New plant causes a kerfuffle! - Nov 18, 2016
Dear Gardening Friends,
We created a kerfuffle last week when we quietly released the new yellow flowering Dipladenia called Citrine. Graham Ross from 2GBs Garden Clinic gets our newsletter so he quietly told his listeners about this amazing new plant too. We had people fighting over the few plants we had, and some of them got sold twice, so we upset a few customers too. We upset Mrs M. She once told me I had bad breath and offered me one of her mints!
So yesterday I made the trek over Windsor way to pick up 50 Dipladenia Citrine plants to meet this weekends demand. If you are looking for a colourful plant to grow on your sunny patio that will flower non stop for at least 9 months then grow one of these. The flowers are bright yellow and much bigger than other varieties. Use our Tim's Best Potting mix and you will have success.
Yesterday we had a visit from a class of kindy kids from Oran Park Anglican College.
They all arrived beautifully dressed in school uniform and hats. We must smell funny because the kids at the back of the line decided to hold their noses as they walked through our shop. Gardeners don't notice this smell, we have just got used to it.
The kids followed me around the nursery and discovered that perfumes come from flowers and that Strawberries and Blueberries actually come from plants.
Then they all got to fill up a pot with potting mix and they planted their own Petunia seedling to take home to grow on, for mums Christmas present. All simple stuff, but the kids thought it was great. They forgot that we smell funny and they forgot that potting mix makes your hands dirty and that it feels funny.
Only 3 kids had ever done gardening before.
Only 4 kids had a lemon tree in their backyard. Only 3 kids had climbed a tree and none of them could tell me why we should have a tree in our garden. None of them could tell me what they would feel if they stood under a tree on a hot day.
Talking about trees how fantastic does Blaxland Road look this week? The Jacaranda's have burst into bloom on both sides of the road and the Agapanthus will soon start to flower too just in time for Christmas. This planting has been a real triumph for Campbelltown City Council. They have planted more Jacaranda's at the entrance to Campbelltown too recently and these will add so much summer colour to our City and more shade too.
But Campbelltown needs more trees. Yesterday I tried to find some shade in this street to park my car out of the sun. These houses are over 30 years old but only one street tree has been planted in all that time and it has been recently hacked off to a stump. It must have been dropping leaves. Imagine how much nicer this street would look if it had Jacaranda trees planted on both sides of the road? You could park your car in the shade, the kids would have trees to climb and house prices would sky rocket!
Hydrangeas are flowering in the nursery and we have flowering plants from just $15.99.
These colourful old world shrubs are becoming so popular again. They thrive in those morning sun positions and they can even be grown in big pots. They make inexpensive Christmas Gifts and we can gift wrap them for you for free. Hydrangeas have big leaves that transpire a lot of moisture so you need to water them often or the leaves will droop and the plant will look sad.
Buzz the Butterfly Bush is flowering in the nursery. These dwarf growing Buddleja flower for 9 months and they attract bees and butterflies into your garden. There is a world shortage of both these insects so it just makes sense to plant shrubs that make them happy. Buzz comes in several colours and they are so easy to grow. Prune them to your required size and you will get even more flowers!
You know Pig is popular when your local politician comes to get his photo taken with him. Pig even got a mention in Parliament house about how he has helped to promote charity events and local causes.
Pig arrived in Australia on a boat from Vietnam with just an empty cardboard box and like so many new Australians in Macarthur he has worked hard and become successful. Check out next weeks Macarthur Chronicle for more details.
You still have time to transform your garden into a floral Christmas feast so come and see us.
Happy Gardening
Tim