With striking hot-pink flowers and burgundy foliage, the hardy evergreen Plum Gorgeous makes an attractive shrub or screening plant in Canberra gardens, writes gardening columnist JACKIE WARBURTON.

Evergreen Plum Gorgeous is a hardy shrub that grows well in Canberra’s climate. 

This new variety has striking hot-pink fringe flowers that contrast beautifully with its rich burgundy foliage, making it an attractive addition to any garden.

Growing to 2m tall and wide, it also makes a good screening plant in a large garden.

Loropetalum chinense can be clipped into a hedge or grown as a single large shrub.

Now that flowering has finished, it is a good time to prune. These long-lived plants benefit from regular light clipping after flowering to keep their growth compact.

Once established, they are hardy shrubs, although they grow much better with regular watering.

There is also an unusual white-flowered loropetalum with lime-green foliage that can be just as striking as the hot-pink variety. It may be difficult to find, but an online supplier could be worth trying.

These slow-growing shrubs are relatively easy to maintain. Where space is limited, Loropetalum Purple Pixie is a good alternative, growing to only about 50 centimetres tall. It makes an attractive low border along a path or can be grown in a small pot on a balcony.

VEGETABLE seeds can be sown now, including beetroot, capsicums, carrots and celery.

An economical way to prepare a fine seed-raising mix is to sift ordinary potting mix and use the finer material for sowing. Keep the mix moist, fill small punnets and stand them in a shallow dish of water in the shade until germination.

Fine seeds, such as carrots, can be mixed with a little sand before sowing to help distribute them evenly. Sand also improves drainage, although it does not hold nutrients.

Transplanting seedlings once they have at least six sets of leaves will give them a good start. Keep snails at bay with diatomaceous earth over the foliage until the plants mature.

Planting new seedlings every three weeks or so will help extend the harvest throughout summer. A little planning about what to grow, where to plant it and how much space each crop needs will make good use of the vegetable garden.

ANOTHER job for now is dividing herbaceous perennials that have finished flowering.

Plants that can benefit from division at this time of year include thyme, chrysanthemums and Shasta daisies, along with brassicas and other plants with strong, multiple root systems. These can be dug up, divided and replanted in the garden.

CITRUS trees are flowering now and need constant watering throughout the warmer months to produce good fruit next season.

This year I have had great success with a blood orange, (Citrus sinensis). This unusual variety of sweet orange has dark maroon flesh, and my tree has produced an abundance of fruit.

One advantage of growing blood oranges is that they are less acidic than standard navel oranges, with lovely berry flavours throughout the flesh. They are also easy to peel into segments.

I grow my blood orange in a good-sized pot. With regular watering and very little additional care, it has performed beautifully.

With all citrus, it is important to remove old fruit from the tree to encourage new flowering and fruiting.

Give citrus trees a good fertiliser containing magnesium and calcium, or use a general all-purpose citrus fertiliser. This will encourage healthy foliage and future fruit production.

Remove dead, diseased or crossing branches to improve airflow through the tree.

Citrus trees have shallow root systems, so mulching is important. I use sugar cane mulch and grow nasturtiums underneath to help retain moisture in the soil, keeping the trees growing strongly.

Jottings 

• Prune all spring flowering shrubs. 
• Keep the water up to berries over the warmer months. 
• Plant strawberries for summer crop.

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au

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