Behind the Scenes in our nursery
We're nearing the end of autumn : some plants are having a last hurrah, and others are starting early for winter.
We love to see all the photos and videos of your garden plants that you email to us, and share on social media!
We thought we'd share some of ours with you in return, so you can see what's flowering at our place right now. Tap the images to jump to the product page.
It's camellia season - at least for the sasanquas, as this species always starts a little earlier. Our nursery paddocks are filled with big blowsy pink and white blooms, and when the sun is shining and the air is still, there's a sweet gentle fragrance in the air as well. This pure white symmetrical one is Early Pearly
This ruffled one with watercolour shades of pink on the outside petals is Little Pearl. Whenever the sun shines we take a walk around the camellia plantings to appreciate these gorgeous flowers while we can, like AE Housman and his cherry blossoms
Early camellias are starting to flower and others are forming buds - so it's great they've been getting so much water this year to help those new buds form. These fat pink buds belong to Paradise Pearl - they open into the beautiful blooms above.
Camellias make very glamorous hedges - Roseann is a fantastic variety for this with strong upright stems and deep green glossy leaves to enjoy when the flowers have finished blooming
Camellias come in a range of flower shapes, sizes, and colours, from deep red-pink frilled doubled blossoms, to big saucer-shaped watercolour blooms, and little frilled posies. Some of the most popular are the double pinks, like Sparkling Burgundy, and Dazzler above.
Paradise Glow has huge single flowers which do glow against a blue sky; for a lighter pink version of this style, choose Plantation Pink
For maximum size and flamboyance in your camellia garden you can't go past RL Wheeler - what a showstopper! Japonica camellias like deep red Black Tie (centre) flower a litle later in the season - but this one at the top of our driveway gets full sun and a sheltered spot so it joins in the fun with all the rest.
Aand an honorary mention for Gordonia, a camellia relative, with beautiful tissue-paper white flowers and gorgeous foliage ideal for privacy hedging.
Is there ever a month when society garlic isn't flowering? Such big value from such a little plant! Another non-stop flowerer is russelia, aka firecracker flower, in ruby tangerine and lemon flavours. And seaside daisy is also awesome value, flowering from go to whoa. This one is the variety Spindrift which has darker pink colouring than the species form.
Salvias are fantastic late-flowering perennials, quick to flower from tubestock size and giving you flowers right through until frosts, if you get such a thing. They're so on trend right now, and we can see why as they are fast-growing, easy-care, and love sunshine. Above, pink Mulberry Jam, purple-blue Mystic Spires, lilac Mesa Azure.
More fast flowerers, showing off from tubestock size : native hop goodenia, brazilian little boy blue, and white plectranthus. You can see heaps more of these kind of pretty garden flowers in our Herbaceous Perennials category under Cottage Garden Plants
Native callistemons have long flowering seasons, and right now our nursery Dawson River Weeper trees and Rocky Rambler groundcovers are blooming in bright colour high and low. Yes, there's a groundcover bottlebrush!
callistemon lookalikes from over the ditch. They might be called NZ Christmas bushes but they're clearly practicing for a Christmas in July as the hedges round the nursery are full of fluffy red pompom flowers.
You can't have missed the native golden penda trees in your neighbourhood if there's any to be seen. Their fluorescent yellow pompom flowers cover the tree, so you can hardly see the leaves - and excitable lorikeets cover the flowers, getting their annual feast of nectar.
and finally a shout out to our propagation team who grow a little flower garden outside their offices, full of bright colour and happy pollinators. If you fancy doing the same, take a look at our Flower Seeds category (and add some herbs like basil and parsley too, like our team does!)
Sunshine and showers - and double rainbows. It's the silver lining to every cloud; and we're thankful for the life-giving rain.
We hope you have enough water to grow your garden too, and if you're on the Mid North Coast NSW, we hope you stay safe and dry out soon.
There's always something to see and enjoy in a garden, every day of the year.
We hope this has inspired you to take a fresh look at your outdoor space - and maybe add a new plant or two!
