BLUE PLANTS
FOR SUMMER
I’m often asked, “What’s
looking good at the moment?”. Then,
when I put a list together I find most of
the plants are in the same colour group! Mid
summer is no exception, and as I wander around
the Garden Centre the prevailing colour is
blue or, really, rich purple.
Part of our collection includes Thalictrum
‘Hewitt’s Double”
- we've taken some stems and arranged them
simply in a turquoise watering can –
they look stunning.
Our
red cabbages are magnificent
with their purple leaves and that slight dusty
blush – such a beautiful display in
the garden that I don’t have the heart
to harvest them.
All the English lavenders
are now in full bloom – Lavandula
‘Pacific Blue’ and L.
‘Atropurpurea Nana’ are
favourites.
Take a look at the very different Lavender
‘Sidonie’ for a long
display of lanky blue spires for a frost-free
area.
We love putting combinations of plants together,
and are just delighted with the effect of
the small flowering perennial petunia Calibrachoa
‘Royal Blue’
and the common purple sage, Salvia
purpurea.
Flowering prolifically in the shade at the
Botanic Gardens, are great swathes of Liriope
muscari. This is hard to beat
under trees in the dry, looking smart all
year round even when not in flower as the
dark green leaves are so pleasing. 
It complements other shade lovers like Hen
and Chicken fern, Asplenium bulbiferum
and hostas. Speaking of hostas,
there are lots of flowers on these right now,
in lovely shades of lavender, some even fragrant
like Hosta ‘Aphrodite’.
The
salvia family is coming into
its prime. The most dazzling blue in the garden
must belong to the flowers of Salvia
patens.
For a statement at the back of a border,
plant Salvia ‘Indigo
Spires’ which has long whorls
of deep indigo blue spires and will grow up
to 1.5m tall.
Also plant Salvia mexicana which
flowers later than ‘Indigo Spires’
with navy blue flowers coming out of lime
green calyxs – simply
a sublime combination that will last through
autumn into early winter.
Don’t forget the catmints,
very simple plants to give that soft hazy
and romantic feel in the garden.
For a low border use Nepeta
‘Dark Blue’ from Horrobin
and Hodge and the long flowering Nepeta
‘Six Hills Giant’
makes a great background to crisp white flowers.
What is more summery than watching butterflies
flitting and floating about? To attract them
to your garden, include the fluffy blue flowering
perennial ageratum, also
loved by bees.
To finish this selection I have to include
both Verbena bonariensis and
common honeywort, Cerinthe
major as they self-seed prolifically
and pop up in the most surprising places creating
natural plant combinations that would be difficult
to copy by even the most gifted gardener.
Best of all with this group of plants - they
are all so very easy to grow. Except for the
liriope/hosta combination
they will all thrive in open sunny situations
and need no more care than cutting back after
flowering – minimum effort for maximum
effect.
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FORWARD TO
A FRIEND OR SUGGEST A FRIEND
By forwarding this newsletter to your friends
or suggesting a friend who may like to receive
this newsletter, you can go into a draw to
win a spa treatment with lunch at Horrobin
and Hodge Spa in Manakau near Wellington.
We will make the draw on 20 February, so
put on your thinking cap!
Just click
this link here and fill out the details, including
a message from you letting them know you thought
they might like to subscribe and click submit!
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ORGANICS
We are very
excited about a new organic mulch mat
– Ecocover.
This will really give
your plants the best start in life by
conserving moisture, improving soil
health, suppressing competitive weeds
and moderating soil temperatures.
It is made from waste
office paper removed directly from the
landfill waste stream.
We have mats to place
around individual plants or 1 metre
rolls for larger areas. The hessian-backed
rolls will benefit areas where soil
erosion is a problem.
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They even have 100% bio-degradable pins,
a world first!
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PESTS
Fluffy Bums
A
cute name for cute looking insects characterised
by their white fluffy tails which are in your
garden now.
They are actually teenager passion
vine hoppers and are damaging to
plants as they suck sap from a wide range
of plants.
The adults look like small moths with transparent
wings.
Control both stages with Confidor,
a very effective and selective stomach poison
for them. Other remedies include the plant
based Yates Insect Gun, Nature’s
Way Pyrethrum or Betta Bug
Garlic and Pyrethrum Spray.
Cats
Love them as we do, is there anything quite
as gross as digging in your garden to find
that it has been used as the local cat convenience.
If you don’t want to go to the extent
of getting your own Wheaten Terrier (I could
rent out my Murphy) I have found some home
remedies you could try.
Click
here for defence ideas, scare tactics scent
repellents >>
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VEGETABLES
- TOMATOES
Your tomato plants should be growing well
now and beginning to fruit.
However, don’t get complacent, as they
will need to be looked after in these hot
and dry conditions.
