Can the “Money Plant" make you rich? - Jul 19, 2019
Free cuttings this weekend!
Dear gardening friends.
Crassula ovata is commonly known as The Jade Plant, Lucky Plant, Money Plant and Money Tree.
The Chinese believe this plant brings them good luck and wealth.
They grow them in pots outside their front, and back doors, to stop the wealth from escaping.
In some parts of the world they also grow them inside the house, in bright light.
We are giving away 2 free cuttings to all our gardeners, who want to get rich quick this weekend.
For best results simply plant your cutting in a pot using Tim’s Best Potting Mix.
Grow it on a sunny window sill, or outside in the sun. It can be grown in your garden too.
Water it once a week.
This amazing plant really is easy to grow. It can be pruned at any size and shape. The leaves get a red margin during cold weather.
They also get these beautiful pink flowers when you grow it outside in the sun.
Some of you will be laughing about this. Others will getting in the car now, and racing to Tim’s Garden Centre.
What have you got to lose?
You’ll find the cuttings at the counter.
Mr Wu just came back to our nursery this week. He won’t let me take his photo.
I’ve just found out why.
Mr Wu loves roses.
But his wife is sick of him wasting all his money buying rose bushes.
He has over 200 growing in his suburban garden.
He dreams about roses.
Every time he buys one, he has to sneak it into his garden, while his wife is at work.
“She will kill me if she finds out I’ve bought another rose”. He pantomimes her, chopping off his head.
Mr Wu came here from China in 1989.
He went to TAFE for 2 months to learn English. It wasn’t long enough. He talks to me in broken English. I listen patiently.
He has a smiling face.
He goes looking for roses everywhere.
He loves seeing them sold as cut flowers in Flemington Markets. He has seen a yellow rose there that he’s tried to grow a thousand times, he tells me, from cuttings, without success.
I tell him to bring me one rose, and I’ll try and grow it for him.
His English is so bad I think he thinks I want him to bring me flowers.
He’s thinking this relationship is going in the wrong direction fast!
I show him plants that I’ve grown from cuttings. I offer to give him a Chinese Money Plant for free. “I don’t like” he tells me.
“I only like roses”
“My boss has those growing at her front door”. I’m starting to understand Chinese now.
I ask him how old he is.
He draws it on his hand. 59.
He looks great, no wrinkles to be found.
He is so healthy and brown.
I’m 58 I tell him.
“You look strong” he says.
“From working hard”.
I’m ready to sit the HSC in Chinese now.
Mr Wu tells me to go back to work.
I’m wasting his time obviously.
He’s here to look at our roses.
Are you a Mr Wu?
Does your partner think you spend too much time and money in the garden?
It might be time to trade them in.
I drove past Menangle Park yesterday and noticed the bulldozers have started to create this new housing estate.
This land was grazing land, so most of the trees got chopped down a hundred years ago. We didn’t think about trees in those days.
They were just stupid bloody things that stopped the grass from growing.
But there is a grove of 100 plus year old Gum trees that survived the holocaust.
You can see them in this photo.
These trees provide habitat for the birds and animals that live in these fields. There are nesting hollows in these trees that have taken 100 years to create.
The native birds rely on these for survival. The Goannas turn up at the right time every year to make sure not all the eggs survive.
When this estate was being planned you’d hope the designer took notice of these trees. You’d hope that he or she might have seen the benefit of keeping this little oasis.
You might even expand it so it joins onto an even bigger park land where people can walk their dogs. Where kids can go exploring to interact with nature.
The trees would need to be cleaned up by an arborist to ensure they were safe.
Some would have to be removed.
If we keep them, it’s a 100 year old head start. Do you think they will keep these trees?
Do you think Council told them to plan the estate around the existing groves of native trees?
Let’s see what happens over the next few months. Maybe this developer is different.
Maybe they have realised that people will pay more for a block of land that looks into nature.
Maybe they know if people are encouraged to go outside to see plants, birds and nature they will have better mental health and skinnier dogs!
Our nursery really is looking amazing this week. The gardens out the front are full of flowers. Our nursery inside is full of plants.
You could almost think it was spring.
Check your lawn for Clover and Bindii.
It’s time to spray these pesty weeds.
A selective weed killer is the best way to treat them. Come and see us for the best spray.
Spray your lawn a couple of times for best results. Don’t mow before or after spraying for at least 7 days. Add a squirt of detergent to the spray, to make it stick to the weeds leaves, better.
Keep your dog off the lawn for 30 minutes until it dries. Don’t spray on windy days or it could cause damage, to your garden plants.
Make sure it’s a selective weed killer.
You don’t want to kill your lawn.
Happy gardening
Tim