Not so mellow yellow...

Need to cover an area in the garden fast? Grow one of these! It's an osteospermum called "Voltage".

It features large daisy-like flowers in vivid yellow. "Voltage" has a spreading/ mounding habit so it can act like a ground cover in your garden. Check them out available in "Copper Apricot" and purple.

Bring on Spring Gardening!

Grow an assortment of  vegies and herbs in a rustic wheel barrow.

From Garden to Kitchen, it;s easy to grow your own.

Here are some ideas as to what to grow this Spring:

Capsicum

Tomatoes

Corn

Crystal Apple Cucumbers

Tuscan Kale

Leek

Cos lettuce

Eggplant

Cabbage

Climbing beans

Beetroot

Basil (herb)

Corriander (herb)

 

New Release Plant...

Look out in the garden centre for the new range of  Hellebore's. This one pictured here is " Penny's Pink" also look out for "Winter Sunshine" and " Ivory Prince" all @ Serenity Nursery now!

With their domed shaped flowers and soft muted colours, these hellebore's are they perfect way to add elegance to your winter garden. Plant these low growing plants in a shady nook or under tree canopies. Create a magnificent effect by planting them in glazed or earthy pots.

Check out our new pots for inspiration here.

Image via Plants Management Australia

Glam Gardening...

Bring out your feminine side with PGA's new plant release "The Princess Lavender".

It is so pretty you have to visit us a Serenity Nursery to see it!!

The Princess lavender features large, vibrant pink flowers and a long flowering time. The main flower flourish will be in Spring and will continue to flower through out the year. This is a compact lavender growing approx 70cm x 70cm. The foliage is aromatic and the cut flowers are ideal to use in arrangements.

Princess Lavender is easy to grow and requires little water once established.

Try Growing your Princess Lavender:

In your favourite container

As a small growing border

En Masse for great effect

Image via Plant Growers Australia

Wake up Maggie

White Magnolias

Hi there, I have had a wee time away from the computer over the last couple of months, so I haven't been posting as much as I would like to. During my time away I managed to travel to Victoria twice, mainly for business but also to have a break from the garden centre and do some sight seeing. I always love exploring Melbourne and I had a chance to visit many remarkable garden centers and I have come back with loads of inspiration. I particulary liked Botanical Creations Plants Plus. The crew there gave us some great ideas for Serenity.

The one thing that always stays in my mind about visiting Melbourne in winter is the magnolia plants I see growing everywhere. I mean it seems every second suburban house has a magnificent flowering magnolia teetering over the front fence. Bright pink, maroon red, white I don't care what colour I love them all. The way the flowers form on bare branches before foliage just adds to the visual drama.

It's just that you rarely see magnolias here in Murray Bridge, mainly for the fact they they thrive in acid soils and our soil is quite alkaline. Of course there are ways to make alkaline soils more acid, mixing in peat and organic matter will help sweeten the soil. A more dramatic way to make alkaline soil more acidic is to add aluminium sulphate or Yates Acetone to your soil. If you want to see the awesome magnoliage blooms for yourself pop into the nursery over the next week or so we have some coming in including one of my favorites called Black Tulip. Oh and how can I forget magnolias have the most divine fragrance..

Hope I can keep my posts more regular and happy gardening!!

Bye for now
Krystal

Picture: White Magnolias at Bay Road Nursery By Krystal James.

Time to Grow!

It's National Tree Day

How proud we are to be in an industry that supports the environment. Every tree, plant and shrub  that is planted helps clean the air, create habitats for wildlife, and soften and shade our environment.

Today is Planet Arks National Tree Day. It's a great reminder to plant a tree or two in your back yard. Winter is an ideal time to plant trees especially deciduous trees like pyrus, elms & prunus. These trees are available now in the garden centre. One of the main benefits of a deciduous tree is that they loose there leaves in winter allowing the sun into your house or entertainment area. During the warmer months they re-grow their leaves to shade your house making them an economical investment.

There are so many native trees available too and it doesn't have to be a gum tree there are some speccy native trees these days with vibrant purple foliage such as agonis 'After Dark' or weeping lime green foliage Acacia "Lime Light". What ever tree you choose to plant make sure care is taken when planting it. Soil preparation and adequate water is important to help establish your tree.

Amazing Style Issue!

Wow! Our Teak Deer Head wall mount is featured in this months (August 2012) Real Living magazine- The amazing style issue!

Editor Deborah Bibby featured it in The Editors letter and said "The timber deer head is another classic and this piece is more affordable; in fact, it's a bargain buy! ( I hope that our finance whiz Mark Bouris is not reading this or I'm in trouble.)

Thanks Deborah. We love it when people see value in our items and their originality. We are Very happy and humbled to see one of our products in your magazine. xx

So Tweet

A couple of things in our home wares shop that I am loving right now are the rhinestone swallow wall art and woolen throw blanket with Love/ birds design...Divine!

Fave Finds...

A few of my favorite things to come into the garden center this week.

1. Flower wall art in soft muted turquoise and brown

2. Aqua Decorative bird cages.

3.Our terracotta garden stools that Mum and Dad found on their China buying trip. They make a useful item to have in the house or garden.

Also available in black and red.

Heavenly Perfume

Chinese star jasmine is one of my favourite climbing plants. From November to February it produces star-like flowers with a wonderful Jasmine scent. It's an evergreen climber so it's a good one for covering ugly fences . It looks spectacular trailing the edge of a veranda or archways and will flower in shade or sun.

Below - Pierre de Ronsard climbing rose is another spectacular climber with large showy flowers.

Today's Mantra



Image here

It's time to grow Rhubarb

Rhubarb. Every vegie patch should have one!

Rhubarb is a perennial vegtable that can be grown in sun or part shade. It may be known as an old fahioned vegtable but it is easy to grow and makes the most wonderful sweet crumbles and desserts.

 If you want to grow rhubarb winter is an ideal time as the rhubarb crowns are available bare-root in the garden centre. Start by preparing the garden bed with some compost and blood and bone. If you live in an area where the temperature has extreamly hot and cold weather dig the rhubarb crown in a little deeper about 5cm below the surface of  the soil. If your temperature is mild all year round the crown can be covered with about 1cm of soil. As the plant grows feed with powerfeed or thrive.

 Leave your rhubarb plant undisturbed for the first few years to allow the clumps to establish.

After 2-3 years the rhubarb crown can be dug up in winter and divided and replanted.

Tip: The leaves of the plant are poisonis so never eat them.

Sprinkle a little slug and snail pellets around the plant in spring and summer.

Rhubarb can be grown in pots.

See our rhubarb cooking adventures at the Serenity Nursery here



Kitchen Garden

Tuscan Kale

I'm always reading gardening magazines, books and blogs and today I found a great Kitchen Garden blog, Suburban Tomato. The author, Liz lives in Melbourne and grows her own to feed the family. It shows the hands on process of garden to plate and there is a whole heap of recipes that are tried and true. The Kale pictured above is one example of what Liz grows. Kale is a fab winter veg that teams well with mashed potatoes and other steamed veggies.

Image here

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

Grow your own Asparagus

Grow Asparagus

It's really easy to grow asparagus at home and winter is the perfect time to plant them in your garden. In winter the crown of the asparagus is available. Start by digging some composted organic matter into the soil and then dig a large hole. build up a small mound at the bottom for the asparagus roots to sit over then fill in with soil and water in well. This will prevent any air pockets forming near the roots, which may cause them to rot. The patch will be bare until Spring and thats when the lovely asparagus spears will appear. You will have spears for about two months. Wait. Don't harvest for the first year until the crown has established. Just watch out for snails and slugs.

Image here

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.



Beat the winter blues!

Geranium " Big Red" in a hanging basket in the garden centre today.

For a splash of colour this winter don't go past Geranium "Big Red". It's a compact hybrid geranium and is said to be the first true deep red geranium around. The flowers are huge and will inject colour into any garden large or small. Ideal to hang from a veranda , plant in pots or use as a flowering hedge. "Big Red" will flower for you just about all year round just make sure it is positioned in a sunny spot.

First image here

Country Modern

My Teak hanging pendants available here

My dream home. Polished concrete, white, timber and raw finishes. I think I have cosy interiors on my mind. Working outdoors in the cold is getting to me.

The Perfect Pear

One of my favourite pears to eat is the Beurre Bosc . It has a lovely tan brown skin, with a firm yet juicy flesh. It teams well with soft french style cheese. Sometimes I will slice it up, smoother it with honey and bake it, then it can be enjoyed with yogurt as a dessert or stirred through risotto.

But the best way I like to enjoy it is this recipe:

Pear and Parmesan salad.

What you need:

1-2 Beurre Bosc pears

Baby Rocket leaves-You decide how much!

Freshly shaved Parmesan-use lots if you love it.

White balsamic vinegar*- to your taste.

Make it:

Place the baby rocket leaves in a bowl. Slice up pears and toss through rocket.  Drizzle or spray with White balsamic vinegar and massage it into the pear and rocket really well.

Sprinkle some shaved Parmesan on top.

--It is a perfect side to a main meal.

* Select an Italian made White Balsamic Vinigar from a gaurmet shop if you can.

Winter in the Nursery

Bare-root trees line the entrance to our nursery. Plus there are 100's more inside.

Bare-root Mop Tops the ever popular tree that is covered in a mass of tiny green leaves in

 Spring and summer.

Our edible Garden Display. Grapes,  blueberries,Strawberries, bay trees and lots more

Things green up with some rain water!

 Our Potato seed display. It's so easy to grow your own.

Digging in the Dark!

The TUMBLEWEED Worm Cafe

Tonight Tim and I set up our worm farm.

 While some couples may be watching dating in the dark we are digging in the dark!

The main reason we decided to get a worm farm was to recycle our kitchen scrap waste. It is just horrible to see kitchen scraps go into land fill and pollute the earth. The worm farm we have is the Tumbleweed Worm Cafe from Serenity Nursery. It will turn our scraps into useful garden fertiliser full of beneficial microbes. Worm casting and worm tea will be produced and used as organic soil improver's.

Look what we did:

 There are 4 trays with the kit, but you only need one working tray to start. Keep the others put aside.

Insert the first tray and lay a sheet of news paper into the tray. Soak the soil block in water ( it's provided with the worm cafe). Then lay the soil mixture onto the newspaper.

Top up with some soil from the garden that is  free from inorganic fertilisers.

Use a bucket to catch the worm juice. This can be be diluted with water to the colour of weak tea and watered onto the garden.

You will need about 1000 worms for this worm farm and they will cost around $50 (for approx 1000). May I add that I love worms I think it brings back childhood memories of digging in the dirt.

Carefully place the worms on top of soil and water in.

Place the second tray on top. the tray has tiny holes in the bottom of it so the worms

 can crawl up into it.

Our ceramic compost bin is overflowing with kitchen scraps...

Sprinkle some more dirt over the tiny holes and then spread a layer of kitchen scraps.The scraps will attract the worms up into the second tray and the worm casting will be left in the bottom tray.

Continue the process a few times. It is important to add a sprinkling of dirt over the kitchen scraps every time as worms don't have teeth and need the dirt to help grind the food down.

Every week sprinkle a little dolomite lime or TUMBLEWEED worm farm and compost conditioner ( shown here) ontop of the food scraps. This will help lower the acidity of the kitchen scraps especially acid foods like citrus fruit.

I hope you enjoyed our demonstration.

If you want to find out more visit me in the nursery.I'll be more than happy to talk worms with you.

Krystal x

 First Image via Tumbleweed. Other Images Serenity Nursery