Indoor or outdoor, gardening writer JACKIE WARBURTON features a no-fuss fern with an “amazing steel-blue colour”.
Phlebodium is a no-fuss fern that survives well on a protected balcony over winter, but also grows well as an indoor plant with indirect sunlight.
Its foliage is the most amazing steel-blue colour and is a great contrast plant among other pots or as a decorative feature in a pot alone.
There are a few different varieties to try. For outdoor growing, there’s the larger variety P. aureum and for indoor, the more compact P. davana, a smaller variety with outstanding wavy foliage.
They all grow from a rhizome and once too big for the pot, can be divided and re-potted. They like ordinary potting mix and, more than likely, die from being overwatered, so keep them on the dry side.
CALOTHAMNUS is a WA native that grows well in our climate. Its foliage is needle-like, but soft to touch.
A tall, no-prune shrub that grows to about three metres tall, it’s from the myrtaceae family so will need a little TLC to get going. Use native fertilisers only.
Calothamnus likes a little shade, but most importantly it needs drainage. Commonly known as “One Sided Bottlebrush”, it is just that – the striking flowers are unusual and sit on the branch upside down.
Its flower colours are all shades of red, maroon and crimson, but the rare collectibles are white or yellow.
It’s a magnet for nectar-feeding birds, such as wattle birds, spine bills and honeyeaters.
A dwarf form that grows to a metre tall can be used as a native Christmas tree and planted in the garden in autumn.
In the garden it can be used as an informal screen or as a feature tree.
Once established, it doesn’t like too much water nor fuss.
THE vegetable patch should be in full swing and those who got produce in the ground early spring will have garden pickings on the festive table.
Continue to pick herbs and lettuces to keep them growing new leaves and not growing bitter.
Plant out new seedlings to keep a continuous crop of salad right through to autumn.
New seedlings can be protected from slaters, pill bugs and other night-time critters with Diatomaceous earth. I have had many enquiries recently to where it can be sourced and my first port of call is any local rural supplies store; DE is also sold as absorbicide and is beneficial for reducing lice in the chicken runs. It is light and fluffy to handle, and I would recommend it only being used outdoors in a ventilated area.
Merry Christmas to all Canberra gardeners.
Jottings
- Pick a bunch of flowers for a Christmas gift.
- Plant out potted colour for the front door.
- Last of summer/autumn bulbs into the ground.
- Foliar feed all fruit trees and vegetables.
Leave a Reply