Peter Nixon gardens – Paradisus Garden Lovers

Xmas Sparkles ..

Mexican Rock Orchids – Schomburgkia tibicinis an easy and tough December garden hero .. TAKE A LOOK !

Xmas Orchids .. ? Yes & so easy …

Orchids .. we love them Garden Lovers, but where are the ones that are easy to grow in the home garden, aside from Crucifix Orchids … right ?

WELL THERE ARE MORE.. enter a rather miraculous tribe of Mexican Rock Orchids, the Schomburgkia from humid summers in parts of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia to Ecuador at slight elevation; that equate to most of cool to warm subtrops East Coast Australia. Requiring direct winter sun and now known as a new genus Myrmecophila tibicinis is a species that will adjust to half day shade within drip-lines of host trees as epiphytes. Also lives on rock as lithophytes out in the full blast, where our scorch prone Dendrobium speciosum would be disappointing come December.

Tree stumps are a welcome perch for Schomburgkia superbiens another species, that flowers a little earlier in Spring and is also known synonymously merged with Laelia. Make a stabilising divot from the stump sky face for either of these species to rest in; then build up beneath with orchid compost and course bark chip to level with the stump top face. Mine has a sheltered east facing aspect but both have hard boat shaped, highly resistant leaves that would accept more exposure.

Schomburgkia superbiens long fishing rods that move in the breeze ..

Xmas Annual Stars of December ..

At this time of year leading up to entertaining with family and friends, the garden pulls a bit more focus with emphasis on outdoor dining. That’s why it’s good to keep your garden open, with sunny plots reserved for season annual colour. This prevents overcrowding of permanent planting, where some would need to be removed to avoid congestion. Think of it as a trade off of permanent plants, for short cycle annuals that bring welcome ‘burst’ to the garden when you need it most.

Newer compact, non-invasive hybrid Petunias

Solonostemon hybrid formerly coleus, for complementary foliage colour

Hydrangeas… the supreme Xmas Garden fave

Hydrangea macrophylla – ‘Ne Plus Ultra’ white, pale pink to green.. TAKE A LOOK !

Xmas, family & friends, hydrangeas, Xmas Bush and agapanthus …. they go together … right ? And this year has been exceptionally kind, sans hot westerly winds that can turn gorgeous to ghastly in an afternoon.

So far so good in this Paradisus design at Willoughby for long time dream clients. where an old French variety ‘Ne Plus Ultra’ flourishes from hydrangea queen Lesley White. A good tough macrophylla ‘mop-top’ like the others but with the added attraction of a colour merge from lustrous ivory at Xmas to rose pastel with cherry stains and lime green hues coming into the April/May garden.

So wishing everyone a safe and fun end of year break at Xmas time, New Years Eve and into the holidays. Hope these posts help you make an even better garden to enjoy. If family, friends or work colleagues are struggling with theirs, ask them to head over to paradisus_sea_changer for inspiration and maybe .. I could help them too ..!

Mid Winter Wonders … for your garden

Cymbidium tracyanum ‘Spice’ X Cym. ‘Deathwish ‘Saratoga’

The calm time, when cool short days bring slow opening of many winter sparkles. Cymbidiums are in full flight by late July and it’s good to be aware of hybrids with C. tracyanum from Myanmar in them … These make inflorescences held at near horizontal, so flowers growing from an over garage elevated planter box, present to the lower view lines from approaching cars.

Candelabra or Tree Aloes are also all out just now also and especially want to bring this A. thraskii to your attention….. for it’s salt & sand tolerance in frost free Cool Subtropics. Unparticular as to soil type providing it’s fast draining, A. thraskii withstands exposure and every July you’ll be presented with these gold torches covered in wattle birds and bees. Being a tree form it’s also a great statement maker for sense of arrival at the front door

Haemanthus coccineus – Blood Lily pink form

Every now and then I pop along to 2RRR’s Gladesville recording studio at 88.5FM part of the Community Broadcasting Network with Presenter of ‘Real World Gardener’ Marianne Cannon. So here’s a few minutes respite from Lockdown, for a to listen to warm bulbs and how to grow them for this summer.

Less mow more interest .. !

Soil down …now how to stop the grass surround invading your precious garden space ?

Some of you might remember from the last send, the eastern end here at ‘Sea-Changer’ and a little exercise in exchanging high maintenance turf for low care garden space.

FormBoss RedCore steel edging, at install

Alternatives used formerly like aluminium strip wouldn’t retain new medium hights and cemented bricks edging while good looking, are also labour intensive and therefore rather costly. Enter the FormBoss edging range and especially their RedCore product that was quick and relatively easy to install expertly by George Close at Living Matter Landscapes

FormBoss RedCore after a few weeks for the corten steel ‘rust’ finish to develop

… and because there is also a short screen requirement for planting to shield against a passive road view, there’s a two part combination of ..

…Ficus microcarpa Green Island, a native from northern Australia among many other warm sub-tropical places. Of much reduced vigour and with a friendly root system, this little fig will eventually reach a very civilised 2m sans exposed trunk, making it ideal as a short screen to ground level so the road expanse is concealed.

By contrast, although also dwarf, Olea ‘Golden Harvest’ will bring a sage green contrast to the gloss fig to around the same 2 m height. Then for weed suppression with year round foliage colour contrasts forward of the taller screen plantings ..

Watch this space and I’ll show you how this this little Road Screen Garden came more together by Christmas !

And remember it’s always worth having a big knot of Cattleya’s in an easy care pot, to bring forward onto your outside table ….or even inside while the flowers last, for a few weeks during this brief and fresher time of year !

Call to action ? Well you know that close family member, 20 years long work colleague or bestie you went to high school with …. keeps asking you for my details, now they’ve sold up, moved to the ‘beach-shack’ full time and want to give it a new life ? …so need the garden fixed up too ? Just flick them this post where they can sign up for Garden Lovers or HERE for one less thing to remember .. with thanks!

Cool Sub-trops Sydney Gardens Talk tomorrow (Tues) night on Zoom..!

Aloe ‘Fairy Pink’ a frothy April player for any sunny cool subtrop’s garden

Join me tomorrow night, Tuesday 27th October from 7.30pm when I’ll be narrating the Cool Subtropics story, for garden making in frost free Sydney for Tropical Garden Society of Sydney .

Click here https://www.facebook.com/events/3356306861103388/ from 7.30pm, then click on blue field saying ‘Join Meeting’ from my FB page … soooo easy !

Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you then and don’t forget, we can use the Chat option to answer your burning questions. Put it in your planner now Peeps!!!

‘Sea-Changer’ Shade Hut refuge from a hot day ..

Give Netflix a rest tomorrow night and learn something new to make your garden even better 🙂

Greenwalls from detailed to heroic !!!

Happy Winter Garden Lovers and I thought would show you just a brief to the Greenwall evolution, since they tick so many boxes for many clients in terms of space saving and maximum impact.. !

Grow Bands give precise feature to otherwise blank walls by bringing the luxuriance of rich textural contrasts for year round interest, to meet all converging sight lines from inside & outside.

Facing north, this combination is resilient to harsh high summer scorch and reduces visual glare and ‘push-back’ from the built environment, with welcome relief that only living plants can bring. It’s courtyard setting now leverages egress to it’s adjacent kitchen by doubling entertainment space, bringing the outside in and the inside out.

Measuring 9 x 3.5m this double sided greenwall in the great divide between private step out space on the house side and an impressive sense of arrival to the drive side.

Give us privacy and feature without taking up useful space, that was the brief for this split level design with a higher point of access off the rear lane. So a super sized double sided Greenwall was borne from necessity, to bring an intimate scale shielded on the house side from tall office buildings AND an impressive welcome to this drive side in approach.

So many apartment step out spaces requiring a ‘soft down’ to bring foliage relief to a hard-fest of built environment surfaces.

‘I would go out there more often but there’s really nothing to entice.’

A very common part of the apartment living experience, especially when all views are equally experienced from inside … no ? Enter a swish end wall greenwall, a slimmer counterpoint from the B/room slides and a free standing part rail Grow Band and all is lush and inviting. All are self irrigated and combine with cac & succ combinations for the built in planters suited to the N/W aspect. Bring on the cocktails !!!!

Greenwall Company by Mark Paul for Paradisus www.peternixon.com.au