Spring
Green!
“Spring green
is a colour on the colour wheel, precisely
halfway between cyan and green....... read
more >>
Spring green brings to mind
the well watered vegetation or early spring,
being a combination of cyan, the colour of
water, and green, the colour of plants.......
read more >>
Spring green may be used
to represent the green movement.... regarding
issues having to do with water resources or
water conservation....... read
more >>
Spring green environmentalism -
a person or an institution just recently become
committed to environmentalism.......
read more >>
Spring greens are a cultivar
of Brassica oleracea, similar to kale, in
which the central leaves do not form a head
or form only a very loose one....... read
more >>.”
Wikipedia
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COLOUR OF SPRING
Our beautiful horizontal elm tree perfectly
illustrates the real colour of spring and
is a fantastic feature of our garden centre.
It is particularly special at the moment as
is bursts into bloom with fresh green blossom.
Of course, this needs quite a large space,
but there are many other plants you can grow
giving you the colour of spring.
Under our tree you will find our collection
of hostas pushing up their new ‘asparagus’
spears of foliage about to unfurl.
Protect your own clumps now with snail bait.
Remember if you have pets use Tui
Quash.
If you are looking for a small feature tree
we have the golden form of the small leaved
Lime, Tilia cordata ‘Spring Glow’.
Beautiful fresh green foliage on a neat tree
with a particularly even branch habit. Very
striking.
Also a stunning sight in the spring rain
is our grouping of coral bark maples Acer
‘Senkaki’ with their glowing
red branches and the new foliage of the various
green maples. We have a wide selection of
maples if you are lucky to have a sheltered
garden.
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EARLY
SPRING
As early spring arrives, the euphorbias are
making a magnificent show. The naming and
number of these is somewhat confusing (we
have an entire book devoted to them) but our
favorites are the large growing Euphorbia
characias or E. characias subsp.
wulfenii, the first growing up to a metre
and the latter can have stems up to 1.8m.
If you can't squeeze these in, grow Euphorbia
x martinii with its showy heads of lime
green with a red eye.
These are the easiest of perennials, enjoying
an open sunny site and are drought tolerant
once established.
In the dry shade Euphorbia robbiae
will make a great spreading groundcover. Group
with variegated iris, Solomon’s
Seal, Geranium phaem, Ligularia ‘Spotted
Leopard’ and bergenias.
What a lovely combination to grow with Philadelphus,
green Cotinus and sarcococcas!
As well as these we have in stock a couple
of less commonly available varieties, Euphorbia
griffithii ‘Fire Glow’ and
‘Dixter’ and new plants
of our native variety, Euphorbia glauca
have just arrived.
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SPRING WATER
CONSERVATION
Mulch is so important for nourishing and
protecting your soil. It’s vital for
moisture retention and water conservation,
and also helps keep your soil cooler in summer
(and warmer in winter)! It’s really
important to give your soil a good soaking
first before mulching of course.
Come in and get our great deal, on till end
of October – three bags of Mulchpost
for $24.00. Mulchpost is
a combination of compost and bark which helps
protect your garden through the summer.
Protect plants with mulch mats – again
they're great for water conservation and keeping
in moisture during dry weather. Just wrap
around the base of your plant (remember to
water first to maximise moisture retention).
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SPRING
GREEN ENVIRONMENTALISM
There are so many plant foods available
and we have our favorites which we feel
give the best results. We fully endorse
the Burnet’s Gold
range.
These are unique as they slowly release
nutrients by both water hydrolysis and micro-organisms.
This means a lack of one will not affect
the slow release. They give months of sustained
slow feeding without the feast or famine
of other fertilisers and the danger of little
or no nutrient availability from single
release fertilisers – much better
for the environment as the nutrients are
not leached into the water table.
There are specific blends for roses, citrus
and fruit, rhododendrons and camellias and
a general fertiliser. They are perfect for
potted plants as well.
Liquid feeds give instant boosts and along
with products such as Seasol and organic
Nitrosol you can make your own.
Comfrey is a wonder plant and
you can make your own liquid feed by submerging
1kg of leaves in 15 litres of water, covering
and leaving to steep for 4 to 6 weeks.
The leaves can also be used to speed up
the compost bin, as a potassium-rich mulch
(not on ericaceous plants) and as a nutritious
base when planting potatoes, tomatoes and
runner beans.
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Have you lost the green on the leaves of
your rhododendrons or viburnums to be replaced
with leaves with an unsightly silvering?
This is the result of damage caused by
thrip last summer. The silvering is permanent
and will stay until those leaves fall off
the following season.
Protect your plants now with Yates
Confidor.
This can be sprayed onto plants under 1
metre but with anything taller use Tree
Health Bands wrapped around the main
stem soaked in Yates Confidor.
Recommended application time for both methods
is after the plant has flowered, when the
sap is flowing freely.
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SPRING GREENS
Our selection of vegetable seedlings in punnets
is increasing along with the rapid demand
for “growing your own” and we
have spring greens available.
This is also known as kale or brocole and
is a form of cabbage closely related to wild
cabbage.
It will grow in any well-drained soil, is
ultra hardy and has an added advantage of
rarely suffering from pests and diseases such
as club root.
Interestingly because of its high vitamin
K content, people taking anti-coagulants such
as warfarin should avoid eating it. As with
broccoli and other brassicas it contains suforaphane
believed to have potent anti-cancer properties,
particularly when chopped.
Also available are Cavolo nero,
an Italian black cabbage and mizuna,
Japanese Greens. This vigorous grower produces
numerous stalks of dark green deeply indented
feathery leaves. A variety peculiar to Japan,
often growing to 25cm in circumference at
the base, the foliage has a mild fresh crisp
taste not at all pungent and can be used in
all types of salads or cooked with meat. Excellent
for the container gardener as side leaves
can be harvested after only 3 weeks.
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FABULOUS GREEN
It’s looking just fabulous at the garden
centre with new perennials arriving daily,
exciting shrubs bursting into flower and the
sun shining (well much of the time!).
We're looking at all sorts of exciting developments
this coming summer - a coffee cart, newsletters
targeted to your special interests and a new
website. So come in and see us and let us
know what you would like to see on our new
website and what information you're interested
in receiving.
Look forward to seeing you soon.
