Christmas is a great time of coming together with friends and family to celebrate the good things of life. Plants will bring life, freshness and colour to gardens, homes and events for the festive season.

Living Christmas trees:

Potted Daintree Pines (Gymnostoma australianum) are now available, and are well suited to our tropical climate. Daintree Pines are a native to North Queensland and make a beautiful Christmas feature that will grow with your family year after year.

Your Daintree Pine will thrive for years to come with some basic Christmas care:

• Daintree pines don’t like to dry out. Water them daily, especially if in a pot, and even when it is inside for Christmas.
• While they love water, they will not tolerate wet feet, so ensure water doesn’t pool in the saucer. The water needs to be able to drain freely away.
• Daintree pines need full sun – If you are bringing inside for Christmas, they will not tolerate more than a week in low light. After the festivities have finished, gradually acclimatize it back into a sunny position.

A Colourful Christmas:

Create a Christmas centrepiece for your festive celebrations! Bromeliads are fantastic colour, with long lasting flowers and require minimal care. Plant a bowl full of these beauties to add colour and vibrance to your table.

Dichondra Silver Falls makes the perfect Christmas character when you add a hat for some fun festive spirit!

Add some traditional Christmas colour with Poinsettias. Keep an eye out in-store for these vibrant plants.

Garden jobs for December:

Trim and tidy hedges – Aim for an ‘A’ frame shape to your hedge. Hedges naturally grow into a ‘V’ shape as the top gets more sun, but can lead to patchy or no growth at the bottom as it gets less sun. A regular trim will keep it neat and tidy with fresh new growth.

Fertilise fruit trees and harvest ripe fruit regularly.

Enjoy the tropical fruits harvests as December continues. Mango, Pineapple, Lychee Rambutan are all beginning to ripen just in time for Christmas!

The Edible Garden:

Rest and rejuvenate!

As the traditional edible garden season ends, it’s a good time to refresh and rejuvenate your garden for next season. Remove spent plants, add a sprinkle of MinPlus to rejuvenate minerals and neutralise your pH, and add a thick layer of hay to cover the soil and break down over summer. Your garden will thank you next vege season!

Plant some tropical greens!

If you’re keen to keep growing, plant some tropical greens to keep up your kitchen garden supply. Plants such as Longevity spinach, Sweet heart spinach, Brazilian spinach and Aibika will flourish in the humid weather and are full of nutrients.

Plant Ginger and Turmeric for extra homegrown kitchen flavour. These spices can be expensive to buy, but are so easy to grow you’ll never buy them again.

Chillis love the warm weather, and can be planted as seed or transplanted as seedlings into the garden. There’s so many flavoursome and spice levels to choose from, so you’re sure to find one that suits your tastes. A low care plant once established that will reward you with spicy, fresh flavour in abundance. Here’s our TOP tips for getting your chillis established:

• Pick a nice sunny spot, and prepare your soil well with plenty of ActivGrow to add organic matter to your soil. Adding now reduces the need for fertiliser later on.
• Sow seeds direct and keep moist but not wet until the seedlings emerge (7-21 days).
• If transplanting seedlings, take care not to disturb roots.
• Water when the top 5cm of soil is dry, they like to be moist but not saturated.
• Fruit are ready when they turn glossy, and you can harvest before or after they change colour depending on your flavour preference. Harvesting regularly encourages more fruit!

Enjoy your festive season in the garden, and we wish you health, happiness and a fabulous garden for the new year!