PLANTS: THERE ARE NO LIMITS

This is the message Plants Plus Cumberland Forest co-owner Adam Pearce wants customers to be aware of as winter approaches.

‘’Being a nursery retailer/grower and a service provider that focuses on Australian native plants and also supplying exotic plants, we want to educate people that plants are not just for spring,’’ he said.

For residents of the Hills and Hawkesbury who want to cultivate home gardens in their apartments and compact homes, We interviewed Mr Pearce about plants that put on a great show in winter.

NATIVE
1. KANGAROO PAW “VELVET SERIES” – ‘’This series of Kangaroo Paws are very robust and require little water. They are very vigorous, resistant to pests and high temperatures. Kangaroo Paw is a classic Australian plant and their vibrant outback colours encompasses the attributes needed to lighten a garden with a deft touch. My personal favourite is the ‘Regal Velvet’ which has red/green flowers, born on magnificent highly architectural vertically accented foliage.

2. BANKSIA BIRTHDAY CANDLES– ‘’Birthday Candles” are low growing and can thrive in the direct hot sun, in semi-shaded conditions and champion frost tolerance. The fine dense foliage coupled with their natural dome-like form and overlayed with a burnt orange flower show make them a spectacular border, stand alone feature plant or a brilliant potted specimen.

3. GREVILLEA “LADY O” ‘’What a plant! Like many Grevilleas they are extremely long flowering. At a compact maximum height of 1.5m this plant is great to deliver eye height flowering and suit larger and smaller garden situations. Like most other varieties of Grevilleas, they are native Australian bird magnets. The good news is that bees are also regular visitors of these nectar/pollen laden plants.

EXOTIC
1. HELLEBORES ‘Commonly known as the ‘Winter Rose’, low-lying perennial plants that are incredibly hardy with low moisture requirements and are highly frost tolerant. Hellebores come in a vast range of colours including Bright Yellow, White, Purple, Pink to mention a few and come as either single or doubled flowers. They are great for planting under tree-cover to add a pop of colour in these shaded and often dry areas.

2. CAMELLIAS “Long heralded as Autumn and Winter gardening heavy weights, modern day forms continue to be bred, to further increase the plethora of choice at our fingertips. A couple of my favourite modern-day forms include “Sweet Jane” Sasanqua Camellia and ‘Volunteer’ hybrid Camellia which both poses incredibly long flowering attributes and with many gardens reducing in size, these two varieties in amongst other more compact growing varieties, really lend themselves to these gardens. Both varieties are well suited to shade or sun positions.

3. THE CLASSIC WINTER 3P’S – That’s Pansy’s, Primulas and Polyanthus. Yes, it’s that time of year again when we get excited to plant and gaze upon these classic vibrant colourful plants. For anyone that thinks that the garden is drab in Winter has obviously not embraced the visual colour show that are the 3P’s. Each of them can be planted in full sun and deliver great results in part shade situations. Use them in hanging baskets, pots and garden beds, they are sure to convert the unconverted.

ADVERTORIAL PLANTS: THERE ARE NO LIMITS This is the message Plants Plus Cumberland Forest co-owner Adam Pearce wants customers to be aware of as winter approaches. ‘’Being a nursery retailer/grower and a service provider that focuses on Australian native plants and also supplying exotic plants, we want to educate people that plants are not just for spring,’’ he said. For residents of the Hills and Hawkesbury who want to cultivate home gardens in their apartments and compact homes, We interviewed Mr Pearce about plants that put on a great show in winter. Plants Plus Cumberland Forest is a retail garden centre set in Sydney’s most ambient location specialising in Australian native plants with an expanding range of exotics, plus a whole lot more. Located at 95 Castle Hill rd, West Pennant Hillls, NSW 2125. Contact 02 9871 3222. Visit www.plantscumberlandforest.com.au