What's Karyns Gardening secret? - Nov 27, 2014
Dear Gardening Friends,
So nice to get some cooler weather after last weeks heat wave. We survived down here but some off our plants have had the flowers burnt off.
Easy to fix, just a bit of dead flower removal and the plants soon bounce back. If your plants are really looking sick it is a good idea to give them a light prune.
Don’t be tempted to fertilise them. This only causes more damage. Water them with a Seasol and water and they will soon come back to life. Seasol is a plant tonic that stimulates plants to grow new roots.
We have had lots of enquiries this week about sick lawns. You may have noticed that your lawn is starting to get grey patches in it. As these get drier the patch eventually turns yellow and then the grass dies.
It always happens in patches first then it spreads until the entire lawn looks terrible. Customers think that their lawn must have grubs in it. The simple solution is to treat your lawns and gardens with Wettasoil and then start to water your lawns and gardens more often.
Hand watering is almost useless so get yourself a sprinkler and use it. Karyn has applied Wettasoil to all our gardens this week. She was caught on Spy Cam yesterday.
We have had a few customers who really have had a lawn problem. There is a fungus disease that causes your lawn to die in circular patches. In the morning as the sun comes up it will be covered in a fine spider like webbing. If your lawn has this disease it will need to be sprayed with a fungicide. Come and see us for more details. You have to spray the entire lawn not just the patches.
Our Hydrangeas are looking spectacular. If you are looking for a flowering Christmas gift it would be hard to beat a Hydrangea.
They are covered in huge blooms now and they will still be flowering at Christmas time. They grow best in a morning sun position and they do love lots of water.
We even have a dwarf growing variety that is perfect for pots.
Our Gardenias have burst into bloom this week and you can smell the beautiful sweet Gardenia perfume throughout our nursery.
Gardenias are one of my favourite perfumed shrubs because they have such beautiful lush green leaves all year round. We have had a Gardenia Florida growing in a large pot down here for at least 20 years.
If you like bigger flowers like the one in this photo look for Gardenia magnifica. These also make great gifts and we will gift wrap them for you for free! A perfumed potted plant covered in flowers for less than $25 has got to be great value.
Check your Gardenias for ants. The ants aren’t walking up the stems to keep fit. Scale insects and Mealy Bugs attack Gardenias at this time of year.
Both these sap sucking insects produce a honey type substance that attracts ants. The ants then become a security service for the insects.
Eventually your plants become so sick they also get covered in a black sooty mould.
Spray your Gardenia with Eco oil or Pestoil to control these pests. You have to spray under the leaves too. Spray twice in 10 days for best results.
It is bug season so check all your plants for insect attack regularly.
Our Famous Fresh Cut Christmas trees are arriving on Saturday the 6th of December.
A fresh cut Christmas tree makes your house smell like Christmas. If you had one as a child then this will bring back great memories for you.
A fake Christmas tree might look nice but you won’t get that Christmas tree fragrance. Our trees are grown in The Southern Highlands then delivered to us in the early hours.
Trees are available from 8.30 in the morning. Treat your tree like a big bunch of flowers and you will have success. More info about tree care in next week’s newsletter.
A new supply of NSW Christmas Bush has just arrived today. The plants are so big I had to ask Simon to be a model.
Simon is a little bit red in the face because Noreen just tried to kill him with a Chilli Pie! He had to drink a litre of milk just to extinguish the fire.
NSW Christmas Bush have red bell like calyx and they are native to NSW. The flowers can be picked at Christmas time and be given away as gifts.
These huge plants are $29.99 less your garden club discount. We always sell out so don’t leave your purchase to the last minute.
We had a great write up in this weeks edition of The Macarthur Chronicle. Such a nice story and well researched.
We had no idea that we had actually won The Best Nursery in NSW award 10 times!
The newspaper must have rung The Nursery Industry to get the details. We lost most of our trophies recently when a freak wind storm blew in through the shop and knocked them all off the shelf. Unfortunately they were all made from glass.
Pig was featured on #snapsydney this week. This was similar to “A day in the life of Australia” where people were asked to take a photo on a particular day. Check out #snapsydney on Instagram to see the results.
Been a busy week for all of us with staff away on holidays and such trying conditions.
Gardening was never meant to be easy.
I hope your garden is surviving.
Happy Gardening
Tim