Showing posts with label Bromeliad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bromeliad. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 April 2015

Melbourne Art and Garden show

This year we decided to visit the Melbourne Art and Garden show, during the Easter long weekend. It promised to be a place which showcased everything related to gardening. It was a visual treat!

Tulips

Hyacinth

We started off with the main displays of the nurseries. We did not intend on buying anything, but saw some amazing plants and arrangements.

Collection of Bromeliads

Bromeliad

Bromeliad
Sinningia Bullata

Collection of succulents
Collection of Terrariums

Terrarium
We also saw a commercial wicking bed product by Green smart. It was a plastic tub, with a false bottom which had the tubes for the wick. It was a pretty cool idea and the fact that it was pre-built was extremely tempting! But we do not need one as we have a garden, this was meant for apartment dwellers.

Concept of wicking beds

Green smart wicking bed
Next up, were the gardening landscape entries. These gardens were meant to be outdoor retreats for entertaining.

Japanese garden

Modern look

Another modern look with a sunken fire pit

Extremely modern

Cement pipes as style items
The backyard entries came next. The contestants had been given a very small backyard space to work with. The varied styles were good for ideas in our own backyard.

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3
Finally, we came to the hanging baskets. There were many traditional ones with trailing plants. But I liked the fairy ones the best, with little scenes depicted on the basket.

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

It was a fun experience and we came back with an armload of pictures for our own garden!

Sunday, 28 December 2014

Christmas shopping

The Christmas holidays are the best time for us to enjoy our garden. We have two weeks off and we spend as much time outdoors as possible. I have spent many a hour reading under the umbrella with the bees and the butterflies. It is the best feeling.

This holiday I want to finish off the succulent setup, at least that is the plan! But before that we wanted to make a trip to Masters and check out what they have that we could plant. We came back with more than we had planned for :)

We picked up these really tiny trio of Cacti. They are growing in moss possibly, but I did not want to prick myself to confirm that! These are ideal for sealing off one of the routes into our garden beds that the doggies like to use.

Trio of Cacti
Masters had beautiful Dahlia plants. I have never grown them before, but they looked too good to resist. We bought them in two colours. They have a beautiful shape.

Dahlia "Gallery Pinto"

Dahlia "Gallery Valentin"
A couple of Decembers ago, we went to New Zealand for a holiday. The country is beautiful, with a picture postcard scene at every bend of the road. In south island, on our way to Milford Sound, we came across a field of wild flowers by the stream. They looked beautiful even on the rainy day we saw them. When I saw the very same flower in Masters, I jumped at the chance to own them. They are called Lupins, we bought the Russell hybrid.

Lupins in New Zealand

Russell Lupin
Finally, we bought an indoor plant to replace the one we lost. From Betters Homes and Gardens, we learned that Bromeliads do not mind indoors. We bought one to place next to the front door, next to a window which gets evening sunlight.

Bromeliad