Welcome to the April newsletter. Mid-autumn is always a beautiful time in Melbourne. The weather is very pleasant and our gardens are loving it!

Coming up this month we have school holidays - a perfect time to get the kids into the garden. A great way to pique their interest is to let them choose something to plant and take care of. Nothing more satisfying than flowers or veggies you grew yourself!

As a little heads up, we will be closed on Good Friday this year but open every other day of the Easter long weekend. Happy gardening!

Tony's Tips

April 2022

Welcome to April, a very nice time of the year in the garden. The weather is being very kind and the gardens are looking pretty good. This is the best time of the year to do major planting to get plants well established by next summer.

Cool climate plants are coming to the fore now with lots of new season stock coming in. We will have new season Hellebores coming in this month including two beautiful new varieties; single-flowered Sugar Plum and double-flowered Raspberry Ripple.

Azaleas are available in a range of colours and we have both shade-loving and sun tolerant varieties. Salvias are also at their best now and are great perennials for long-lasting colour. We have a full range of cool-climate seedlings including a huge range of Pansies and Violas as well as Primulas, Poppies and Cinerarias and trans-seasonal seedlings like Alyssum and Lobelia. Your garden can be a riot of colour over the coming months if you plant now!

Things to do:

• Give your Gardenias and Roses a final feed before the cooler weather sets in. If you haven’t already fed Camellias, Azaleas, Daphne and Citrus, a feed now is crucial for a good winter.
• Autumn leaves make a fantastic addition to your compost. Pin Oak and Plane tree leaves are too carboniferous but everything else combines fantastically with a little organic nitrogen or green lawn clippings.
• If you only feed natives once a year, do it now as they go into their most productive and energy-intensive time of the year. Always use a fertiliser designed for native plants.
• Plant bulbs now for a colourful display in winter and early spring. We have an amazing selection of interesting and unusual bulbs this year. Tulips need 4-6 weeks in the fridge but all the others can be directly planted into improved soil or good potting mix.
• There are still plenty of pests around which should be dealt with before they become a long term problem. Spray caterpillars with Mavrick. Use Conguard or Bug Killa on Azalea Lace Bug on Azaleas and Viburnums. Treat Lawn Beetle Grub with Dead Grub. An unusually humid season has meant lots of Rose Black Spot which can be controlled with applications of Rose Shield or Rose Gun.

Plant of the month

Camellia Sasanqua Blush

Camellias are the star of many autumn gardens and Camellia Sasanqua Blush is one of our all-time favourites. We use it as a hedge in the nursery and we find it to be one of the best performers with absolutely stunning flowers.

We have a variety of sasanqua Camellias in flower right now, suitable for a range of positions and purposes. We will also have the first winter-flowering japonica Camellias in the nursery this month.