Winter Colour In Your Garden | Garden Design and Inspiration | Gardening Australia

Costa picks some favourites for winter colour.

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Camellias, grevilleas, aloes, Lilly pillies, vegies and more!

00:00 Intro
00:40 Camellias
01:20: Grevilleas
02:52 Aloes
04:28 Lilly Billy
06:02 Contrasting Foliage
07:09 Vegies

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Winter can be hard going
in the garden, particularly if you’re
in the southern states. It gets dark early and it’s cold. The glory days of spring can seem
like a faint mirage on the horizon. Fortunately, while the rest
of the garden is hibernating, some plants hit their peak. And I’m here to show you how to bring
some winter colour to your garden. If there’s a stone-cold winter
classic in the world of horticulture, it’s the camellia. For as long as Gardening Australia
has been on air, we’ve been filming stories
about camellias, and for good reason. They’re pretty, they’re tough,
they’re long living, and they can tolerate
a wide range of conditions. There’s a vast range of cultivars
which add colour to gardens from autumn all the way
through winter into spring. From a maintenance point of view,
camellias prefer an acid soil. If you’re gonna grow them in a pot, make sure you use
an acidic potting mix, much like one
that you’d use for roses. For a bit of local winter colour,
why not try something like this? Grevilleas also proffer
a plethora of garden cultivars. Grevilleas are evergreen
Australian-native favourites. They come in all different shapes and
sizes, from spreading ground covers clumping shrubs,
right up to taller trees. They generally flower
across autumn and winter, and they become real highlights once they’re placed and planted
throughout a garden. But at most nurseries, you’ll find that the majority
of grevilleas fall into the medium shrub category –
about 2 to 2.5 metres in size. Many gardeners struggle to get
their grevilleas flowering well, so here’s a couple of tips. First up, grevilleas love sun, so make sure
they’re in a nice sunny position. Second thing is, deadhead. By that I mean, remove the spent
flower heads and seed heads, preventing all that energy
going up into making seeds and redirecting it
back into the plant, which means it will produce
more growth and more flowers. Grevilleas love a bit of chunky wood
mulch and a nice free-draining soil. A small amount of native
slow-release fertiliser once a year will do them the world of good. If there’s a plant that’s come
a long way in recent years, it would have to be the aloes. These guys hail from South Africa, another place where plants
have evolved to save their best for winter. Aloes were previously the preserve of the astute collector
of arid garden rarities. Today, new varieties have come out
that are not only tough but they’re genuine
floral showstoppers. You now see them being
grown en masse in public parks for a midwinter seasonal display
you simply can’t ignore. New cultivars throw up
multi-pronged spikes in shades of red, orange and yellow, which are guaranteed to bring a glow
to even the dimmest winter evening. In the warmer months, their sculptural forms
will keep you entertained even while they’re not flowering. But here’s the thing –
aloes don’t like wet feet, so if you’ve got clay soil, make sure you raise the beds up
with some sand and organic matter. But you don’t have to overdo it because their roots
don’t go really deep, they tend to stay
close up to the surface. On the other hand,
aloes are well suited to pot culture, where you can really showcase
their striking form and they won’t hold it against you
if you miss a water occasionally. An experienced gardener will tell you that colour is not just about
the flowers. Foliage really is the most
valuable player in the garden, and some plants really turn it on
in the cooler months. Syzygium is a dense native shrub,
better known as lilly pilly, and it’s perfect for screening. The more you shear it back, the more
of this new growth it’ll put on and the more colour
you’ll get to enjoy. You’ll even get their fruit. Mm! A bit tangy though, but I like it.
Oh, yeah! Look for cultivars
like ‘Cherry Surprise’ and ‘Cascade’,
which reward you with new foliage in dazzling bronze, orange, lime, and in the case of ‘Cascade’,
even pink. Lilly pillies have traditionally
copped a hard time from a native insect pest
called psyllid. Now, lots of new cultivars
have been bred and they don’t suffer
from that problem. And as you can see on this one here, you get that beautiful,
rich, green, dense foliage without the problems
that they used to have. When the skies start to darken, it’s a real opportunity
to amp up the colour, and this nursery has a display
that will really attract the eye. The two plants here
are evergreen trees grown for the distinct shades
they offer. Cupressus glabra ‘Blue Ice’
is a tall pyramidal conifer with foliage that’s not only
glowingly icy, but also aromatic. It’s a fast grower and can reach
five metres in the first 10 years. You can plant it as a standalone
specimen tree, as a hedge, or better still, clip and prune it
into whatever shape you want. Yet another option is
to go for a striking colour combo and plant it with this. Agonis flexuosa ‘After Dark’
is a WA native. It’s slow growing,
needs good drainage and will eventually
get to about five metres. Winter colour doesn’t need to stop
at the veggie garden gate. Have a look at these! ‘Curly Red’ kale
has been bred for looks but grows very much
like its close relatives, the edible cabbages and kales. It’s delicious – sweet, nutty
and perfect in a salad or pasta. Give it a go. Cool weather doesn’t mean
the good times have to stop. After all, you can’t make
a rainbow without rain. So, go on, get out there, and turn up the colour in your garden
this winter.