Tim's got hot lips! - Oct 11, 2012
Dear gardening friends
We had a visit from the members of Carringtons Garden Club yesterday. These oldies but goodies come from an era when people named their children after plants. There was Olive, Ivy and Daphne to name but a few. Simon has recently named his little baby girl Lily so perhaps the plant names are returning.
What was obvious is that these old time gardeners really know their plants. Some were rattling off botanical names like Don Burke.
When we finished our gardening talk they all bought "colour". We have noticed in the nursery that the strappy leaf plants that were popular during the drought are now on the decline. It seems everybody now wants a splash of colour in their gardens.
Simon has responded to this demand and has filled the nursery up with flowering ground covers and shrubs. I have taken a photo of our centre isle just so you can see the colour!
A new Petunia has arrived called "Hot Lips". It has been grown by the same people who brought us Petunia Raspberry Blast. Petunia Hot Lips has burgundy coloured flowers with a plash of white on the petal. It looks fantastic! These plants are perfect for growing in pots or hanging baskets in sunny court yards. They flower non stop from now until May. They will give you great Christmas Colour! We have plants already flowering for $15.99. I think you are going to love these.
Who would have thought I would be promoting a plant that attracts Butterflies into your garden?
A new shrub called BUZZ Butterfly Bush will have the butterflies landing in your garden. This new dwarf growing shrub had long sprays of white, purple or blue flowers. It flowers non stop throughout the warmer months. It also attracts honey eating birds into your garden.
Buzz is super fast growing and we have plants that are coming into flower now. Plant one now and buy the kids a Butterfly net for Christmas!
Nice bushy plants cost just $15.99.
One of the most successful shrubs in our garden is a variety called Limonium Perezii Blue. We have these mass planted at the entrance to our carpark and they never stop flowering. I love the grey leaves on this plant and the purple flowers are spectacular. You can even pick them as cut flowers. Limoniums look great mass planted and they tolerate those hot dry positions where other plants would probably drop dead. Have you noticed how plants with grey foliage love the heat?
Have you noticed how great the Gazanias are looking in the main street of Camden? Check out the photo. This grey leaf variety is called Gazania tomentosa. We have them on the cover up bench 5 for $20.00. It is covered in bright yellow flowers that really light up the main street.
These Gazanias struggled to grow last year when it seemed to rain every day but this year they are loving the dry weather.
I was spraying my Lillypilly hedge with Eco Oil on the weekend. Scale insects are attacking many plants at the moment and Eco Oil kills them without harming you. I was walking backwards as I sprayed the hedge when I noticed a Red Belly Black snake slithering under my feet. Luckily I was wearing big boots and long pants. Its snake season so keep an eye out when you're doing jobs in the garden.
It's also time to spray all your Citrus trees with Eco Oil to protect the new growth from Citrus Leaf Miner. This really has become a serious disease of citrus. It causes the new growth to curl up and when you look closely you will see a silver trail inside the leaf. Eco Oil prevents the moth from laying its eggs inside the leaf. You need to spray the new growth every couple of weeks during the growing season.
Eco Oil can also be used to control Aphids. I sprayed the Jacarandas and Manchurian Pear trees up at the hospital during the week because the new growth was covered in Aphids. Spray your rose bushes with Eco Oil too.
Talking about Rose bushes, if you love roses come and look at ours. They are all covered in flowers right now so you can sniff out the most fragrant varieties.
Ryan is still spraying them with Seasol mixed with Yates Rose shield and water every week. It really has helped them grow without any Black Spot.
Strawberry growers have found that if they use Seasol on their plants they get more fruit with less fungus diseases. Seasol really is a great product.
The Ingleburn Horticultural Society and garden club is holding its Spring Show this Saturday in The Community Hall at Ingleburn. It's on the corner of Oxford and Cumberland roads. This show is a real step back in time with Dahlias and Roses in bottles. There are giant vegetables and indoor plants too.
It costs just $1.00 to get in and afternoon tea is available. The show opens at 12.30 and closes at 4.30.
We've donated a Macarthur Rose bush as a lucky door prize so buy a ticket!
If it continues to rain I will be fertilising the lawn this afternoon with our Tim's Rapid Results. This is a great product because it doesn't release unless it rains so you can't burn your lawn. It is safe for all types of grass including soft leaf buffalo.
Talking about Buffalo, I was at Manly during the school holidays and they have a park in the Corso that has huge shade trees. Under these trees they have planted Buffalo turf and it is growing beautifully in these shady conditions. Matilda Buffalo will thrive in up to 80% shade. We stock this at the nursery if you have a bare patch.
The other good news is you can plant shade trees in your garden because we now have a grass that will grow underneath them.
Notice how they have pruned the lower branches from the trees to allow as much sun in as possible.
Happy gardening
Tim