Interesting ways with cacti & succulents...

Bright lolli pop cacti give this planter bowl wow factor.

 

Plant a variety of cacti in a low dish. Choose brightly coloured grafted cacti like the "lolli pop" type shown here. We have a great mix of cacti & succulents including cacti in pink, yellow, purple and orange in the garden centre for around $6 ea.

Place your display in a well lit room in the house, patio or veranda.

 

I thought this was a great idea to plant succulents in the crevice of each step. The green life really does soften the hard edges and creates an interesting visual display.

 

Happy Gardening Krystal xx

A modern statement with Aloe Trees.

This garden is amazing. The architectural trees emerging from the decking are aloe trees and we actually have these available at  the nursery and they also grow well in large pots. Surrounding the over sized concrete slabs are cordylines, agave's and a variety of succulents. In the top picture you can see the blue chalk stick succulent, which is a low growing blue statement plant.

The garden accessories are bang on. Love the stark white swing chair, table and single seat.

 This garden works because there is a variety of flooring materials used. Timber and concrete slabs in varying sizes combined with earthy mulch add texture add interest. varying the levels in the garden is a great way to a sense of style to a small space.

Enjoy. Krystal

Image via Real Living Magazine

Soft touch foliage

 Come instore and see our Kalanchoe tomentosa is a wonderful succulent with a velvety fur-like covering. When they came into the nursery the other day I couldn't help but touch them. This succulent will reach 45cm and is a great landscaping plant ( see picture above). Kalanchoe tomentosa is also a good container plant and mixes well with other succulents to create different textures and colours in your garden.

I also love the huge natural stones in this garden. we have similar in now

See you in the nursery soon.



Marian's Marvel

 Marian ( Mum) sits along side the beautiful blue and cream house admirering the creek and garden views.

 Try Growing: Dahlias, Agapanthus, Guara, Zantedeschia and acanthus mollis which line the creek bed of this New Zealand garden. These varieties will grow in most Australian areas too.

How would you like snow top mountains in your back yard?

The gardens of New Zealand continue to amaze. This one was designed by a French couple who moved to New Zealand and fell in love with a vacant block with a creek running through it. They planted a vineyard and adorned the creek side with the most beautiful lush plants. Marian and Rod said it looked so effortlessly elegant and the bridge over the creek looked like Monet's Garden.

 

Images by Serenity Nursery

Yucca Flowers & Gargoyles

I am in awe

 of the wonderful yucca flowers

 that I have seen popping up

 all over town this Autumn.

I discovered these ones today while wandering

 around the garden centre.

 Our hand-made

 lantern is spot on

 next to the

 giant

 architectural

yucca

 plant.

I pieced together this little display

 for the garden centre today.

I've used Dad's hand-made

 old finish gargoyles.

 A suar stool made from teak,

 stone steppers

 &

 striking canna plants for a rustic/gothic look.

Photos by Krystal

My Summer Garden

 I was absolutely thrilled when I spotted my first frangipani flower this season. My two established plants didn't flower last year after a funny season with the weather.

 Succulents are easy to grow and have maximum effect in the garden with bold colours and forms. I have this dark purple one planted in Serenity's rust urns.

My Lantana plant grows like mad and needs a good trim back every so often to keep it controlled.

Tomato plants are planted in half kegs, provincial urns and any where there is room and enough sunlight.

One of the super cute pigs that I picked up at the nursery. This one was looking up at me saying "take me home" now I have three pigs.

Creative ways to Recycle

Use empty coffee tins as mini planters. Drill a few holes in the bottom, fill with soil and plant succulents, impatiens, cacti or herbs in them.

 Do you have wooden boxes laying around? Make them useful. Store newspapers or firewood in them or...

 Plant herbs and veggies..

Stack them up for a rustic storage solution.

Image 1 Beautiful Simple Things,  Image 2 unknown Image 3 Crumpled envelope, Image 4 Bright bazaar



Living Sculptures

Those of you who haven't seen our planted succulent chair in the garden centre, I would like to share it with you. We made this quirky living sculpture from scratch using an old wooden chair that we salvaged from a garage sale. We removed the padded seat and replaced it with flexible plastic mesh forming a shallow bowl shape. This was the covered with shade cloth. The bowl or pocket was then filled with a specialised succulent potting mix and small succulents were planted. We selected taller growing succulents and low growing forms such as sedums. A staple gun will come in hady to staple the mesh and shade cloth on.

Retro Plants

A bit of inspiration from my travels abroad. This 1950's/70s? hotel boasts some excellent retro plants. I adore the succulents dripping over the edge of the balcony's.

The circular wire balls with a climber in each one is a magnificent idea. Imagine growing a flowering mandevilla  or an ivy in a huge wire ball to hang in your patio.

Image by Krystal James

Waste Not Want Not- Natural ways to garden.

1. Pencil Pines in a row or up a driveway can look impressive and are extremely water wise.
2. Lavender and salvias will grow well in an old bath tub.
3. Seedlings are available in biodegradable pots and can be planted straight into the ground.
4. Do you have a large glass jar or old fish bowl laying around? Plant in it and keep it indoors.
5. Gorgeous berry pie...from home grown berries we hope!
6. Succulents can look fab planted in an urn and are easily propagated from cuttings.

Resident Dog

Textural Elements

Sedum 'Purple blog' is a fab purple hued plant that grows as a mounding ground cover. drama can be created when the plant is grown in a pot or over a retainer wall as it will spill over the edges. Texture and colour can be added to rockeries, gravel areas and dry spots in the garden. Sedum 'Purple blob' is a succulent making it an extremely water wise plant.

Garden Jewels

We have just had an exciting delivery of succulent arrive including the magnificent blue chalk sticks plant (pictured above). Succulents are ideal for hot dry spots in the garden and look fantastic in pots. If you have existing potted plants under a veranda or out in the garden you can plant succulents around the base of the plant to add colour and texture and conceal exposed soil. The succulents will spread and act like a mulch in a way keeping the soil below cool.

The "chalk sticks" look fab planted around the base of frangapanis. Just be sure to team your succulents with plants that require similar water requirements.