A Tree That Smokes? - Oct 30, 2025
Dear gardening
Fayaz just came in looking for Native grasses. You don't want native grasses mate, show me a photo of your garden.
He showed me a photo, the garden was all prepared, it was even covered in mulch. The house next door was huge, one of the windows looked straight into Fayaz's front garden.
You need a tree mate, you've got plenty of room for a tree and you need a screen along that fence. You don't want to be looking at that cream fence and that White House.
I showed him Pink Cascade Lillypillys. Plant two of these they will hide the fence and your neighbours, they'll attract the birds and nature into your garden.
You could plant an Ivory curl tree as your feature tree, you have room, he liked it but he liked the idea of the Crepe Myrtle with the purple foliage and red flowers for 100 days.
He needed ground cover around the base so I showed him Tricolour Jasmine. It's such a beautiful ground cover with pink and green leaves and it's super hardy.
Then the garden narrowed towards the letter box so I showed him Oriental pearl Rhaphiolepis. This super hardy dome shaped shrub gets beautiful white perfumed flowers in spring. Three planted in a row and shaped will look great all year round.
I sold him Tim's Cow manure to improve the soil. He didn't come to buy plants today, he was just getting ideas and prices but there's no time like now I told him.
Let's seize the moment, it's going to rain. "Do you have a shovel" yes great, you can go home and plant these today.
He was a bit shocked, he comes from Bangladesh, he came out as a student 20 years ago, and fell in love with Australia. We need people who love Australia.
He's married now and this is his first garden. He wanted Native grasses because he sees them everywhere and they grow easily.
He was happier with my choices, it's going to be more private and nature will be more likely to visit. He follows us on Facebook, he trusts us he told me. That's nice.
I made a friend today.
I have this beautiful tree growing in my garden and it's covered in flowers. It's called a Smoke Bush because the unusual flowers float above the foliage.
I love the purple coloured foliage, it adds colour to my otherwise green garden, yes I love the colour green, it's so soothing.
Botanically known as Cotinus coggygria Rubrifolius. It's a super fast growing medium sized shade tree. The spring foliage is so beautiful with the purple coloured leaves. The flowers are a bit spooky, almost Halloweenish.
It thrives in cooler climates too. Drops its leaves in winter, to let the sunshine in through the windows.
We have trees in stock today. It's a collector plant. Very arty this tree, you need one.
Zoom zoom.
Biblical Jasmine is back in stock. A friend grows these for us, he was going to retire, but I asked him if he could just grow this plant.
Biblical Jasmine is also called Grand Duke of Tuscany. The double white flowers have that amazing Jasmine fragrance, but this climber is much better behaved, so it can also be grown in a big pot. Simply make a teepee with three stakes and tie them at the top to support the growth.
Biblical Jasmine flowers throughout the warmer months. The fragrant white flowers are used to make perfumes and teas.
The double flowering variety is a Collectors Plant. You won't find it in the big green shed. We also have the single flowering variety and it's much cheaper to buy.
Grow your Biblical Jasmine using Tim's Best Potting mix. This contains all the goodies to make it thrive.
You'll need a pot that holds two bags of potting mix.
It can also be grown in the ground in a warm protected position. It needs good drainage so raise up your garden using a bag of Tim's Best Potting mix.
Plant your Jasmine in this and water daily for a couple of weeks to get it growing.
It seems to thrive best where it doesn't get the really hot afternoon sun. It's not good in frosty areas, but it grows here in Macarthur. You might get it to grow in a warm micro climate.
We only have 50 plants and they always sell out fast. They make amazing gifts because they are covered in highly perfumed flowers right now.
Plants cost $49.99.
I just walked past this garden and I noticed the plants are planted just 50cms apart. This is common practice in the Landscape industry and new gardeners are more likely to plant shrubs this close together too.
It's crazy!!!!
This garden is only 5 metres long by 2 metres wide. That's 10 m2 of area that needs to be covered with foliage. There's 19 plants being planted here including 5 x Banksia Bird Song which will grow 1.5ms high by 1.5 ms wide. This is crazy!!!!
It's such a waste of money but also the plants are going to grow into each other so it won't be able to be maintained. They also compete for water, so many of them will simply die, because of root competition. The 5 x Banksias alone will grow and cover 7.5 m2.
When you're buying plants read the labels not just for height, plant width is just as important. How wide they grow will determine how many plants you need. You want space between the plants so you can walk into the garden to service it. They will never be able to clean the windows here.
It's just so wrong because we are planting shrubs that will never reach their full potential. In time 50% of these will have to be pulled out.
Save your money, space the plants at least 1.2ms apart. Zig zag plant them, so they have room to grow. It will look better in time and you'll be able to landscape your entire garden with less money.
It's simple.
Happy gardening
Tim