I’ve done everything right, and my plants still die - May 21, 2021
Why are Camellias looking sensational?
Dear gardening friends.
We've had beautiful gardening weather this week. It makes you want to go outside and enjoy the autumn sunshine.
If your garden is starting to look wintery, plant some pansies or violas in pots, near your doorways, and those pretty flowers will make you smile again. They are so easy to grow and so rewarding. If you plant them now, they will still be flowering in November.
Our new season Rose Bushes are starting to sprout already. We pot these up using the best potting mix money can buy.
It's full of slow release fertiliser that lasts for 6 months or more. This gives them the best start in life and makes them take off when you plant them in your garden.
One of the fanciest roses we sell, is this beauty, called "Harry Wheatcroft".
It was released to celebrate the life, of a famous rose grower, called Harry Wheatcroft. Harry owned a famous rose nursery in England, called Wheatcrofts.
Harry was a larger than life character that drew attention where ever he went.
He was an eccentric dresser.
"He would step out of his maroon Rolls Royce clad in a floral shirt and royal blue trousers. Or perhaps he'd be wearing a suit of dog tooth tweed, trimmed with tangerine velvet, from which his horn rimmed glasses swung wildly, from string."
I think our nursery industry needs a Harry.
Harry's Rose has highly perfumed long stemmed, multi coloured roses, that are perfect for picking.
Plants cost $34.99.
You'll get your Garden Club Discount.
Seniors get 10% off.
Harry introduced "The Peace Rose" after the war, and made his fortune. He invented the saying "Peace Brother".
We have "Peace" here too.
We have all your favourites but they are selling fast so don't delay or you will miss out.
We've got the best selection of Zygocactus in Macarthur. More have just arrived.
These are named varieties, so you can start a collection.
They are all in bud, or flowering, so you won't have to wait long to enjoy the amazing flowers.
This white flowering variety called "Malissa,"is a beauty. These are easy to grow outside in shady, or morning sun positions.
They can be grown in pots or hanging baskets. Use our Tim's Best Potting Mix to get them growing faster.
We have Zygocactus from $9.99.
We have bigger ones in hanging baskets too. These sell like hot cakes, so you better
zoom zoom!
I was in Mt Annan Botanic Gardens last week and noticed this beautiful Grevillea covered in peach and cream coloured flowers growing near the main carpark.
What really surprised me was that it was thriving in a position where it didn't get much sun. This should interest gardeners because hardly any Grevilleas thrive in shade.
This spectacular Grevillea is called Grevillea "Peaches and Cream". It grows 1.5ms high and 2 metres wide but it can be pruned and shaped to any size.
This Grevillea will attract birds and bees into your garden. Possums love the nectar filled flowers too.
The reason this Grevillea thrives in sun or part shade is because the foliage is green instead of grey. This helps it cope with less sun.
Grevillea Peaches and Cream flowers every day of the year. It's beautiful.
We have them in the nursery today.
They are hard to find.
We have a grower down the south coast who keeps us happy with beautifully grown plants. Come see.
Camellias are flowering better this year than ever before. These beautiful shrubs need lots of water to survive our hot summers.
They grow better in suburbs like Eastwood, Beecroft, Castle Hill and Mossman where the soils are deeper and cooler and where it rains more often.
But this year they are looking sensational in the hotter suburbs around western Sydney too. When we get lots of rain the Camellias get lush green leaves and more flowers.
Unfortunately the Camellia growers have all retired, or gone into nursing homes, or become compost. It's such a shame because now gardeners want to grow Camellias again.
They are hard to find in nurseries.
If you see some, grab them.
We have Camellia sasanqua and japonicas.
You need to plant them in compost improved soils to get them to grow.
If your going to just dig a hole in the clay and plant them, don't waste your time or money. They need lots of water.
Mulch around the base with Sugarcane.
They love Tims Cow Manure.
They love, love.
We aren't so busy at the moment, so if you want gardening advice, come and see us now. I'm still flabbergasted how little people know about gardening.
To me it seems so simple.
People go out of their way to kill plants.
I had a customer plant a Citrus tree in a wine barrel. When it rained the pot filled up with water. He didn't drill any drainage holes in the pot.
Another customer got a backhoe in, to dig a big deep trench in the clay. He filled the trench with Garden Soil then wondered why the plants didn't grow?
When you dig a hole in clay, then fill it with good soil, the hole fills up with water, every time it rains. The plants roots rot, the leaves turn yellow, and then they fall off, and the plant dies.
It's not hard. Improve your existing soil with Planting Compost and Tims Cow Manure.
Raise the soil level up.
Give your plants drainage, and enough soil to get started. Then they will grow.
My son Dan got his L plates today.
He was doing the test on the way, on his phone, and asking me questions, so he didn't fill me with confidence.
One of the questions was "What do you do, if you're on a highway, and you go past the exit?"
1. Do you back back and take the exit?
I was thinking yes, but this clearly wasn't the answer.
It reminded me of a story a mate told me, while studying at Granville TAFE.
Baz had recently got married, and he and Cath decided to take their mother's with them, on a driving holiday in Tasmania.
Yes the trip was doomed before it began. Both mother's had recently been widowed, so they decided to treat them a holiday.
The trip to Tasmania was uneventful. But then the gearbox broke down on Baz's company car. It was a Mitsubishi Magna.
When they first got released they had gear box problems. It was brand new.
The dealership said if he could get it to Melbourne, they would cover all costs under warranty.
Baz discovered that the car still worked in reverse. So he set off backwards with the mother in laws in the back and his wife in the front.
He drove 60kms in Tasmania and then another 20kms in Melbourne during peak hour.
Yes he drove backwards on and off the Ferry.
Yes it sounds crazy now and dangerous. But when he told me this story I nearly fell off my chair.
Baz became a very successful businessman. His mother is still alive. She would still remember this story.
Baz recalls the funniest part was stopping at traffic lights and seeing the people faces when they realised his car was facing the wrong way.
#goingbackwardstogoforwards #tasmania
Come and see us if you need help.
Happy gardening
Tim