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Garden Radio Round Up February 25 - 26

The welcome late summer rain has arrived in Sydney, and looks likely to stay for a while. Late showers for Brisbane today and continuing through Sunday.

Perfect planting, feeding and preparation weather. But don't forget to take the time to admire those late summer beauties.

 


Belladonna lilies, if you're lucky are still at their peak in your garden.

 

It's Time To:

Admire what you have created

Pink Belladonna Lilies on dark stems sending light fragrance into the air.

Ligularia shines with spires of yellow flowers atop jagged green leaves.

See if you can spot the tubular white-tipped red flowers of Epacris on morning walks near the bush.

Prune spent Lavender flowers and take the foliage back by one third to prevent woodiness down below.

Start thinking about what spring-flowering bulbs you might like as it’ll be time to place your order soon.

Fungal diseases thrive in high humidity so check the foliage of your Begonias and Fuchsias in particular for powdery mildew, and treat with a fungicide.Watering the soil rather than splashing the leaves will also help.Keep an eye on your lawn too for brown spots or patches.

 

Bush Garden

Water Gum Tristaniopsis laurina

This 5-6m tall, small open shade tree is native to coastal Queensland, NSW and Victoria in moist gullies but very adaptable to planting in a wide variety of soils and aspects. Used as a street tree in Sydney and Brisbane for a century but useful as a small shade tree in gardens and courtyards. Recently saw the tree photographed in very dry area in Yarra Glen, Victoria.

The golden yellow summer flowers are attractive to nectar feeding birds and bees.

The long flat leaves often start out red then age to dark green.

The tree is drought and frost tolerant but slow growing. When selecting a nursery grown tree identify the specimen you want from single or multi-stemmed nursery stock.

 


Water Gum. Photo - Graham Ross

 

Bugwatch

Red Spider Mites

This potted olive is stressed from a lack of water, nutrients and sunshine.

As a result insects have come in to attack a weakened plant. The leaves show signs of red spider mite attack and brown scale on the stem.

The controls are multi- faceted.

Feeding and watering is important to encourage new growth. Watering the leaves also discourages mites as they like it dry.

Insecticide control can be helpful short term. Apply Yates Rose Spray, or Richgro Bug Killa granules, Naturasoap, or Eco Oil or Eco Neem.

 

Red spider mite and scale are opportunistic invaders that come in when your plants are stressed or under-nourished. Photo - Graham Ross

 

Come away with us

Tropical North Queensland

Escape the winter chills. Discover Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge, the Daintree, Cairns and Botanical Ark. Witness heliconia, lipstick palms, miracle fruit and fan palms in tropical glory. Visit private gardens, meet gardeners and sample unusual tropical fruits.

Don't miss out on the fantastic Far North Queensland tour. Go to the Ross Tours website, or call Royce or Roslyn at Ross Tours on 1300 233 200.

 


Silky Oaks lodge in the Daintree.

 

Garden News

Lawn what???

Yep, that's right - 'Lawn Porn'. It's taking the lawn-loving world by storm.

When the Sunrise morning news show on Channel 7 interviewed Matthew, the lawn enthusiast behind this collective of grass voyeurs the numbers of other grass fans following the Lawnporn Facebook page grew from 500 to 24,000!

 


The Lawnporn boys. Good looking ..... lawns

 

And why? It's really all about the community they are building - literally thousands of very proud lawn owners in Australia like uploading photos of their lawns to those whom appreciate the time and effort it takes to care for lawn, and the sense of pride one gets from achieving the perfect patch.

The Lawnporn boys are now selling merchandise including T-shirts & Stubbie holders, which are selling like hotcakes! Matthew puts up videos on YouTube, the latest of which features Matthew showing us how to feed the lawn with his favourite lawn food, Sudden Impact For Lawns from Neutrog.

Word on the street is that the boys have been approached by a TV network with the possibility of doing a series (That's right - watching the grass grow). What'll they think of next?