gardens and landscaping | Gardening

Home and garden news, upcoming events

Alice Waters, the Berkeley chef who led the California fresh food revolution, will appear in conversation with Sunset Magazine Food Editor Margo True at the Sunset Idea House in Healdsburg.

The two will discuss kitchen gardens, Waters’ Edible Schoolyard Project and more starting at 4 p.m. today. The first 500 visitors will receive autographed copies of Waters’ book “In the Green Kitchen.”

The panel talk is included with the price of admission to The 2012 Idea House, a high-end, factory-made show home with many green features and contemporary design ideas.

The Idea House is a collaboration between Blu Homes and Sunset Magazine.

Cost to visit the house, which is open to visitors through Sept. 9, is $17. Children under 12 are free. To purchase tickets, visit bluhomes.com/sunsetopenhouse.

Parking is at the Sonoma County Park Ride lot at Healdsburg and Grant avenues, with shuttles departing at the top of the hour hourly from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

SANTA ROSA: Seed-saving workshop

Have you had a great-tasting tomato or ear of corn? If it’s not a hybrid, have you thought of saving the seed? How about your favorite flowers?

If you would like to try and save seeds, but don’t really know how, visit the Harvest for the Hungry garden for a seed-saving workshop Sept. 8.

Yeti Seed is a core member of the West County Community Seed Exchange. As a longtime gardener and seed-saver, he is going to share his knowledge from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Garden is located at 1717 Yulupa Ave., behind the United Methodist Church. For information call 484-3613.

SONOMA: Permaculture talk by landscape designer

The Valley of the Moon Garden Club is hosting landscape designer and contractor Karen Boness on Sept. 6 with a talk focusing on permaculture design.

The owner of Wild Willow Landscape Design, Boness is a committed practitioner of permaculture and California native plant design, edible landscaping, and medicinal herbalism.

The free talk starts at 7 p.m. at the Vintage House, 264 1st Street E., Sonoma. Refreshments will be served. For more information call George at 935-5939.

OCCIDENTAL: Sale at Arts and Ecology Center

You’ve got one more opportunity to stock up for your fall planting during the Second Chance Sale today and Sunday and the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center.

The 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily sale will feature open-pollinated, organic heirloom starts, many grown from the center’s own seed collection.

Look for kale, brassicas, cabbage, collards, lettuces, salad greens, mustards, chards, fennel, leeks, onions, scallions and herbs as well as edible flowers and ornamental and edible vegetables.

The center is located at 15290 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental. For information and a detailed list of available starts visit oaec.org or call 874-1557, ext. 101.

SONOMA COUNTY: Master Gardeners offer classes

The Sonoma County Master Gardeners have geared up for fall with a strong line-up of free classes on Sept. 8.

Fall/Winter Planting In the Vegetable Garden: Food gardening specialists will talk about preparing and planting a vegetable garden with cool weather crops.

They will cover soil preparation, irrigation, choosing plants and maintaining your crop. The workshop will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sonoma Garden Park, 19996 7th Street E., Sonoma. For more information email mgsonomafood@ucdavis.edu.

Budget Floral Design: Taught by longtime designer Ellyn Pelikan, who works from ready materials in the natural landscape. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rincon Valley Library, 6959 Montecito Blvd., Santa Rosa

Lessons from my Garden” led by David Gould. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rohnert Park/Cotati Regional Library, 6250 Lynne Conde Way, Rohnert Park.

Practical Harvest led by Janet Barocco. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the barn at Luther Burbank Experiment Farm, 7781 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol.

The Sonoma County Master Gardeners are available to field questions.

Their Santa Rosa information desk can be reached at 565-2608 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays.

They also man a desk in Sonoma at 938-0127 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They can also be reached by email at mgsonoma@ucdavis.edu.

SONOMA COUNTY: Compost Company gets honored

Sonoma Compost Company, which runs the Organic Recycling Program for the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency, has received the Dave Hardy Leadership in Organics Award.

Sonoma Compost turns nearly 100,000 tons of yard debris, wood scraps, vegetative food scraps, and other organics each year into organic composts and mulches for landscapers, backyard gardeners, grape growers and farmers.

The composting program diverts nearly 30 percent of Sonoma County’s waste from the landfill.

The Dave Hardy Leadership in Organics Award is given each year to an individual, business, government agency, community-based organization or school that excels in the production, marketing and/or utilization of organic materials.

CRRA is a statewide recycling association dedicated to achieving environmental sustainability through product stewardship, waste prevention, reuse, recycling and composting.

For information about Sonoma Compost visit sonomacompost.com.

WINDSOR, HEALDSBURG: Make the most of your garden tools

Kathy Matanok will discuss “How to Select and Care for Your Garden Tools,” emphasizing that the right tool makes all the difference in getting a job done right during a free workshop today.

Matanok will also cover how and when to maintain your own tools and when to seek out a pro.

The free workshop will be from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Windsor Regional Library, 9291 Old Redwood Road, Building 100. The workshop will be repeated Sept. 15 at the Healdsburg Regional Library during the same hours. 565-2608 or www.sonomamastergardeners.org.

HEALDSBURG: How to rejuvenate your irises

Iris expert Roxie Nall will visit the Russian River Rose Co. today for a hands-on demonstration on lifting irises to rejuvenate them.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nall will lift some of the 100-plus varieties in the garden to show you how to give them a kick start.

Now through October is the best time to do it. Cost is $2 and includes access to the gardens.

If you simply want to stroll through the rose garden, with its 650 varieties of roses, check out the butterfly garden or shop the nursery, Russian River Rose Company will be open to drop-in visitors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 25.

It is located at 1685 Magnolia Drive, Healdsburg. 433-7455 or russian-river-rose.com.

(You can direct Home and Garden news to meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.)

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Teague: Check out heat damage in garden

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Long, really hot spells like the one we experienced earlier this month are not that uncommon during summers here in the central San Joaquin Valley. Every two to three years we suffer through 10 successive days or more of temperatures above 100 degrees.

Take a few minutes in your garden now to evaluate the damage cause by the recent excessive heat. Finding out why some plants died and some plants survived can help us make better plant choices and landscaping decisions in the future.

The first realization you’ll have is just how much water it takes to keep plants alive and healthy during a heat wave. Some plants are more vulnerable to heat and drought stress; container plants, late-season or new transplants, puny plants that should never have been purchased, plants that are in full sun all day with no afternoon shade, and plants that are unsuitable for our arid, hot climate required daily irrigation when temperatures reached 105 or above. Sunny lawns needed nearly double the usual amount of irrigation in early August to prevent browning.

Even on existing plants that did not die, new buds were stunted and deformed or flowers dropped prematurely, leaving the garden bare of color. You’ll see that the leaves and flowers of certain types of plants, those that grow from underground tubers or corms that can store water, held color and shape better than most; these include iris, alstromoeria, calla lilies and cannas.

Plants with mature, well-established root systems that were planted in well-draining, well-amended soil did fairly well in the heat. The heavy clay soil that is found throughout the Valley does not drain well and dries out rock hard if not consistently irrigated. We also have areas of sandy soil which do not hold water. Plants’ roots do not spread well in either type of soil. Check the soil type in spots in your garden where plants died or fried and plan on amending the soil in those spots with copious amounts of humus or compost before replanting.

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Explore the shady side of gardening

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Not all shade is created equal.

Some of it comes naturally, the byproduct of towering trees. This shade can multiply with age and appear in gardens where summer sun once glowed.

Other shade comes man-made, blocking the sun on the north side of buildings. Or it creates an oasis of cool under gazebos, pergolas and other structures that shield us from the relentless sun.

In the Sacramento Valley in August, any shade is a premium. Plants may struggle to get light, but we humans (and other creatures) crave shade’s instant cool.

Shade also has a dark side. Sun-loving flowers and tomatoes wither in its shadow. As trees mature in older landscapes, shade creeps out over shrubs and annual beds, denying them life- sustaining light. Lawns need a lifeline.

But there’s a cool middle ground where plants can be comfortable and people, too. It comes down to knowing which plants to put where.

During summer work days, volunteers congregate in the shade of the gazebo and trees at the UC Davis Arboretum. It’s their favorite spot for breaks and work.

“It’s always cooler in this garden,” said Ellen Zagory, horticulture director for the UC Davis Arboretum. “You walk in and it’s 10 degrees cooler instantly.”

Superintendent emeritus Warren Roberts gets credit for the gazebo garden’s all-white theme. The garden is named for Carolee Shields, the prim and very Victorian wife of the university’s co-founder, Judge Peter J. Shields.

Originally, that corner of the campus was a plum and almond orchard. When the arboretum took the parcel over, the gazebo was built as a shade structure for plants.

“The gazebo was one of the first things built out here,” Zagory said. “It was dirt field all around.”

Eventually, the gazebo garden became a patio to shade people instead of plants. “Warren said, ‘It’s the only shady place out there why not use it?’ ” Zagory recalled.

The all-white garden, a popular theme in Victorian times, grew with its surrounding trees.

White also is a perfect choice for shade gardens. White flowers, which may look harsh in full sun, appear brighter and almost luminescent in shade. In late afternoon or early evening, the blooms glow like little flashlights along paths and under trees.

White flowers also tend to be more fragrant, an adaptation to attract pollinators that may not see them in the shade.

The heavy scent of tea olive (Osmanthus) often fills the Shields gazebo garden.

“It’s my favorite,” said arboretum gardening specialist Theresa Goman. “When it’s in bloom, you can smell the osmanthus all over the area. I can be on the other side of the arboretum and smell it. It’s mind-blowing.”

Shade gardens bloom more in spring when they get more sun before deciduous trees develop their full load of leaves.

The arboretum boasts many shady summer gems. Argentine rain lilies, which look like white crocuses, pop up along paths. Hybrid hollyhocks thrive with a little afternoon sun.

Shade gardens tend to be very low maintenance. Opportunistic weeds have a hard time growing without full sun.

“Shade gardens can have less maintenance than a full sun garden,” said Emily Griswold, the arboretum’s assistant director of horticulture. “They grow slower, there are fewer flowers, which means less deadheading and pruning.”

But some plants especially vines such as honeysuckle and Virginia creeper can thrive in shady spaces. They can take over if not kept in check.

“That’s one of my projects,” Griswold said as she pruned away around sprinkler heads. “Some plants are hogging all the water.”

Because flowers are less prominent, foliage becomes an important feature in shade gardens, Griswold added. Ferns, shade- loving native grasses (such as Carex) and variegated plants add interest without showy flowers.

“The silver variegation can be so interesting,” Zagory said as she showed off a variegated privet with silver-edged leaves. “It just glows in the shade.”

Along with most of its landscaping, UC Davis is weaning its shade garden off high water use. The gazebo garden and nearby Ruth Risdon Storer Garden of Valley-wise plants have transitioned to more drought-tolerant plants.

Like many backyards, the Storer Garden is getting shadier, too, as its trees grow. With bright-blue flowers, plumbago expands its space in the shady borders.

Native trees such as valley oaks need less water, too. The space under their branches is dry shade and needs plants that can adapt to their same sparse water requirements.

That makes coral bells (Heuchera) a dry shade star.

“I love Opal heuchera,” Goman said. “It doesn’t get water. It doesn’t get any care whatsoever. It’s indestructible.”

Well-planned shade can make any garden an oasis.

Jorge Loyola, owner of Loyola Landscaping, wanted to spend more time in his small Davis backyard.

“I made it shady it was my choice,” he said. “I planted all these trees. Now, it’s very shady. I really enjoy having it that way.”

Loyola’s home has been featured on local garden tours. Beneath a canopy of maples, plums and pistaches, hydrangeas, nandinas, sago palms and ferns make themselves comfortable. Astilbes and impatiens add pops of color. A waterfall creates a cooling melody.

“Those are shade-loving plants,” Loyola said. “I’ve experimented through the years. Some plants have done really well; others don’t make it.”

In windows of sunshine, dahlias create dramatic displays.

“A couple of spots get full sun,” Loyola said. “That’s where you can add some color, too.”

Unlike sunny lawns that need mowing or full-sun flowerbeds that get crowded by weeds, a shady garden means less work, he said.

“It’s really low maintenance and very easy to take care of,” Loyola said. “It always looks clean and nice.”

The best part about a shade garden in summer is obvious.

“It’s a lot cooler!” Loyola said. “I really enjoy it. In summer, you want to be outside. Here, it’s comfortable.”

KNOW YOUR SHADE

Shade isn’t simple. Before planting a garden in existing shade, evaluate your sun and soil situation.

Shade can be solid or dappled. It can move with the sun or pop up seasonably. Shade can be moist or dry or somewhere in between.

Take some notes about where and when your garden gets shade. Then match up plants that can thrive in those conditions.

Shade falls into four categories:

Dappled or light shade: Sunlight moves across the space but never remains full for an extended length of time. It filters through tree branches but still dapples the ground. This often is enough light for even sun-loving plants. It’s perfect for succulents, camellias or hydrangeas. In Sacramento, some sun lovers such as geraniums do better in dappled shade that keeps them from burning in full summer sun.

Open shade: Light is bright but there’s no direct sun, such as the space under a covered patio or a narrow side yard with northern exposure. Look for plants that like partial shade such as fuchsias and begonias.

Medium shade: This is the space under small trees or on the north side of buildings. Shade lovers thrive here; others won’t grow. Think of plants that thrive in the forest or jungle. It’s a great spot for azaleas, ferns, hostas, hellebores, ginger, caladiums and coleus.

Deep or full shade: All sunlight is blocked, such as under large evergreen trees or in a narrow garden area blocked by buildings or fences. Only the hardiest shade-loving plants such as ivy or moss will grow in this space.

FAVORITES FOR SHADY SPOTS

Here are some favorite plants for shady spots, recommended by the UC Davis Arboretum staff and volunteers:

Flowering maple (Abutilon): This shrub boasts attractive apricot or yellow blooms, an unusual color in shade.

Fuchsia: Upright varieties thrive in shady gardens under small trees. Hanging varieties are perfect for patios.

Hellebore: Nicknamed the Lenten or wood rose, this shade lover blooms in January in deep shade. The glossy foliage is attractive all year.

Coral bells (Heuchera): A must for dry shade, this low-growing perennial requires little care. Foliage looks interesting year-round. In spring and summer, it sprouts arcing stems of little bell-like flowers.

Hydrangea: These shrubs love shady spots. The oakleaf varieties tolerate the high boron content in Davis water.

Pacific iris: These natives (such as hybrid Canyon Snow) offer showy flowers in partial shade with little or no care.

Soap plant or amole: Used by local Indians to make soap, this California native thrives in the dry shade under oaks where it can get dappled sun.

Stock (Matthiola incana): This popular spring flower actually appreciates the cool of summer shade and can bloom in partial shade. The blue-gray foliage looks good year round.

Debbie Arrington

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The San Diego Landscaping Professionals at JCMS Landscaping Win Award at …

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http://www.jcms1.com

SAN DIEGO, CA, Aug 25, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) —
The San Diego landscaping professionals at JCMS Landscaping, a team
of experienced craftsmen who dedicate their professional time to
providing home and business owners with creative and aesthetically
pleasing landscape design and work, hereby announce that the team has
won an award at the 2012 Spring Home/Garden Show held in San Diego.
The award was given in the Display Gardens – Floating Life category
and the team took the prized Merit Award for Most Experimental entry.

The garden masters for the entry that won the award were Jesse Cryns
and Gabriel Cryns of JCMS Landscaping, and their unique design was
dedicated to their father, Joseph Cryns. The award-winning design was
a unique look at a patio that featured several small plants and zinc
pots that had water running out of them and back down under the patio
to give off the appearance of floating. The basic effort behind this
display was to show how small spaces could be maximized in terms of
their beauty and their efficiency.

The team at JCMS Landscaping will look to defend its title at the
2012 Fall Home/Garden show to be held on September 14 – 16 at the Del
Mar Fairgrounds in the San Diego area. The show will be much like the
one in which the JCMS Landscaping team won their award, as
landscapers from all different locations will be on hand to provide
displays to visitors who happen to be interested in obtaining ideas
for upgrading their own properties.

About JCMS Landscaping
JCMS Landscaping is a team of San Diego
landscapers who provide design, building and maintenance help to
their customers. The team has been working for customers throughout
San Diego County and they are able to provide help with one-time
projects and ongoing management and care of properties as defined by
the needs of the customers. The team offers free estimates for work
that’s being considered and is a member of the Better Business
Bureau.



        
        JCMS Landscaping
        Jesse Cryns
        Email Contact
        619-334-9464
 
http://www.jcms1.com/

SOURCE: JCMS Landscaping



 
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=030308AA444B7368     
http://www.jcms1.com/

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Sun-filled days colour gardens

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WHILE the spring weather provides us with gorgeous sunny days, we’re coming out of the winter hibernation and starting to fill the vegie patch and flower garden with a good assortment of plants.

And perhaps you’re all finishing off, as we are, the last of the winter crop.

You may enjoy the photo of the second last of our lettuces that went in about six weeks ago, which is a green oakleaf variety planted from seedlings.

We used a tiny quantity of Osmocote under each plant, watered them in well and followed up with Seasol/Powerfeed combined to overcome the poor-draining soil in that part of the garden.

The accompanying photo shows the one picked last week, which thrived so well that we shared it with two of our neighbours.

Plant of the week

A gorgeous eye-catcher we’ve been planning to include for many weeks is the flamboyant orange trumpet creeper (Pyrostegia venusta).

Happily, the Sunshine Coast is an ideal place to grow this beautiful Brazilian climber, also known as golden shower.

They are still flowering, having started in autumn.

Most of them will continue for several weeks yet, with their bright orange, tubular flowers catching every passers-by attention.

In our climate, orange trumpet creeper is evergreen.

Its major requirement is adequate water during the flowering period to encourage more flowers, especially as this is our usually dry period.

They are ideal for hedging along the fence line or on a trellis or pergola to provide shade and they make a lovely statement over an archway.

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Turn your garden into an edible landscape

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Having grown up around food, with memories of checking the chook pen for eggs, pork and fennel sausage hanging in the shed, and running through the vegie patch at his grandparents’ backyard in Hamilton Hill, Mat Pember wanted more from his landscaping career.

After trying to decide what he really wanted to do and wondering if he would ever put his commerce degree to use, he eventually decided to follow his passion for edible landscapes and in 2008 started The Little Veggie Patch Co, a Melbourne-based business that specialises in the design, installation and maintenance of chemical-free vegetable gardens.

HOW TO: Make a window box

While his nonna had made a love of produce gardens and good food part of his DNA, an old flatmate sparked his curiosity by trying to grow herbs in a tiny, hot courtyard in their 20s.

“When we didn’t succeed, late-night urban foraging of our neighbour’s herb patch really got the sparks flying,” Pember laughed.

After being introduced to a friend of his sister’s, Fabian Capomolla, in 2009, the pair bonded over their love of fresh produce and good food – so much so that Capomolla decided to ditch his advertising career to follow his dream of helping people grow food, joining the LVPC fold that same year.

“I guess people see the main reasoning as health and environment. But our main motivations have been, and always will be, the lifestyle and quality of food,” Pember said.

“Moving with the seasons is how we try to live and connect with our food, and these things give us a grounding that we really wanted to share; it’s about deriving great pleasure from the basics that can so often be oversighted and confused in bright lights.

Giving people an insight in the seasons and what they mean to us is the message of this book.”

The Little Veggie Patch Co’s Guide to Backyard Farming is the pair’s second book, following on from their hugely popular How To Grow Food In Small Spaces.

The new book is full of the pair’s witty anecdotes, which put a fresh twist on the subject matter.

“This was a great opportunity to wet a notoriously dry topic,” Pember laughed.

It takes readers on a year-long journey through the seasons, from what to plant and harvest to how to cook with it, in the form of a mouth-watering recipe for each month of the year.

The boys have hand-picked some of their favourite recipes using produce from the garden, including haloumi, asparagus and roasted tomato salad, zucchini and dill fritters and Pember’s favourite, chocolate and beetroot cake.

There are projects to keep you busy in the garden; think building a vertical vegetable garden, espaliering, creating a window box, and making your own cider.

There are also sections on keeping chickens and starting a backyard beehive, and plenty of topics to get the kids involved.

“We enjoy gardening the most when we share with friends and loved ones, so the activities aim to gather involvement from all corners of your family and friendship group,” said Pember, who has a three-month-old daughter, Emi.

Capomolla is currently teaching his two children, Jack, 4, and Olive, 2 next month, the benefits of produce gardening.

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Aerial assault on weed

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Glastonbury property owner Frank Baas has joined neighbours to wipe out giant rat’s tail grass.

FOUR Glastonbury neighbours have found a new hi-tech way to rise above weed problems that seem to get a lot of other landholders down.

Airborne herbicide distribution and a new range of granular chemicals have combined to help the innovative group get the drop on a weed menace – giant rat’s tail grass – that threatens to ground many Gympie Region farms.

“Everyone’s pitching in,” landowner Frank Baas said as he and his neighbours watched.

They and interested Gympie Regional Council lands management staff were on hand yesterday as the jet turbine chopper, from Cooroy-based McDermott Aviation, got their experiment off the ground.

It was all a precise operation, with $20,000 for helicopter hire and about $10,000 worth of poison, which no one could afford to waste.

“But we’ll do all four properties in a day,” Mr Baas said.

“It would take me three months to do it the conventional way, with the tractor.

“And even then we couldn’t do the hilly country.”

The four Greendale Rd properties add up to about 460 acres, he said.

Spray boom and tractor distribution was much more expensive and less effective in the long run, he said.

“To do 30 acres in the corner would take the best part of two and a half weeks, including waiting for the right wind conditions and carrying the water you need to mix and spray the herbicide”.

Mr Baas was joined by his neighbour Chris Bell, who organised yesterday’s herbicide drop, his wife Donna and aunt Yvonne Erickson.

With careful distribution, the herbicide granules will sit on the ground until activated by rain, a process that mirrors the needs of the giant rat’s tail grass seeds.

The granules will keep being rain-activated and time released for up to three years, mimicking the incredible durability of the weed it is aimed at.

“(The pilot) will do about 200ha in half a day,” Mr Bell said.

“We’re looking for about 3mm of rain to get things started,” Mr Baas said.

“The pellets mix in with the soil and it would take quite a bit of rain to wash them away”.

GRT facts

Native to central and southern Africa.
Commonly found as a weed in coastal south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Grows in pasture, along roadsides, at disturbed sites, in open woodlands.
An upright and long-lived grass, it grows to 60 to 170cm tall and forms large tussocks.
Characterised by long narrow leaves and elongated seed heads.
Produces large quantities of seed.
Linked to lower pasture productivity and lower land values.

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Unusual tree good for birds

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The fruit of the Kigelia pinnata aka ‘sausage tree’.

OVER the last few weeks I have received a number of inquiries about an unusual tree growing along Wandal Rd, just past the Southside United Sports Club.

The tree is Kigelia pinnata or the ‘sausage tree’ and could be described as one of nature’s wonders.

This part of the street has an attractive street planting of these trees, which are fruiting at the moment.

The sausage tree would be one of the most underutilised canopy shade trees in Central Queensland.

A native of central and southern Africa, it grows into one of the more attractive canopy trees, with an expected height in ideal conditions of up to 17 metres, with a straight trunk and a large spreading crown of foliage.

After rain, you can expect one of the most unusual flowers of any of the world’s trees.

The flowers appear like hanging clusters of orchid flowers, sometimes 60cm in length. Each individual flower is about 10cm across and dark maroon in colour and of a velvety texture.

Unfortunately, they do not have the sweetest of perfume, but they will still attract a lot of birds to the tree.

After flowering, large sausage-shaped woody fruit develop, hanging from long flower stems. These can give the tree an odd appearance at this time.

The unripe fruit is poisonous, but it has been said that in Africa it has been used as a treatment for rheumatism and as a dressing for tropical ulcers.

It has also been reported roasted and ground ripe fruit has been used to make a crude beer, although I would not recommend this to any potential homebrewers!

One other interesting fact about this tree is, due to its fibrous bark, it is a very good host plant for orchids and other epiphytes. In some countries, it has been grown solely for this purpose.

Groundcovers for shady spots

It is always around this time of year you suddenly notice those little gaps in the shrubbery of the garden that require attention.

The main reason for the gap in the first place is usually the position has become much darker, making it hard for the original plants to grow.

With a little careful selection, there are quite a number of plants that flourish in these less than ideal conditions.

If are preparing a garden that poses this type of problem, using shade-tolerant groundcovers could easily solve your problem.

Acalypha reptans ‘Stephie’ is an evergreen spreading plant with unusual bushy red tail-like flowers and mild green leaves with saw-toothed edges for part-shade to full sun areas. This is probably one of the most versatile groundcovers available to local gardeners.

Heterocentron elegans or Prostrate Lasiandra, is an evergreen hardy groundcover with mat forming stems; soft, lime green leaves and rich, purple flowers throughout the year.

Lysimachia ‘Gold Clusters’ is a vigorous evergreen, prostrate perennial for partly shaded areas, with clusters of yellow flowers all year. There are also several new hybrids with various coloured foliage.

Ruellia ciliosa or Splash of Blue is a very hardy groundcover with large blue flowers over a long period.

It accepts a variety of conditions, from sunny warm dry spots to moist part-shade positions, and is highly recommended.

Viola hederacea or Native Violet, is a plant that is found growing naturally at Blackdown Tablelands.

It is a vigorous growing groundcover, which spreads to 1m in diameter, with very attractive mauve and white, violet shaped flowers.

There is also a white flowering form available to local gardeners.

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Celebration in bloom

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Lismore Botanic Garden work group organisers Roz Little and Pat Offord enjoy the working bee ahead of the gardens’ 10th anniversary of the first tree planted.

JUMP the fence at Lismore tip and you will find yourself in a quiet, fragrant and beautiful place: the Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens.

But this Sunday the gardens will be making a lot more noise than usual when celebrations of its 10-year anniversary get under way.

“Working up to the anniversary, everyone’s been putting in a lot of work,” gardens work organiser and Friends of the Gardens vice president Pat Offord said.

“On the day we invite people to come and help us complete our Sunny Slope planting from 9am. To celebrate National Tree Day we will be putting in hardy, colourful local plants that will thrive in the sun.”

Official festivities kick off at 11am when Mayor Jenny Dowell will cut the cake and Lismore City Council general manager Gary Murphy will plant a special tree.

“Even when we didn’t have a site, council offered us things like an office and did our printing for us,” Mrs Offord said.

“They were very supportive from the start.”

Two new Discovery Trails have been constructed to take visitors into parts of the gardens that were not previously accessible; a level bitumen path winds through the oldest part of the gardens and colourful signs have been erected to help visitors identify plants.

“We have 11 different gardens here, most of them filled with rainforest plants from within 200km of Lismore,” Mrs Offord said.

Among them are the Uncommon Plants Garden, the Useful Plants Garden, the Sub-Tropical Rainforest Garden and the Dry Rainforest Garden.

A Sensory Garden – to be filled with highly perfumed plants and plants that react to touch – is also in the pipeline.

If you’d like to take part in the tree planting or attend the lunch, let Pat Offord know by the end of today by calling her on 6629 1435. The gardens are open from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Sunday.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Unusual tree good for birds

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