Unlock flower power and let love bloom this month
LET your love bloom in this Valentine’s month when you fill your garden (and heart) with stunning flowering plants in the most passionate colours.
Romancing the dwarf rose
Why settle for one short-lived longstemmed red rose when you can rather have a patio filled with potted roses? Miniature rose varieties collectively known as “patio roses” are freely available in warm seasons.
Give love with a ‘love palm’
The dwarf parlour palm hailing from tropical rainforests has such a sexy and lush appearance, that it has earned itself the more well-known common name of “love palm”.
Sweet and juicy
Nowadays you will always find readyto-plant strawberry plants in nurseries. Plant them up in window boxes or hanging bowls.
Colouring in .
Replace tired bedding plants with seedlings of salvia splendens (“blaze of fire” or “flare bright red”). Compliment the bright red upright flower spikes with silvery-grey cineraria (Silver dust) – they like it hot and dry and will give you a flower and foliage-filled transition into late autumn.
Prime time . .
If you choose modern hybrids and tough favourites, you will be rewarded with greater flower power for less hassle in a flowery late summer border. Some of these include: Salvia greggii hybrids; Hemerocallis hybrids; Angelonia angustifolia hybrids; Echinacea (“Cheyenne spirit”); Leucanthemum (“Daisy May”); pentas lanceolata (“new look”), as well as dwarf veggies (chillies, cherry tomatoes, and fresh loose-leaf lettuce varieties).
Feed your garden
You should now use slow-releasing soil and plant fertilisers which contain composted seaweed, fishmeal, humic acid and poultry manure – all natural minerals and growth stimulants to maximise and sustain summer growth, but which will also increase the water holding capacity of the soil.
Eastern Cape
Remove annuals if they are looking a bit sad, and deadhead others to give you a second flush of colour. Annuals which can be planted for late summer and autumn colour include petunias, begonias, alyssum and lobelias.
Pot it, grow it, eat it
Nearly all vegetables can be grown in containers. Start seed germination with organic peat pellets, which requires minimal water to seedling stage. Pot up using water-retaining coco-peat bricks mixed into potting soil.
Start sowing now: Beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, cabbages, Chinese cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, lettuce, parsnips, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips.
For more information, visit www.lifeisagarden.co.za or join the conversation on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lifeisagardensa.