Speed Dating With Plants!

Perth Garden Festival has just finished up and it was a great success this year. So many willing-to-learn-more-gardeners and lots of interest in what’s new and exciting in the gardening world.

The ladies in the background could see the funny side in me wanting a crown of Leschenaultia

I entered the Professional section of The Hanging Basket competition-Here’s my entry overlooking the beautiful Swan River

Hanging Basket 2018
I used purple Lantana, Ajuga, Anigozanthus in the centre, Gardenia, Scaevola ‘Purple Fanfare’, Eremophila Nivea and Echivera succulents all around the centre section.

I’m a member of the Horticulture Media Association and I spoke on the BUPA main stage last Friday. I love sharing my knowledge with such engaged audiences.

This year, I decided to do something a little different and I called it “Speed Dating with Plants”.my talk was scheduled for 20 minutes and so my aim was to create four container plantings in under twenty minutes and amazingly I completed them all and still had time for lots of questions.

I wanted to demonstrate that gardening need not take up very much time, should be fun and also that anyone can create a garden in a container, regardless of age or physical ability.

Another tip that I was keen to share with West Australian gardeners is the current trend in the US and elsewhere in the world to plant many things in the one basket rather than just one single plant as tends to be the case here. The opportunity to create a mini garden in a container and tell a whole story is something quite new to people here. This is great for folk who might be living in a small space, people renting or those not inclined to garden other than by using containers. It is appealing to so many gardeners. During my talk, I stressed that plants selected should have the same watering requirements and all require the same amount of sun or shade.

Each year, I travel to the USA in my quest for great gardening ideas and this year I wanted to share some of the things I learned about container gardener in particular during my time in Pennsylvania and especially at an amazing garden called Chanticleer in the Delaware Valley. If you ever get the chance you MUST put this garden on your bucket list of gardens to visit. It will blow your mind!

Here are the containers I created at this years’ Perth Garden Festival. I tried to create something for everyone and just like a real date, I gave them all an amusing name-just for a bit of fun.

Container 1  Aphrodisiac

The Aphrodisiac

Colours-Yellow/Grey/Green

Calendula

Helichrysum italicum serotinum Curry plant

Slow Bolt Coriander

Chives

Capsicum annuum F1 ‘ChaCha ChilliBite’

Container 2 The Indoor Guy

The Indoor Guy-there’s a red flowering bromeliad hiding around the back. I was keen to share the tip that all angles of the container should have a pretty view, not just the front.

Colours-Green/Burgundy/Red

Calathea rubfibarba

Filicales retrosa x2

Bromeliad-bright red flowering

Syngonium

Container 3 Shady Lover

The Shady Lover-featuring my new favourite salvia-‘Black and Bloom’

Colours Blue/ White/ Green

Salvia guaranitica Salvia ‘Black and Bloom’

Ipomoea batatas  ‘Inferno’

Pentsemon ‘Snowstorm’

Lantana montevidensis ‘alba’ Trailing white lantana

Salvia greggii alba x2

Container 4 Sun Swain

Sun Swain-the sweet 60cm Kangaroo Paw-‘Bush Pearl’ as a big hit

Colours Pink/Grey/Green/Burgundy

Anigozanthus humilis x flavidus ‘Bush Pearl’

Brachteantha bracteata ‘Sunbrella’

Alteranthera dentata ‘Little Ruby’

Leucophyta brownii ‘Cushion Bush’

 

You too can create these containers. Why not give it a try?

and….

with just a little preparation and good plant selection, just one of these treasures will probably only take you 5 minutes…can you beat my record???

I used Baileys Premium potting mix and regularly feed my plants with Seasol Powerfeed

and here’s a treat….

The beautiful display demonstrating the best use of indoor plants, created by the team I work with at Guildford Town Garden Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple. Purple and More Purple

Each year Pantone identifies a colour of the year, which helps set trends in every conceivable industry and I’m very excited to say that this year the announcement read…….

“PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet, PANTONE®Color of the Year 2018. A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.”

This is just adorable for us gardeners because there are so many gorgeous, purple flowering plants which you can include in your garden for a splash of on-trend colour. Purple is such a lovely addition to the garden and you will probably want to plant plenty, once the purple bug catches you.

So you want a tree

Jacaranda mimosifolia

On our honeymoon in 1998, we traveled to South Africa and I remember vividly, the stunning Jacaranda-lined streets of the capital, Pretoria. We grow Jacarandas in Perth too and in recent years many local governments are realizing the beauty of these trees as street trees and more have been planted. You can look no further than the stunning Jacaranda mimosofolia. It’s a great deciduous tree that allows winter light and shade in summer and in-between during Spring, you will be treated to a purple fiesta of beautiful flowers. These will grow to between and 20 and 30 metres tall, so allow plenty of space. Deep watering in the early years, through the summer months, will encourage growth.

How about a shrub

‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’

My personal favourite shrub is the evocatively lemon fragranced Brunsfelsia latifolia, which is endemic to Brazil. It is also known as ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ as the flowers bloom and fade from bright purple to shades of violet and the almost white. These grow very well in our climate and offer a little bit of height in the garden bed and then there is that unmistakeable fragrance-you will not be able to walk past without taking in a deep sniff of this beauty. They will grow up to 1.8m in height and require full sun-part shade.

have you a passion for purple???

A groundcover perhaps

Scaevola-WOW!
How about Scaevola in a hanging basket?

Some years ago Kings Park in Perth, as part of their plant breeding programme, set about propagating something to rival the petunia for Perth gardens and they created Scaevola ‘Purple Fanfare’. This plant has taken off all over the world and can be found in pots and garden beds in native gardens as well as cottage gardens. There are many different Scaevolas to choose from as the breeding gets better and better. These native plants will flower most of the year and need very little care, just some native slow release every now and again.

 

A rose by any other name

‘Blue Moon’…you saw me standing alone…

‘Blue Moon’ is one of the most delightfully scented roses you could possibly plant and the best news for 2018 is that it is purple. Blue Moon is a Hybrid tea rose which blooms continuously and the stems are nearly thornless. They do very well in a pot or in the garden bed. I’m sure you have room for one of these in your garden or even in sunny spot in a pot.

 

 

 

 

Climb New Heights

Wisteria sinensis or Chinese Wisteria provides a stunning shot of purple and looks great on a climbing frame or on wires framing a verandah. Make sure that you use Marine Grade High Tensile wires when setting this up. You won’t want to be replacing cheap wiring years down the track when your wisteria is established. It will grow fast and does need regular pruning to be kept in check. Plant it into a well-prepared hole with some good organic matter in the hole and a treatment of liquid Powerfeed by Seasol is all this plant needs say every six months. Each Spring it will reward you with stunning blooms.

Wisteria…imagine this in your garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Subtle Sense of Whimsy

Salvia ‘Waverly’ offers the gardener a small-medium sized tidy shrub with long blooms in deep shades of purple and white in full sun to part shade. I love the way this plant bends in the breeze and provides nectar for insectivores. It does well with little care at all and regular tidying up with sharp secateurs will keep it in check. This plant is pretty drought tolerant too.

Larkman Nurseries breed Salvia Waverly and here’s what they have to say about it

“Sages are a popular part of the Australian garden due to their versatility and tolerance of hot dry conditions.  ‘Waverley’ is an attractive low growing shrub that thrives in our local conditions.  It is tolerant of moderate frosts, part to full sun and most soil types.  It has green foliage with a purple tinge during winter and long racemes of pink, aging to white, flowers in late winter and spring.  Each floret is held by a dark purple calyx.

Salvia ‘Waverley’ is part of the Larkman Nurseries range of Salvias from all over the world.  The range includes the giant yellow Golden Fountain Sage, Salvia madrensis down to the wispy Blue Lightning, Salvia lycioides.  ‘Waverly’ responds well to an annual prune in late spring followed by an application of Osmocote Plus Controlled Release fertilizer.”

I love Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’ and Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’ alongside ‘Waverly’

Looking for an easy care boarder?

Beautiful Agapanthus, hardy and drought tolerant but not full sun

Edge your garden beds with almost no care, Agapanthus. These lush, deep green, strappy-leaved plants with their long, long stems with round-shaped blooming heads will look great every summer but do best in part shade. They will get sunburnt leaves if grown in the full sun. The only job you will need to concern yourself with is deadheading the flower heads at the base of the plant at the end of flowering. They will propagate themselves and thicken up in no time at all. They can survive with very little water but will do better with water twice a week and a little liquid fertilizer. These will do very well in coastal conditions.

Have you got a spot for some purple in your garden???

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