Rain, rain, glorious rain, well sometimes just a brief shower, last night I woke to that wonderful sound, what a joy it is to hear rain on a gal iron roof. With so much of our country in drought I hope you’re getting some rain too.

Plants constantly amaze me, after so many dry months with the garden receiving limited water they have sprung back with renewed enthusiasm. The nursery is full of flowers with every day a new surprise and exclamations of “wow come and look at this” as I drag my nursery helper Keith away from the potting table. This is one of the bonuses of having limited quantities of a lot of different plants.

I often receive emails enquiring why a particular plant is no longer on the website, to clarify a little; many plants are slow to reproduce whether by seed, cuttings or division. Sometimes I have let stocks of a plant get very low due to my giving in to a. customer’s request of “can’t I just have one”. I find it hard to resist those beseeching eyes. Yep, I’m a sucker and they know it. Consequently it may be two years before a plant is back in stock again, many of the shrubs especially take time to develop a good root system and be ready for sale.

All the plants I sell are grown here, never bought in from wholesale nurseries or purchased as tube stock. It’s definitely a labour of love, but how lucky am I to have a job which I find endlessly fascinating. I don’t have to leave home for it and I can work looking a total dag.

Despite the crazy weather of late, being hot, cold, wet and windy the Geraniums (Cranesbills) are bursting into bloom, so many different colours and leaf shapes, I hope to have them on the website over the next few weeks. I find them particularly appealing and I was delighted that after months with no rain that they came through with no losses.

New to me and the website are the lovely Salvia pallida and Salvia dentata, both have flowers in delicate shades of blue and white. Like many of you I’m a sucker for blue flowers and these two don’t get too big, which is a problem when posting many of the larger Salvias.

Tradescantias are just beginning to flower, they are a lovely tough plant, which flower all through the warmer months. I have them in pure white and shades of pale mauve violet and deepest purple, over time they produce a dense clump of short grass like foliage.

Geums are thriving and producing lots of buds and blooms. Over time I have collected lots of different cultivars and several species. We grow  hem in one litre pots and find they multiply and flower well in containers as I never have enough space for everything in the garden.

I’ve had some delightful nursery visitors of late who often point out “but that isn’t on your website,” in fact at any one time I guess two thirds of the plants aren’t on it. The reason being there are not sufficient quantities to list, I haven’t had time to do so, or maybe I’ve just forgotten it. I’m only human and am easily distracted by another plant wanting attention. So, if you are after a particular perennial not listed, email me or give me a ring on 0417 433 357.

If you would like to see more of our collection you are welcome to visit the nursery but please contact me first so we can arrange a convenient time for all of us. With some four thousand plants in stock there is a lot to see so allow some time to wander.

You can also pick up your order (by appointment) I love to meet my customers.

Speaking of meeting customers our annual open garden and plant sale is coming up on Saturday, 9th and Sunday, 10th of November 10am to 5pm, I hope you can come.

Happy gardening

Mim