Autumn is a busy time in the garden. Secret Gardens Autumn gardening tips is the first of a series of handy tips for your gardening. Many plants have grown over summer and need to be shaped and thinned. It’s also the end of the long summer days and a great time to get the jobs done that have been put off because of the heat (or rain this year!).
Winter flowering annuals such as Pansies, Primula, Cinerarias, or try the hardy native Rhodanthe ‘Paper Daisy’, all provide much needed winter colour but need to be planted now to maximise flowering time. And don’t forget Sweet Peas; traditionally planted on St Patricks day but can be planted anytime in autumn. Choose a sunny spot, cultivate soil well and add plenty of compost or cow manure. Water the soil the night before planting and don’t water again until you see the shoots appear.
Autumn is time to plant broccolli, silverbeet, strawberries , broadbeans and carrots.
Plants are a passion of Secret Gardens, they make the garden. Whilst we recognize that the practical and structural requirements need to be met, we are keen to ensure that the hard surfaces or landscape features are not overdone. There should be a balance between horticultural and structural.
Apart from the obvious aesthetic appeal, plants can perform many functions in gardens, like screening unsightly views or dealing with privacy issues; providing shade, partitioning gardens, directing traffic and so on. Too often problems are resolved with structural solutions which can be expensive and unsympathetic. A green outlook is very hard to beat.
Here’s a small selection of garden plantings we love:
Terrific foliage and accent plant for ‘tropical’ themed gardens. Grows in a clump, we found it does best in dappled sunlight where you can expect between 2 – 3m in height. The brilliant red inflorescence’s are stunning and flower for long periods (great for cut flowers too). Once established, remove the lower foliage to highlight the beautiful stems that ‘spiral’ upwards and mulch well. This is a low water use plant also once established.
Botanical name: Costus barbatus
Common name: Red Tower Ginger
Family: Costaceae
Origin: Costa Rica
