Grow Free Plants From Cuttings! - Jan 31, 2025
Dear gardening friends
My son Dan has fallen in love with bees, and he's been busy spitting up the hives we have, and making more. More hives means more honey, and he's hoping to sell his honey, so he can pay for more boxes and frames. It's a work in progress.
We live in Brownlow Hill just outside of Grassmere, and it just happens to be a great place for bees to make golden honey. If you'd like to try Dan's Natural Honey he's got jars for sale on the counter in the nursery for $9.99. We think it's the sweetest honey, and Dan would love you to try it.
Supply is limited.
Everyone loves Crepe Myrtles because they are smaller growing trees that are suitable for smaller gardens. But there is a variety that grows tall enough to shade your house from the hot western sun. It's called Crepe Myrtle "Natchez". It gets covered in white flowers for at least 100 days in summer.
This variety is also perfect for carparks and street tree planting because it grows big enough to shade parked cars. It grows 8 metres high by 6 metres wide. It's the most beautiful tree, and I love the smooth coloured bark too.
If you live in a modern housing estate, and you want privacy from your neighbours across the road, plant a Crepe Myrtle "Natchez". When you look out your windows you will see foliage and flowers. This will make you feel safe.
In autumn the leaves turn from green to orange and red. In winter the leaves fall to allow the sun to warm your house. This also exposes the amazing trunk.
As your Crepe Myrtle grows, remove the lower branches and uplift the canopy. This allows you to walk around in your garden, without the tree taking up all your space.
When you plant trees in your garden you attract birds and nature. The sounds of nature makes us feel good.
Have you noticed when you go camping in the bush, you relax straight away?
The "Organic Life" fertiliser that we applied to our potted Rose bushes is starting to break down with the recent rain. The pellets become an organic mulch that catches the water, then the water passes through it, becoming a liquid fertiliser tea.
It's amazing how quickly the roses react to this liquid love. They sprout fresh new growth, the new leaves are fungus free, no chemicals needed.
New growth means more flowers. As the weather cools, with autumn coming, your roses grow bigger, there's more fragrance too.
"Organic Life" is full of friendly bacteria that puts life back into your soil, it makes your soil hold more water, more water means more growth.
Surprisingly there's no bad smell. The smell goes within a day and it's replaced with the smell of nature. Have you used Organic Life on your garden? It's time.
We stock it here, it's great value. You can use it on potted plants and gardens. It's great for flower and vegetable gardens. It's suitable for all plants except natives.
I've had great success growing Crepe Myrtles from cuttings. The secret is to grow them in course River sand, that's all I use. We sell it here in bags.
These cuttings were taken about 6 weeks ago. Each cutting is about 75mms long. Cut just below a node then dip the cutting in Rooting powder. Poke cuttings close together in a 140mm pot filled with River sand. Water well then put in a shady area. Water daily.
The secret is your putting them close together with lots of cuttings, they help keep each other alive, because they create moisture. One cutting in a pot, almost never grows.
Today I've potted up the cuttings into 140mm pots using Tim's Best Potting mix and watered them well. I'll put them in a shady place for a day or two then move them into the sun as the weather cools.
The Tim's Best Potting mix makes them take off with more roots and more growth. It's no secret our potting mix is 100% better than the next best potting mix.
In spring I'll pot up these plants into 200mm pots. They will be ready for sale in summer when they will start to flower. It's all about timing so you get the growing seasons into your cycle.
Now is a great time to strike cuttings. We have everything you need plus free pots, in our pot recycling bin. Its fun growing plants from cuttings, give it a try.
OMG we have the most amazing new Echinacea plants! Come see our amazing selection of Cone Flowers. New colours that will attract Pollinators into your garden.
These super hardy plants flower through spring summer and autumn. If they ever look tired, cut them back, and feed with Tim's Cow Manure. They will reward you with fresh new growth and more flowers. The bees love them.
Happy gardening
Tim