Tulip Trees Burst Into Bloom!

Dear Gardening
I’ve got this Magnolia growing in my garden. When I was a kid we had family friends who lived at St Ives. Every winter when we went to visit we would drive past Camellia Grove Nursery. They had a Magnolia denudata growing out the front, it was spectacular. At night they had a spot light shining up through it. I dreamt about growing a tree like that.

When I built my house I had the perfect spot for one. They are supposed to be slow growing but mine took off. I did dig Tim’s Cow manure into the soil and I planted it in a mound to get good drainage. I mulched around the base with Sugar cane. It got lots of water.
The rest is history, it’s so beautiful.

I sold this Kentia palm to Josh, my Chiropractor. He’s not a gardener, but he does have magical hands. His practise has a room with the most beautiful north facing window, the light comes in.

It was the perfect place for a beautiful Kentia palm. I’ve had one in a pot at my place, in the same aspect, for 25 years.

Josh was excited about my idea, and he came to the nursery the next day. He bought a plant and a pot, and we potted it up for him.

He wanted to know how much water to give it? Only water once a week I advised him. “But how much water?”

You know gardening is a lot like cooking, some people measure everything, they have to follow a recipe, everything has to be exact, they need to know exactly how much water to give a plant.

Gardening isn’t like that, even indoors, conditions will determine how much water plants need. How much light comes into the room, do you have a heater going during winter? What’s the potting mix like? How big is the pot?
Does it drain well?

Josh’s plant got over watered, the tips went brown, he was extremely worried. I can tell just by looking at the soil if it’s dry or wet. I don’t need to stick my finger in the potting mix. I can tell just by looking at the plant, if it’s healthy or unhappy.

I told Josh to stop watering for a couple of weeks, he looked at me suspiciously, I see him every week, I’ve watched the potting mix go from black to grey, I can see that it’s drying out, I’ve watched the plants health improve.

Josh is happy, his Kentia palm is sprouting new growth. How much water do plants need? Enough to turn the soil black. If you water too much Gnats will breed in the soil surface and your plants roots might rot.

How will you know? You need to look at the soil.
If you can’t see, stick your finger in the soil, if it’s too wet, the soil will stick to your finger.
(Revive Therapy & Performance )

Leucospermum cordifolium are commonly known as pincushion proteas, these vibrant flowering shrubs are native to South Africa. They belong to the Proteaceae family, which explains why they are frequently confused with Australian natives like Banksias and Grevilleas.

These winter flowering shrubs attract native birds and pollinators into your garden. If you’ve had success with Grevilleas in your garden then these will thrive too.

They grow about 1.2ms high by 1.2ms wide but they can be pruned after flowering to any height. The flowers are spectacular and they are often picked and brought inside. They can be dried and they will last for years.

We have the best supply ever of these beautiful shrubs in colours we’ve never seen before. We’ve noticed the native birds are coming into our nursery.

We’ve potted these up recently into bigger pots using Native Potting mix, the plants have responded with fresh new growth and even more flower buds. If you buy one now you will enjoy the flowers right through winter and early spring. Come see our collection.

Just spotted these beautiful cloud trees, they have all been uplifted so you can see through them. It’s such a simple way to have trees in small spaces, we should be doing this more in suburban gardens. You still get the shade and the beauty of a tree. but they don’t take up as much room.

It’s simply pruning all the lower branches away to let the light into your garden. It allows you to garden underneath the trees or just have grass.

These are native trees called Acmena hemilaphra, commonly known as the broad-leaved lilly pilly, blush satinash, cassowary gum and Eungella gum. It’s native to New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

You very rarely see this smaller growing tree in Sydney nurseries, it’s almost unknown, but it’s used extensively on The Sunshine Coast. It’s often used in hedging too. The coppery coloured leaves are spectacular.

We have these plants in the nursery, we simply call them “Goodbye Sunshine”. They are fast growing and evergreen, they grow about 4-6ms high by 4ms wide. They are such beautiful small trees.
You need one.

Happy gardening
Tim