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.

Winter at Bloomfield Cottage...Brrr

The temperature is plummeting as a massive cold front covers a third of Australia. It snowed last night, at the top of the Blue Mountains which is common in winter, but it snowed half the way down the mountain too, which rarely happens, and a big dump of snow in the Southern Highlands. As I sit cosy and rugged up inside writing this, it`s a chilly 8 degrees with a bitter wind blowing. It has been 0 and below at night here, with a few heavy frosts to blacken the more tender plants.

Most of the trees have lost their leaves and the roses are just about all asleep. Wisteria and perennials are now bare and lots of bulbs are up -  the Jonquils are already flowering with a heady scent.

When we get a run of cold frosty mornings, after it slowly melts when the sun hits it - the day warms somewhat, into the most brilliant blue still day. Beautiful. But don`t be fooled - the temperature will drop rapidly early afternoon, into another freezing night.

Just as well my gorgeous little horse Hunter, has his woolly winter coat on - like a thick fluffy powder puff. It keeps him dry and warm cause it`s about 7cm thick!

Isn`t he too cute? Dear little boy.

So what else is going on around here...well the bulbs are all up - Jonquils and Daffodils,

Bluebells, Lachenalia, Tritonia, Ornithogalum, Dutch Iris, Babiana...phew, the list goes on..they are not all flowering yet, most flower early spring, but some get going early.

Double white Jonquils are always the first to show off.

and let`s not forget IT`S PANSY TIME...I love them

The glasshouse is going gangbusters. This is the best time of the year to pot up heaps of things to sell at future open days or replant as needed. 

It`s such a cosy warm spot to hide when it`s windy and cold.

And the veggie patch is growing loads of winter goodies, all protected from the cabbage moth by netting - ORGANIC practices here people - no chemicals for healthy home grown goodness. We`ve got mini Cabbages, mini Cauliflower, Broccoli, Spinach, Corriander and Kale.

We are eating loads of Rhubarb desserts while iv`e got so much...mmmm Rhubarb and Apple with healthy crumble, and yes - Icecream!

Now I just have to work out what to do with all this winter crop of Lemons and hopefully get around to making sweet chilli sauce - there`s heaps

So that`s what`s been going on around here - I`m staying inside today...I might do some cooking.

Hope you enjoyed this winter visit - make sure you come back in Spring..

Lachenalia - such little show-offs

Lachenalia bulbs, or `Soldier Boys` as my nan called them, are such bold little flowering bulbs...I just love them. Like so many things I grow in my garden, these remind me of my grandma and her beautiful garden. As a little girl, my nan would take us around her garden and show us all the bulbs emerging, surrounded by swaythes of frothy linaria flowers. She would point out all the little pansy faces watching us and entertain us with the moving beards of snapdragons. Yes, it`s no wonder I turned out a gardener - we all did. So when a friend of mine offered me some Lachenalia bulbs whilst showing me around her large country garden, I jumped at the chance.

I started off with just a handful of bulbs which have quickly multiplied over the last 5 years, so this year I sent a parcel of them to my mum! 

As you can see, I just pick out all the big healthy bulbs to replant, after all, how many do you need. Each bulb makes lots of baby bulbs each year and will overcrowd your display. So when I dig them up at the end of each season I just put them in a seedling tray with an onion bag laid out and let them dry out. Next season, I give the whole lot a good shake to loosen the dirt and baby bulbs, then pick out what I want to keep and share each year and toss out the littlens. You know when it`s time to take action planting, when they start to shoot.

This year Iv`e put them in a big sandstone trough on the verandah. I just add some milled cow manure and some slow release fertiliser to the potting mix then pop them in. They don`t have to go very deep cause they`re only little bulbs, but I put lots of them in for a great display. 

I always get excited when the foliage starts to appear. Up close, you can see the foliage is marked with lots of little dark spots.

This was last years display in a wide urn that has a statue in the middle. 

Worth a bit of mucking around each year as they really are a set and forget bundle of bright and bold cheeriness on a dull day - one that you can share as they multiply!

Thanks for visiting - see you again...

It 's Zygo Cactus time - do you want to see my Schlumbergia?

Autumn is Schlumbergia time - yes that`s right - Schlumbergia! and mine are looking great this year.

It`s one of those great words that you have to say over and over, just to hear it roll off the tongue. Go on, give it a go - you know you want to ... SCHLUMBERGIA. Zygo Cactus is its common name, bit easier to get your tongue around, and like many cactus - it`s all about the flower.

Most of the year these plants can be a bit bland - just lots of segmented, tender cactus foliage. Most hang in a pendulous manner and make great hanging baskets although there are a few with a more upright habit. I tend to move them back into the greenhouse or tuck em away when not in flower and bring them all out at flowering time.

And because they are in the succulent family, they need little care and certainly little water. I just use a cactus/succulent potting mix for good drainage and throw on some slow release fertilizer.  I gave my daughter her first hanging basket full of apricot and cream flowers. I`m sure this will make a long lived and hardy hanging  plant for her patio.

How about this fabulous orange one!

They make easy cuttings to produce more plants - just break off the ends and plant a few in another pot. They are slow to get going but you rarely lose any. I collected lots of the broken bits when I worked in a retail nursery - what a great way to increase my collection with new colours.

The pot of cuttings at the front are one year old - they will take off in spring. The rest are two years old and flowering for the first time. If you want a big bushy pot full, just plant lots in the pot!

When you are a gardener with plenty of space, you can see how easy it is to start collections of plants. A cutting here and there over the years and voila - you`ve got a collection. 

Thanks for visiting Bloomfield`s Blog - leave a comment about your favorite collection.....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Camellia Hedge - just beautiful

Sasanqua Camellias make a great hedge. They`re tougher and faster growing than their relatives, the slower growing, more formal, Camellia Japonica`s. This was always a must have, when planing the garden many years ago, and the perfect spot was right along the driveway. Even when not in flower the rest of the year, the hedge is a neat green screen that requires only occasional pruning and feeding - so relatively low maintenance. I hedge with sharp hand held hedgers, which give a neat clean cut, about three times a year, so not too much trouble. They are relatively pest free as well.

It helps when the hedge is 45 metres long! Yep, bigger definetly has more impact when it comes to a flowering hedge. It`s taken about 10 years to get it to this stage - not because they grow slow, oh no, because my naughty puppy Golden Retriever- Sally, slowly dug up the first hedge one by one and chewed them to smitherines! So at great cost I planted for a second time, warning Sally it`s the pound for her if she dug this one up!                                                            

Now believe it or not, the two photos above are the same hedge -no trick photography - just taken at the beginning and the end of the flowering season. You see I planted the hedge with two varieties of Sasanqua Camellias - Paradise Jessica, a pale pink and Paradise Caroline, a deep pink. The pale one starts flowering first then becomes intermittent with the darker pink which then takes over for the grand finale. They have been flowering for over two months and still have more to give. And look at the beautiful pink carpet underneath.

It`s all about early pruning to get a nice compact hedge - there is nothing sadder than a straggly hedge showing it`s kneecaps. The trick is to tip prune from the day you plant. This will force the side shoots to grow, creating many more branches which means way more flowers of course.

Iv`e got lots of other camellias around the yard including the later winter flowering Japonica`s, but it`s the hedge that really makes a statement - especially when there`s not a lot of colour in the garden at this time of year

Hope you enjoyed my hedge as much as I do - perhaps you have one to brag about too. I love a clean crisp green and white flowering hedge too and there are so many new varieties to try - just where to put another hedge? hmmm

Hunter Valley Gardens, Massive Christmas light display 2014

Whilst recently visiting relatives in the Hunter Region, we decided to stay overnight at the Elegant Sebel Hotel -like a bygone era complete with an English Breakfast Conservatory overlooking a private rose garden and fountain, surrounded by winery country as far as you can see! Lovely.We caught up with some local friends for dinner and they suggested we go and see all the Christmas lights - 1.5 million of them!, artfully draped throughout the `Hunter Valley Gardens` after dinner - so that`s what we did!

The Hunter Valley Gardens are a spectacular during the day, but transform at night throughout December, into a truly amazing display of Christmas Lights.

There were sooo many families enjoying the night. Kids and parents had flashing head lights and wands. Little girls with their pretty fairy dresses, prams, teens, and grandparents, the lot. We were a little surprised at the entry cost af $25 per Adult, and only 3yrs and younger were free, making it an expensive treat at Christmas for the family. However, from the looks of awe and wonder on their little faces, it was well worth it.

We pretty much just followed the crowd in one direction from beginning to end, along concrete and fine gravel paths. Took about an hour with a few stops to ogle the lights.

Above are the `Storybook` gardens with all the nursery rhymes lit up!

And of course the `Lollie Land` lane was a bit hit.

It was such a beautiful balmy night for a stroll after dinner, and what better way to get in to the Christmas spirit

Nothing like an Eiffel Tower display to top off the night!

Merry Christmas everyone and hope you`ll visit this blog next year