What a fantastic time of the year to be out in the garden! Many plants are right at their peak, showing off their very best flowers. In our veggie gardens, tomatoes are just getting started and everything seems to be gearing up for a fantastic late summer and autumn harvest.
Acorn Nursery is open from 9am to 5pm until the 5th of January. From Monday the 6th, we'll be back to our regular hours of 8am to 5pm. The Oaks Cafe will also reopen on the 6th!
Happy New Year from everyone at Acorn Nursery and The Oaks Cafe. We hope to see you soon!
Tony's Tips
January 2025
It may be the New Year, but it's already the middle of the growing season for many plants! This is a great time to get out in the garden and take a look around, some things might need a little light pruning, some are just beginning to take off with late summer and autumn flowers. Most importantly, enjoy the season, enjoy your plants, and maybe even enjoy the literal fruits of your labour!
There are many plants that love to be planted into warm soil, including Crepe Myrtles, long-flowering summer perennials, Plumbago, Gardenias, Murrayas and Lavenders. Vincas and Basil are also loving the warmer weather and are still great to plant now. Just remember to give your new plants a little extra attention on hot days.
Things to Do:
- Prune traditional Hydrangea macrophylla back by half. We have long advocated a summer prune to promote earlier flowering and better quality flowers for next spring and summer.
- Prune most lavenders this month, especially French and English varieties. Prune them back hard but always leave some viable foliage to draw the sap up to empower new growth. Never prune to bare wood.
- If your gardenias need a bit of a shape up, now is the time to do it, but only lightly! I prune my Gardenias back by around five to 10 per cent and follow up with Harry's Gardenia Food to promote bushiness.
- Lightly prune long flowering perennials such as Geraniums, Salvias, Gauras and Fuchsias.
- If last year's Parsley is going to seed, remember to plant some more!
- To maximise water penetration and retention, use a wetting agent such as Rapid Soak on garden beds and pots and follow up with sugar cane mulch on garden beds. Water regularly to maintain plant health and wellbeing through summer.
Plant of the Month
Echinacea Sunseekers
Echinacea Sunseekers will be arriving in the nursery later this month, including several new additions to the range. These very colourful perennials flower through summer and autumn, making a wonderful display with their showy coneflowers. They are highly attractive to many pollinators and team very well with other water-wise perennials such as salvias, sedums and ornamental grasses.
