Greetings!
With only 44 sleeps till Christmas, this time of year certainly flies by! The warmer nights are meaning some of us can attempt to resurrect our own gardens. This month we are busy preparing for the release of our new Dahlia's - 'Mystic Dreamer', 'Mystic Desire', 'Mystic Illusion' and 'Mystic Spirit' under our new category Colour Solutionz. Looking stunning at the nursery this month is the wonderful glossy foliage of Coprosma 'Karo Red' and the silver leafed Convolvulus cneorum with its mass of white cup shaped flowers.
If you live in the South - make sure you look out for our new monthly feature of Plant Of The Month in the Otago Daily Times!
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Plant Of The Month
Coprosma 'Karo Red'
For fanciful foliage look no further that Coprosma 'Karo Red'. A relatively recent introduction, hailing from one of the largest plant genus in New Zealand, Coprosma 'Karo Red' will add a splash of colour all year round. Coprosma 'Karo Red's' striking black-red shiny foliage which deepens in colour in colder weather will become a focal point in any garden. Compact in habit, easy care in nature and constitutionally hardy, this is one coprosma that performs well.
This evergreen is a great choice for low hedging, en masse planting, for topiary or pots. For garden drama, plant alongside the silvery green tones of Astelia 'Silver Spear' and the vivid lime green of Euphorbia 'Kea'. If your coprosma is containerized, try underplanting with the moss-like Scleranthus biflorus for effect. Loving a sunny, well drained position, Coprosma 'Karo Red' will grow to 1.5m x 1.5m and will perform well to pruning.
Interestingly the family to which the coprosma belongs to, the Rubiaceae contains the commercial coffee tree and the way to identify a coprosma is by the tiny holes (domatia) on the underside of the leaves. The holes are located between the leaf midrib and the lateral veins.
This Gap Filler Solutionz is available now in garden centres. |
What's Happening At The Nursery!
Its not so much about what is happening at the nursery, but more about Gardening Solutionz at the Diacks Invercargill 100 year celebrations!
Late last month Megan and Chris travelled to Invercargill to help celebrate Diacks Nurseries Ltd 100th year in gardening. Diacks Nurseries is a family owned horticulture business that started growing and selling plants in 1908. It all began when the founder Colin Diack brought his first packet of cabbage seed and began to supply the local store. Colin's son Raymond Diack still works from the Tweed St branch today along with five of his six children and most of his grandchildren. Diacks Nurseries is a fourth generation business today, 100 years on.
Part of our involvement in the weekend celebration was to set up a huge display of Gardening Solutionz plants and help customers with their selections. We also offered our customers a chance to win a plant. For every one of our plants purchased we tossed a coin and depending on the outcome they might have been a winner. One lady took away nine free plants! The turn out was a huge success, even though the weather was not on our side. Just as Megan was being interviewed by a TV reporter (her television debut!), the skies opened up and drowned her out. Later that evening we strutted our stuff in period costume at the celebratory dinner and dance and sampled the Diacks beer which was especially brewed for the occasion.
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The Great NZ Grow Off
Tui products are offering loads of great incentives to start growing vegetables. Having fresh food and growing your own is easy to achieve and the release of Tui's new products - Tui Vegetable Mix, Tui Tomato Mix and Tui Super Sheep Pellets makes gardening more enjoyable and easier than ever.
For those that purchase any of these new products, you can register online for the Grow Off at www.nzgrowoff.co.nz and be in the draw to win over 50 garden starter packs. Three Spanbuilt sheds packed with Tui products are also up for grabs and the overall winner will receive the ultimate prize of an all expenses paid trip including flights and accomodation to the Ellerslie International Flower Show which is being held at the new venue of Christchurch.
Go on give it a go and grow off!
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Our Winners
Our NZ Gardener readers who won a Lavender 'Bee Brilliant' plant last month were Kerry Bastow, Laura Haseley, Heather Geange, Debbie Arnold and Carol Davidson. The Press plant of the month winners were Jude Belcher, Joyce Hayward, Leo Forde, Jean Whitteker and Terry Faulkner and they each won a Coprosma 'Karo Red'.
This month we have some wonderful product from Tui Products to give away so remember to click on the competition section of this newsletter to be in with a chance. It could be you winning a bag of Super Sheep Pellets and we have five to giveaway. | |
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Next time - watch out for the release of our new highly fashionable Dahlia's - providing instant colour spots in your garden, Malcolm and Megan visit the UK and suss out english gardening trends, plus more chances to win .... |
From the team at Gardening Solutionz
www.gardeningsolutionz.co.nz
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Competition!
If you would like to win a bag of Tui Super Sheep Pellets (rrp $21.95) - WE HAVE FIVE BAGS TO GIVE AWAY, Simply enter here to go in the draw
TO WIN
(Terms and Conditions apply) |
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Gardening
'Solutionz'
If you have any gardening questions you would like answered - please contact us. This week's question is:
Question: Hello to you! I purchased a Gaura (pinkish white flowers) and it just flowered forever, it was lovely. I now need to know how to prune it for this season - do I cut the leaves back and what do I do about the twiggy wood stems left over from the flowering?
Regards Kathleen
Answer: Hi Kathleen, thanks for your e-mail. Gaura's will respond well to being cut back quite hard - cut back all old wood and spent flowers. We have just released Gaura 'Passionate Blush' as a Colour Solutionz and we cut our Gaura's back as soon as they have finished flowering - this makes for a nice and compact plant and brings a new flush of growth.
From the team at gardeningsolutionz.co.nz |
For care of your Gardening Solutionz plants we recommend Tui garden care products. For more information click here
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