Have You Seen The Frangipani House? - Jan 03, 2025

Dear gardening friends

The Frangipani House in Manly, always catches my attention, I'm surprised it hasn't been on a gardening show. The house looks like it grew out of the ground, surrounded by Frangipani.

You smell it before you see it, the fragrance wafts down Pittwater Rd like a Perfume factory. The colour of the house matches the flowers. It's picture perfect.

It's worth a sticky, if you're catching the Ferry over to Manly. It's about a 10 minute walk up Pittwater Rd. You'll see fabulous Frangipani everywhere in Manly.

There's fabulous Hibiscus here too. You could go to Manly and just walk around the streets. Beach and Fish and Chips would be optional.

I walked past this cafe on my way to Life line. I have a business shirt addiction, which can't be satisfied. But I noticed this cafe was packed with customers.
Why would that be?

Yes the food must be great, but they happen to have this amazing Chinese Elm tree that provides cool shade. People are attracted to shade in summer. We feel safer when we are under a tree.

If you've ever been on a farm during a storm the cows and the sheep head for cover under trees. We are no different.

Of course this cafe could have used big umbrellas to provide shade, if they didn't have a tree, but umbrellas provide hot shade. Covered verandas provide hot shade too.

When you sit under a tree like this Chinese Elm you feel cooler, the air is cooler, it can be 10 degrees cooler. This makes you feel comfortable, it makes you stay longer, it makes you spend more money.

This is what a shade tree does for your garden. It will cool the air around your house, you will find yourself sitting outside on a hot day like today. You will feel safe.

But trees require maintenance, Chinese elms drop leaves, some people see leaves and they call it mess. It's not mess, it's nature. They will chop a tree down like this one in winter, when it's dropping leaves. They forget that the tree looked after you in summer. They make a terrible decision.

A tree like this takes 25 years to grow this big. The person who planted it is probably dead. If you chop it down it will take 25 years to replace.
Don't chop it down.

Buy yourself an electric blower, blow the leaves into your gardens, it's free mulch that turns into compost, and then it becomes soil. Trees make soil.

If you've just bought a new house don't touch the trees for 12 months, live a year in your garden. Those shade trees got planted for a reason. The bloke in the family will want to chop everything down.

Why I ask them? Trees are messy, and they stop people seeing my house, is their reply.
Help me.

Hayden has grown us these amazing fragrant Snail vines. They have been selling like hot cakes because they are only $10.00. This fast growing vine will cover your ugly fences and replace it with fragrant snail like flowers that have amazing perfume. They are hard to find in nurseries.
Thats why Hayden grows them for us.
Supply is limited, zoom zoom.

It's so beautiful to look at when it's small, and it grows so beautifully in a big pot. It can be grown indoors or outdoors, but what happens when you plant it in your garden?

Strelitzia Nicolai is the giant form of the common 'Bird of Paradise'. It gets blue and white flowers instead of orange, and it grows much bigger.

Strelitzia Nicolai will grow to about 6m tall and I've seen them 3 metres wide. Is this going to be the Cocos palm of the future?

I've walked past a few this week, while I've been walking the dog, and it's got me thinking, do gardeners really know just how big these grow?

They are very popular landscape plants and they look great straight away. The giant banana like leaves give you privacy from your neighbours. They are cheap to buy, it's instant gratification.

But what happens in 10 years, what happens in 20 years. Do you know someone who's got a backhoe?

We have a new Dwarf Crepe Myrtle called "Enduring Summer Red". This amazing bushy shrub has intense red flowers all through summer and sometimes into autumn.

This dwarf variety stays bushy so it will help screen your fences. It grows super fast, it actually loves this hot weather.

We have beautiful plants covered in buds and flowers for just $34.99. We give 10% off for Seniors.
Happy gardening
Tim