Brighten your Garden with Oranges, Yellows and Pinks.

Ixoras.

This is an I love it or I hate it plant.

My mum loves them. I must admit I verge on the opposing side. Why on earth would I write about them if they are on my not so favourite list?

Well as with many things these plants have grown on me over the years and as with many plants there seems to be a time and a place for them.

Ixoras are native to the tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world, with many of them in Tropical Asia. These plants typically can't handle frosts so if you are in a frost prone area these may not be for you. Some Ixoras are more prone to being cold affected while others can handle a little bit of cold.

Ixoras have dark green leathery leaves and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer and autumn. The more common Ixoras usually have orange, gold, pink or red flowers. Ixoras prefer acidic soil and usually like a little shelter from our blazing summer sun. In saying that I have seen many gorgeous Ixoras growing in full sun and full shade.  They don't mind being in pots or the ground.

I find the four most popular Ixoras are 'Prince of Orange', 'Pink Malay', dwarf orange and dwarf gold. Ixora williamsii is also popular as it has red flowers but it really dislikes the cold so is not commonly grown in Ipswich.

Prince of Orange has fiery orange flowers and can grow around two meters tall. The dwarf orange and yellow grow to around 1/2 metre. These look amazing in pots but I have seen them in gardens  trimmed into a hedge and they look stunning when in flower. You can hardly see their green leaves.

My favourite Ixora is Pink Malay. Why do I love it? Not just because it gets covered in pink flowers but because it is so hardy. This Ixora is absolutely amazing; growing to around a metre it can handle full sun and shade. It can grow in pots or the garden and I have seen it successfully growing in a shopping centre car park. Yes that's right, a shopping centre car park. A place that has no good soil, no mulch, no care, only rain fall and it looks glorious. This is why I love this plant.

Ixoras like all my plants get fertilised with Organic Link and Triple Boost. I use Searles' Peat 80 potting mix for pots and Searles' garden soil for gardens.

There is a grub that likes to destroy your Ixora flower heads. There are a few ways to combat this - You can mix neem oil in with your fortnightly Triple Boost or I sometimes use Searles' Bug Beater. Eco-oil would also work. Sooty mould can also form on the leaves. This can be caused by scale and ants. Give your plant a really good soil drench and use a soil wetter if necessary. Fertilise and spray with Eco-oil. In a fortnight or so you should be able to hose off the soot and hopefully the ants would have dissipated.

This autumn brighten up your dull spots with shades of orange, yellow and pink.

Bloomin' Fabulous

A common question I am asked is "why didn't my fruit trees fruit profusely or if they did why was the fruit misshapen?" Or "why didn't my camellias and azaleas flower as well this year?" Or even "why are all my coloured foliaged plants like crotons and dracaenas losing their colour?"

The answer is usually quite simple - Your garden just needs some TLC and a little Potash!

Potassium Sulphate or Sulphate of Potash is commonly called Potash.  It is an essential element necessary to the lives of all plants.

It aids in disease resistance and frost protection by strengthening the plants cell walls.  It helps in seed and root development. It encourages strong new growth and helps with the formation of flower buds and fruit.

Potash can improve the quality and the colour of flowers and enhances the formation of proteins and sugars in fruit. Potash can even help plants with slender stems and large flower heads such as Iceland poppies and gerberas hold their heads erect.

Potash defective cues can be seen in a number of ways in your plant. Your plants might be showing signs of overall weakness especially in its stem.  It could have yellowing leaf margins and grow more slowly.  It could also be disease prone and its fruit and flowers will be small and poorly coloured and sometimes tasteless.

Don't confuse a potash deficiency though with an unhealthy plant. Always make sure you have given your plant some complete slow release organic fertiliser like Organic Link first.

It seems that many Australian soils are low in potassium (potash).

Complete fertilisers, whether they are chemical or organic, usually contain potash.  Organic Link contains potash. An N:P:K ratio can usually be found on the fertiliser label. A very quick explanation of the N:P:K ratio is - N stands for Nitrogen (greening, growing), P Phosphorus (roots) and K Potassium (fruiting, flowering).

If you use mainly a manure based fertiliser like blood and bone or chicken manure you will need to add potash as these products don’t naturally contain it.

Potash also is available by itself in a liquid form and a granular form. 

The liquid form is added to water and used as a foliar spray. Used like this it is quick acting but not long lasting and needs to be repeated on a fortnightly basis. This is best for promoting flowers especially on annuals.  I use Plant of Health's Potash and Silica. 

The granular form is added to the soil and watered in.  The granular is slower acting but lasts a lot longer.  This is best for correcting deficiencies, promoting fruit and stimulating coloured foliage. We use Searles' Potash.

This weekend I want you all to get some granular potash and go a little silly in your gardens. Your winter blooming plants like camellias and azaleas will love you and your citrus trees will adore you.

Who am I?

Every Wednesday on Trevallan's Facebook page is "Ask it Wednesday?" A day I leave the page open to any questions the followers can throw at me and I attempt to answer them.

It's become a much anticipated day with many people tuning in to see what has been asked and of course what I've answered.

I have developed such a great personal rapport with so many of Trevallan's followers that I forget to some I am just a business on a computer screen.

This became evident when a few weeks ago on "Ask it Wednesday?" I was asked "What's my Horticultural background?"

I realised at this point that so many of you may not realise who I am - the face behind Trevallan's web presence.

I am me.

How to describe me, well first you need to know my family.

I come from a family of gardeners. My knowledge is book based but most comes from being surrounded by it all my life. It's amazing what you can learn just by listening.

My grandparents were gardeners. Their vegetable patch sustained the family, so no outside food had to be bought in apart from meat. My grandfather also loved to fiddle. His true love lay with camellias and azaleas and he self taught himself to cross breed, graft and do cuttings. He was also a lawn fanatic. Think bowling green, see my grandfathers lawn!

My parents before going into retail had a successful landscaping business 'Trevallan Landscapes' that would have been in operation for about 30 years today had my father not died in 2000. Trevallan Landscapes was high in demand and I remember my father travelling all over Queensland doing landscaping work - private and commercial. Working for him was also a great way for me to earn pocket money as I grew up.

I finished my bachelor business degree in 1999 and after my father died began working at Trevallan Lifestyle Centre full time.

Since than my pieces of paper have increased - I have a Certificate III in horticulture, am a Certified Nursery Professional, am chemcert qualified, have been a national finalist for Young Horticulturalist of year and been a HAL emerging Leader. I am also a member of the Horticultural Media Association Qld and am a committee member for local garden club 'Glebe Garden Club'.

As quickly as my pieces of paper increase so does my workload. I now write a weekly gardening column for Ipswich's local paper "The Queensland Times", I write for the gardening magazine 'About the Garden'. I write this blog, manage Trevallan's social media - Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and this blog plus work at Trevallan. Lucky for all of us Trevallan is run by my mum who works there tirelessly so I can do all this other fun stuff! I also love giving gardening related talks to social and gardening clubs.

While I've been paper collecting so has Trevallan - over the years Trevallan has won a few awards, one I am most proud of is Best Small Garden Centre in Qld in 2010.

As many of us know knowledge isn't gained just from reading a few books. Knowledge is made up of a lifetime of asking questions and determining what you believe is right answer.

I attend as many industry run events and read as much as I can so I can try to stay onto of new information, plant releases. I also try to take the time to listen to my customers, my growers, my suppliers as I find they've tried and tested many things I wouldn't get a chance to try in my lifetime.

Basically I Live it breathe it!

But horticulture isn't my only love - aromatherapy is another passion. In between all my paper getting for horticulture I also completed - Certificate Four Massage Therapy, which included Aromatherapy I.

In October 2012 I won a world wide competition to create my own essential oil blend. This blend 'wisdom' is produced by internationally renowned aromatherapy company Perfect Potion and sold at Trevallan as well as world wide via Perfect potion stores and online trading.

Life isn't just about fertilising and sweet smells because in-between all that I'm nurturing a young family with three children six and under.

So that's me.

The girl behind the computer screen.