APRIL 2017

THERE ARE about 2000 different species of Euphorbias, from the prickly monsters of Africa to the tiny ground covers of temperate zones.

Among the most bizarre of the smaller species just has to be the succulent Euphorbia medusa, which, as the name suggests has a tangle of prickly foliage strongly reminiscent of the mythical Medusa, whose hair was a nest of snakes. The flower is a single pendulous brown medallion of a rough cardboardy texture.  These were first noted at the Launceston Horticultural Society’s show in February.

You can see Euphorbias at the Great Western Tiers Visitor Centre, Deloraine.

The award winning garden at the Centre boasts three species of Euphorbia. E.characias is the taller of the three.  This bears a mass of green/yellow bracts masquerading as flowers in January.  E. myrsinites is a ground hugging succulent with attractive silver foliage, and the fine-leaved Cypress spurge E.cyparissias (pictured) has umbells of greenish yellow in Spring. This one can be invasive, so any which stray from the confines of the border should be removed, but it makes such a useful ground cover, that it has a place in the flower garden.

In the vegie garden

Sow onions, spring onions and broad beans. Seedlings of the Brassicas may be planted out in heavily enriched soil once the cabbage butterflies have gone.

Photo | Picture supplied