Brighten your Garden with Oranges, Yellows and Pinks.

Ixoras.

This is an I love it or I hate it plant.

My mum loves them. I must admit I verge on the opposing side. So, why on earth would I write about them and stock them at Trevallan if they are on my not so favourite list?

Well as with many things these plants have grown on me over the years and as with many plants there seems to be a time and a place for them.

Ixoras are native to the tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world, with many of them in Tropical Asia. These plants typically can't handle frosts so if you are in a frost prone area these may not be for you. Some Ixoras are more prone to being cold affected while others can handle a little bit of cold.

Ixoras have dark green leathery leaves and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer and autumn. The more common Ixoras usually have orange, gold, pink or red flowers. Ixoras prefer acidic soil and usually like a little shelter from our blazing summer sun. In saying that I have seen many gorgeous Ixoras growing in full sun in a commercial setting (shopping centres).  They don't mind being in pots or the ground.

I find the four most popular Ixoras are 'Prince of Orange', 'Pink Malay', dwarf orange and dwarf gold. Ixora williamsii is also popular as it has red flowers but it really dislikes the cold so is not commonly grown in Ipswich.

Prince of Orange has fiery orange flowers and can grow around two meters tall. The dwarf orange and yellow grow to around 1/2 metre. These look amazing in pots but I have seen them in gardens trimmed into a hedge and they look stunning when in flower. You can hardly see their green leaves.

My favourite Ixora is Pink Malay. Why do I love it? Not just because it gets covered in pink flowers but because it is so hardy. This Ixora is absolutely amazing; growing to around a metre it can handle full sun and shade. It can grow in pots or the garden and I have seen it successfully growing in a shopping centre car park. Yes that's right, a shopping centre car park. A place that has no good soil, no mulch, no care, only rain fall and it looks glorious. This is why I love this plant.

Ixoras like all my plants get fertilised with Organic Link and Triple Boost and neem oil. I use Searles Platinum Potting Mix for pots and Searles' garden soil for gardens.

There is a grub that likes to destroy your Ixora flower heads. There are a few ways to combat this. As soon as the buds start appearing I begin to mix neem oil in with my fortnightly Triple Boost. If it gets really bad I will spray with Dipel. I will sometimes use Searles' Bug Beater. Eco-oil would also work.

Sooty mould can also form on the leaves. This can be caused by scale and ants. Give your plant a really good soil drench and use a soil wetter if necessary. Fertilise with Organic Link and spray with neem oil or Eco-oil. In a fortnight or so you should be able to hose off the soot and hopefully the ants would have dissipated.

This autumn and summer brighten up your dull spots with shades of orange, yellow and pink.

Talking Dirty

Last week on Trevallan Lifestyle Centre's Facebook page, I posed the question "What gardening terms do you use that people think you've made up, don't understand or have a little giggle at your expense?"

There were some great examples and I thought I'd enlighten you all with some gardening terms that I find I use and people think I have started to talk in my own special language.

Deciduous

Deciduous, pronounced dih-sij-oo-uhs, is the term I am most often asked to explain. Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and it is typically used when talking about plants that lose their leaves seasonally. Many plants, particularly in cooler regions, drop their leaves in autumn, have a dormant period through the winter and then come alive again in the spring. In some subtropical and arid regions, plants lose their leaves during the dry season and remain dormant until the wet season begins.

Active Constituent

Active constituents are the substance/s in an agvet (agricultural and veterinary) chemical product primarily responsible for a product's biological or other effects.

For example, Glyphosate is the active constituent in most weed killers. In horticulture, companies register products with different trade names, however, you will often find the active constituent is the same. Trade names such as Yates Zero, Searles Dead Weed, Brunnings Weedkill all contain the same active constituent - glyphosate. When dealing with chemicals in gardening, know your active constituents and you'll never need to rely on trade names again.

Bisexuality

A Bisexual flower or perfect flower is when the flower has both the essential whorls i.e., androecium and gynoecium (male and female reproductive units). Some examples are lilies, roses and sweet peas.

When it comes to fruit and vegetables, we generally use the term bisexual plant, meaning the plant has both male and female flowers and you do not need two separate plants. For example, a pumpkin will usually produce both male and female flowers, following this, insects will hopefully pollinate the females, with the result being big, healthy pumpkins.

Self-watering pots

Now unless you have gnomes in your garden doing all your dirty work, there is no such thing as a self-watering pot. When you buy a self-watering pot, you still have to water.

In a self-watering pot you have a very large saucer, or water well, and the soil is held above the water well, with a false bottom. The water well and the soil are usually connected by a wick of some sort.

As water is used by the plant, capillary action draws the exact amount of water up from below, therefore the soil has just the right amount of water all the time, but also maintains air pockets, which the plant roots also need. This is great for plants that don't like being over watered, as you just fill the bottom chamber.

While self-watering pots are great, I find they only really work once the plant has an established root ball.

This weekend, why not practice your ‘dirty talk’ with someone and show off your new gardening knowledge.

Uncoordinated Wins Again

I’m not what you’d call a sportswoman. I’m a little uncoordinated.  At school I was the child the sports’ teachers would shake their heads at when they saw me coming.  I’m sure they were thinking there is no hope for this one.  Apart from winning most improved player for about three years in a row for basketball, I don’t have that many awards from childhood.

I’m sure making up for it now.

The Queensland winner of the Heather Ramsey Young Leader Award goes to – Chelsea Allan”

Last Friday night (2013), I attended the Nursery and Garden Industry Queensland Award Ceremony.  During the night I had one of those “this is your life moments”. The presenter started to read a story about a girl who seemed to have accidentally fallen into horticulture while looking for her dream job. 15 years on that girl discovers she is working her dream job.

As the presenter was reading this story I got thinking, this girl sounds a lot like me.

He then announced “The Queensland winner of the Heather Ramsey Young Leader Award goes to – Chelsea Allan”

It took a moment, hang on that’s me. Wow.

I WON.

But what does this mean?

The Heather Ramsey Young Leader Award recognizes and rewards the outstanding achievements of individuals in the Australian nursery and garden industry, who display exceptional commitment and passion towards their business, the industry and industry leadership potential.

That’s me. I’m young (this is my last year of being young though), I’m committed to this industry (long days and sometimes longer nights) and gardening is my passion.

But it’s not just the physical aspect of gardening. It’s the sharing component I love. I love enabling others to enjoy gardening with my few simple tips. I love going to clubs and talking gardening. I love writing Trevallan’s gardening blogs that you can read on here and using Trevallan’s Facebook page to keep you updated and informed. I don’t get paid to write my gardening column that appear newspapers and magazines across Queensland, I do it because I want to share with you all this wondrous thing called gardening.

It was an amazing experience to be recognised and awarded this award by my industry peers.   I couldn’t have won this award without you.

It is because of my customers, my family and my mentors that this award was possible.

The other day a gentleman came into Trevallan Lifestyle Centre to tell me he hated mowing. He read my lawn challenge article and thought I was crazy saying I loved to mow. He followed my simple steps and now he loves to mow. His granddaughter loves coming over and running barefoot on his lawn. He mows twice a week and loves sitting back to admire his handiwork.

It’s because of happy customers and family who are gardening enthusiasts that my passion has grown. It’s because of you I want to achieve more so I can give you more.

I am so proud to win this award. Thank you for helping me turn my passion turn into an award. I hope we can continue to share this passion for many years enabling us all to have amazing gardens.

Got Milk

Why is it so hard just to buy milk? You all know the advertisements on TV with the guy who just wants milk, but the shop assistant rattles off about twenty different choices. All he wants is milk that tastes like milk! In the end the relief on his face when the shop assistant just gives him what he wants is priceless.

I’m not a huge fan of being overloaded on choice. Electronic equipment, like computers and their programs, is one area where I’d prefer there to be just the one option! I’m not a person that likes to spend hours trolling the internet and magazines looking for the best computer program for my needs. I appreciate going to a specialist computer shop, talking to an expert and let them recommend me the best program for my needs.

I feel the same about gardening. Gardening shouldn’t be hard – back breaking maybe, but not hard. Getting good gardening advice shouldn’t be confusing either. If you have a problem with your plants, need some general gardening advice or even just need to buy a living gift, I recommend you go to a specialist garden centre, as they have expert staff on hand at all times and are alway willing and ready to help.

Have you ever been confused and overloaded by the choice of gardening products on the market? I know I am sometimes. I often wonder just how many versions of trace element mix can there be and it feels like every gardening magazine, lifestyle show and the guy next door, all have their favourite gardening tips.

If confusion and not very ‘good tips and helpful hints’ have prevented you from enjoying the great outdoors, it’s time to take control and visit an expert – your local garden centre, like Trevallan Lifestyle Centre.

Local garden centre staff are gardening experts – they listen to your needs and recommend the right product, without the need to sell a plethora of brands. You don’t need to know that there are ten products on the market that kill slugs, but are safe for dogs. You just need one and one that works. So a garden centre and their expert staff need only stock the one brand that they perceive is the best. However, in some cases, a small range of similar products (for example potting mixes), are necessary as people’s needs are different. In this case, the garden centre experts should then be able to inform you of the differences and recommend the best one suited to your needs.

Your local garden centre is not only staffed by local experts, who have all suffered the same gardening problems that you are currently suffering. Garden centre staff enjoy helping you through your gardening problems, removing any confusion and reinvigorating your joy of gardening.

So next time you decide to improve your plant life balance and give your garden some TLC, make sure you visit the gardening experts - Trevallan Lifestyle Centre - your local garden centre.