I love `Potted Colour`

It`s a sunny and warm late winters day and I`m playing in the garden...of course. Iv`e just been up to the local garden shop and come home with some POTTED COLOUR among other things.

My Virgo OCD nature kicks in when I see Potted Colour at the garden shops. For me, it`s like being in a candy store, - I find it hard to resist. It`s not just their beautiful fresh flowers but the fact that you get to stand with a basket and select THE BEST ONES, with the nicest colours!

It`s pansy time here in Sydney, which means winter through to mid spring, and although I usually buy mega punnets and bulk trays. I JUST CANT RESIST THE `POTTED COLOUR` !!

Im pretty anal about colour co-ord. in the garden (I like to think it`s the artist in me...) I`m always attracted to blues and mauves first, then the pinks. The hotter colours are placed ONLY in certain areas in the garden...see what I mean. I`ll even go to the lengths of pulling out a misfit that dares to pop up in the wrong colour spots. Yes, I`m brutal and anal. At least I recognise my shortcomings.

Of course it`s not just pansies that I love to buy in potted colour. I found some gorgeous petunias today - even though its a bit early for them - they like the hot summer.
You`ll pay a bit more for them, but the beauty is they must be IN FLOWER when in the garden shop, so your not just going off label pictures as you do in punnets. You can pic up a huge variety of annuals in this way - especially if you want a quick fix of colour in a pot, urn or hanger.

So many pretty flowers and colours to choose from. If you haven`t bought any potted colour before, give it a go this season. Just remember to remove some of the dead flowers and occasionally give them a liquid feed using a product for flowers and fruit - that`ll do the trick.

And this long row of petunias were all individually selected for the combination you see here of raspberry, blueberry and purple petunias...

Such luscious colours

Happy gardening......

It`s Orchid time....Cymbidium`s that is

Yes it`s that time of the year - mid winter and cold - but the Cymbidium`s seem to love it. I move them all out onto the patio to get maximum sun at this time of the year. They cop a lot of wind and cold there, but are all happily flowering. They`re tough old things if your prepared to move them twice a year. I move them back into the semi shade near the greenhouse in the hot summer.

Iv`e had many of these orchids since the birth of my first daughter. You know, instead of giving flowers, give me orchids, and they did! I`ve had to divide them over the years, and of course I added to the collection over time, after all, it was always impossible to resist when you work in a nursery at flowering time. Some have the most heavenly scent too.

I must admit I don`t do much to them, just throw on a handful of Strike Back orchid food twice a year and move them into the shade when it gets hot again.They like a bit more water then.

I think it would be nice to pot a few up for my adult daughter now, and hopefully give them to her when she has her first baby, you know, as a perpetual keepsake.Because they generally grow in pots, you will always be able to take them with you.

How are your orchids growing? If you havn`t got any, do yourself a favour and get a lovely potted specimen. You`ll have it for years and years. And when they do flower, take them inside or put them close to the house to see the remarkable waxy flowers for weeks and weeks.