It’s the Lunar New year and significantly The Year of The Horse which is a great time to get out into the garden or get to work on your indoor plants so they are fresh and healthy to welcome in the new year and all of the wonderful possibilities that await.
Here’s what I have been doing in my garden
Cleaning and Clearing
I have been going around my garden removing any dead plants, spent leaves, and clutter from the garden to welcome new, positive energy. I have also been adding mature Compost to improve the soil.
Pruning
I have been doing some trimming of my hedge plants. Trimming back overgrown plants to promote healthy, new growth for the last of the Summer flush as we head into Autumn.
Planting
I have been planting out some Basil and new decorative plants like Coleus in my containers to freshen them up to symbolize growth and luck, especially at the entrance to our home.
Pop in some Fish
I have some lovely ceramic fish that float around in a bowl of water in the garden – no feeding required and they’re always looking great.
Every good painting has a splash of red
Plant some red flowers or red foliage. Alteranthera dentata ‘Little Ruby’ is a lovely red leafed foliage plant. I have Red Mandevilla in a hanging basket with Dichondra Silver falls and they look great
Plant some Flowers
Planting flowers represents the arrival of new life and in Perth we can plant flowers all year round – we are so lucky!
Keep Your Indoors Fresh
Adding beautiful indoor plants to your home helps remove toxins from the air and keep it fresh. Looking onto green plants in your home makes you feel better, especially if you’re working from home. Don’t over-water, feed them with a foliar spray for indoor plants. Put them outside for a shower and a deep hose water with the hose every month or so.
Wishing you all a very happy Lunar New Year, may the horse bring you luck and good health and much happiness,
Here’s how to get your roses blooming again before this guy arrives!
Fun fact, did you know your roses will be blooming again 42 days after you have given them a trim?
Let me start by saying I would never profess to being an expert rosarian, but I do love roses and have been admiring and growing them in Perth for years. I have had very good success selecting just the right ones and caring for them for my clients as well.
I am just like everyone else in the garden, sometimes I have great success and other times not so much. Here’s what has worked for me.
Now the worst of our Summer heat is over – and let’s face it, this year has been horrible (all that dry heat backed up by a hefty dose of humidity). It is time to give my roses a bit of a trim. This “Summer Prune” will be more than just deadheading which I usually do to encourage more blooms when the flowers are spent.
In Perth, I am now having better success by doing the big traditional rose prune at the end of August and even sometimes mid September, rather than July. This results in a fabulous Spring flush of big healthy rose blooms. I love that time of the year. I am rewarded for my efforts. I give them plenty of Mature Compost, say 4 hands full per rose and a regular application of fertiliser that is low in Nitrogen and higher in Potassium. In addition, I give them Seasol and Powerfeed every 2-3 weeks. This regime keeps the soil healthy and the plants love it. That’s my Spring and it is really gorgeous in my garden.
The Summer months are very harsh on plants here at my place and the roses tend to spot flower only, despite my best efforts. Sometimes just when they are about to bloom we will have a 40 degree day and they will literally shrivel up in an hour or two. I am learning to live with that. I enjoy them for the day they bloom and then deadhead them about day 3 and just focus on keeping the plants alive with water, Seasol and Powerfeed, https://www.seasol.com.au/ as well as a wettting agent, like Grosorb.
It is 42 days and counting to the Easter long weekend, which is about the right number of days from trimming the roses to blooming again. So, can you guess what I am doing this weekend?
Easter is a big deal at our place. I think it is by far my favourite holiday in the calendar.
My Easter table…alfresco dining in Perth is always our Easter tradition
We actually have more days off with all of the Public Holidays at Easter-time than we traditionally do at Christmas. At Christmas, in the middle of Summer, we race around the shops, trying to find the perfect gifts for everyone and prepare the perfect meal all at once, as well as catching up with friends and family. It is mayhem.
Easter takes on a much more relaxed feel and the weather is so much kinder on people and plants! It is a lovely time for entertaining with friends and family. My garden takes on a softer feel, the sun is not as brutal, the mornings are cooler and the days are still spectacular.
Gifts are kept to a minimum too with a few chocolate eggs and yes, there will be cake, but it’s really about the decoration of the home and garden that I get a kick out of.
This is David Austin ‘Jubilee Celebration’ in my garden last Easter
In preparation for Easter, I will be giving my roses a good trim this weekend, I will be “Summer pruning” my roses. “Summer pruning” describes going just a bit lower than you would normally deadhead.
The shrubs will be reduced back under the next union from where I have deadheaded through the Summer months.
If there are any plants with defoliated leaves, which can happen in the Summer, I will not be cut back those too hard.
I will be adding Mature Compost https://www.swanvalleylandscapesupplies.com.au/ around the base of each plant, and I will be giving them some fertiliser. I will make sure that they are getting plenty of water as we still have not had any rain.
Some of my containers need a little work too. They are looking a bit sad after Summer and I will re-visit them with some fresh plants. Who needs an excuse to go plant shopping? Not me.
A little preparation now and around Easter many of my roses will be flowering their heads off again. I can’t wait. They will flower all the way through to June and even into July.
This weekend, will you be Summer Pruning to enjoy blooming roses soon? You know that I will be, and of course, if you need some advice contact me here.
OK, so yes, it is rainy and a bit cold out there but that shouldn’t stop us die hard gardeners from setting the foundations for a stunning spring garden.
Makuru in Noongar language, (the indigenous language from where most of us live and garden here in Perth and Western Australia) is known as the season of fertility. June and July, is the time when the seeds you plant in your garden will easily germinate shortly after you plant them. The seeds will be watered and nourished by the rain and warmed by the sunshine when we have those days in between the rains. It is the perfect time for planting.
Be a careful shopper
New plants when planted small as tube stock or smaller specimens will really take off at this time of the year and actually will settle into the soil much faster than if your were to plant a bigger plant from the garden centre. This ultimately saves you money and you end up with a more beautiful garden with healthy well established plants by the time we experience the heat of summer as the roots are more established and can survive with less water. At the garden centre or nursery don’t always go for the biggest plant you can find. There is always a good selection of smaller plants to choose from. Check them out first. Many local councils will offer vouchers for discounted tube stock plants from APACE nursery to help you get started. https://www.apacewa.org.au/
Prepare your Soil before you Plant
This is the best time to improve your soil with compost and minerals to prepare. The soil is nice and damp so will make digging easier and adding nutrients to the soil a breeze. Also, it is cooler so easier on your own body working outdoors. I use Mature Compost from Swan Valley Landscape Supplies. https://www.swanvalleylandscapesupplies.com.au/
Don’t Prune Your Roses just yet
It is still too early to prune your roses, wait until August or even early September. Don’t prune them too hard, especially if you have cut them back after Summer due to the dreaded chilli thrip.
So, this was a surprise. I was not expecting to include Graceland on my garden tour of Memphis but a midnight text from a Perth friend and her husband letting me know that they had booked tickets for the next day and that they were picking me up at 10am meant that it was now very much part of my plans.
Visiting Graceland is like stepping into a time capsule wrapped in sequins and southern charm and lots of plush piled carpet. But beyond the rhinestone jumpsuits, gold records and the incredibly well catalogued more than a million pieces of memorabilia, for me, there’s another star quietly stealing the show, and you wont be surprised when I say that it is— the garden.
Graceland is more than a mansion; it’s a sanctuary. And the landscape surrounding it hums with as much soul as the music Elvis left behind. It was a very warm Memphis June day that we visited but the Graceland garden embracing the home and surrounding the mansion is lush green and provides welcome shade.
Here I am at the main entrance. Elvis bought this home for his parents.
The magnificent magnolias are the first to greet you. They’re HUGE! Towering, regal, and impossibly Southern, their glossy green leaves and creamy white blooms seem to hold the stories of decades past. I have never seem magnolias that big before so I did bang on about them a bit. Their sweet scent is soft but unmistakable — a perfume of the old South, elegant and enduring. At this point my friends were probably wondering if I was going to be gardensplaining for the duration of the tour…poor Laura and Brian!
Nearby, Largerstroemia Natchez white crepe myrtles in full bloom, sparkled in the sunlight. These trees are generous in bloom, with branches cascading in clouds of delicate petals. I love them but they don’t grow this big and this beautifully in Perth, so I was very much in awe of their beauty. Their bark is smooth and cinnamon-hued, a stunning contrast to the snow-like flowers. They line the pathways and frame the house. I could imagine Elvis strolling here, perhaps in quiet moments away from the screaming fans and the pressures of stardom.
Lagerstroemia Natchez
Then there’s the unexpected delight: mass plantings of Caladiums at the front door . This bold choice adds a lush, almost tropical contrast to the more traditional Southern palette.
Mass Plantings of caladiums feature all through the garden
Sprawling lawns and white fenced horse paddocks makes you feel like this is very much still a family home. The video footage of Elvis driving around the gardens with Priscilla and Lisa-Marie in golf carts brings the garden into play.
Sprawling lawns provide a soft cool foil for the back of Graceland mansion
The garden is the living soul of Graceland. It takes some of the sadness that you can’t help but feel, away. Folks walk through Graceland and the gardens quietly and respectfully. It’s such an interesting contrast to the noise of the incredible life lived by Elvis.
As you walk back toward the gates, past coloured foliage and lawns and garden beds filled with plants, it’s impossible not to feel a kind of peace here at Graceland. As I stood beside the swimming pool in the line to visit the family grave sites, I will admit that I was moved to tears and didn’t think I would be.
The swimming pool where I had a moment, I am not ashamed to admit
We came for the music, the memorabilia and the legend that is Elvis and the Presley family, but frankly it was the quiet of the garden, the magnolias, the crepe myrtles, and those lush beds of caladiums that left me unexpectedly moved.
Graceland may be the home of a King, but it’s the garden that provides that sense of peace for visitors in 2025 that may have eluded Elvis during his lifetime.
If you’ve read something within this memory that inspires you next garden journey contact me here. I’d love to chat!
