as I am very aware of the changing seasons as they do their ‘thing’.
Over the years my garden has changed dramatically influenced by the long drought. I have done away with rose beds and cottage garden plants and replaced them with grasses, succulents, salvias, cannas – tough stuff, that have thrived in the last couple of years of the drought and are now well established. Heavily influenced by a trip to Lambley Nursery near Clunes in Victoria specialising in dry climate plants, my enthusiasm was renewed.  I have always enjoyed the tall fronds waving majestically in the breeze of ornamental grasses. So I removed a circular lawn and replaced it as a dry garden. The first were the grasses, Miscanthus transmorisonesis, Evergreen Feather Grass, with weeping flower heads, and Miscanthus sinensis “Flamingo”, Pink flowered Feather Grass. I followed this with Calamagrostis “Karl Forster”,  Feather Reed grass, but the tallest of all and dramatically beautiful with heads of golden oat like flowers is Stipa gigantea,  Giant Golden Oats grass , considered the most beautiful of the grasses reaching a height of 210cm.

 I like the combination of salvias with their long slender flower heads bending towards the arching weeping flower heads of the grasses as though in conversation, the change in foliage colour and their resilience. Combined with cannas, artichokes, sedum, lavender,&  echiums and  with a Manchurian Pear standing guard, my dry garden was beginning to change shape.