A few of the new greeting cards

They represent a range of some of my most popular images and look pretty fantastic (even if I do say so myself).  There are ten different images in each pack and they’re printed on a blend of recycled and FSC certified card.  The envelopes are fully recycled.  And trust me this isn’t an easy thing to achieve when you’re a boutique operator.

        

The cards are a perfect gift for family and friends including that keen gardener we all know.  They’re also great to just have for yourself as it always seems to be someone’s birthday, wedding etc… 

Check out my shop for more details and to order a pack today – you’ll be very pleased you did. 

This was the first year the event was held at Rosehill Racecourse and the new location didn’t put the crowds off!

I was pretty excited to see that the new carnation ‘Green Trick’ has now been released for sale to the public. It’s pretty unusual and perhaps not to everyone’s liking but I love it.  Naturally I bought one.

  I was also taken with the South African bottlebrush (Greyia sutherlandii).  Unfortunately I don’t have space for a large shrub otherwise I would have snapped one up too.  

This show always has a strong floral design element as well and I loved the simplicity of these ‘shoes’ and the shear exuberance of the ‘flowering shell’.

 I also smiled when I came across a glass bowl of baby’s breath (Gypsophila).  Finally someone has done something nice with baby’s breath!

And while these rather large animal sculptures had plenty of people talking…

                                                                … I was content to stick to more traditional purchases – PLANTS!

Obviously I had no trouble finding things to buy and that really is the whole point of going to these shows.  You often find plants you rarely see in your nursery and get to talk directly with the grower.  So do some investigating and see what shows are coming up in your area.  The Garden Australia Expos are continuing in other cities (see www.abcgardeningexpo.com.au) and many plant societies put on a Spring or Autumn show.  Just remember to turn up early to get the best plants – competition can be fierce!

This sparaxis is officially known as Sparaxis grandiflora ssp. acutiloba but let’s just stick to yellow sparaxis – it’s less to type! Mine have grown to about 50cm high and have been flowering for 2 weeks.  I think they’ve got another week or so in them before they’re finished.  Not a long laster I guess but definitely a very welcome site in winter when not much else is happening.  If you live in a colder climate than me I suspect it’s going to be a spring flowerer for you.

The flowers are almost solid yellow with the exception of some small black markings in the inner throat, as shown below.

All in all they are lovely cheerful flowers and a very undemanding bulb.  They’ve also opened my eyes to the other types of sparaxis that are around.  In fact I am anxiously waiting to see the flowers open on a type I bought (also on ebay) that’s promises to be purple.  Stay tuned!

I just love bulbs and can’t resist anything a bit unusual. Recently I discovered a grower who sells some pretty cool stuff and after much deliberating over the catalogue I ordered a stack of bulbs. 50 to be precise.  Yes there are 50 squashed into that box.  Obviously they’re small bulbs.

By the way I’m calling them all bulbs for simplicity’s sake. Some are actually corms, tubers or rhizomes but where’s the fun in getting bogged down in technical terms?  

This morning I’ve been happily potting them all up, complete with labels so I don’t forget what’s what, and can’t wait for them to start growing.  A few of them had quite interesting looking bulbs which I thought I’d share with you.

This is Hypoxis hygrometrica an Australian native which bears very pretty golden yellow flowers in Spring.  Okay so I haven’t seen the flowers in real life yet, just in books.  I purchased it solely on the fact that the pictures looked nice and it’s a native.  So many of the bulbs we grow are from elsewhere in the world and I’m excited to try out an Aussie native. It’s interesting to see how the bulbs produce swollen permanent roots which look like they’re a trick to help it survive through dry periods.

These bulbs belong to Oxalis triangularis which produces unusual dark burgundy/purple foliage.  I first saw this plant years ago when I was living in London and loved it straight away.  It had completely slipped my mind until I saw it in the bulb catalogue and knew I had to have it. I had assumed the triangularis part of it’s name referred to the leaf shape but after seeing the bulbs I can’t help but wonder if it is more about the triangular shape of the scales?

And the final shot is of Commelina coelestis who’s bulbs are simply freaky looking! I have a strong suspicion that it probably won’t do well in my climate but given it’s exquisite blue flowers I had to at least try.  I’m sure you understand.

I’ll keep you updated on how they perform and will naturally share some photos when they’re in flower.  If anyone wants the contact details of the grower send me a message and I’ll pass them on.

The Australian Open Gardens scheme is a fantastic system which sees over 600 gardens opened to the public around the nation.  Recently I’ve been making an effort to go and see some each weekend.  Following are pictures from two of my favourites…

Bondi garden designed by Brendan Moar

 The first garden was designed and built by Brendan Moar.  You  may have already seen this one if you get Foxtel as Brendan hosts his own landscape design show called ’Dry Spell Gardening’. This garden featured in the very first episode.  Brendan took a very overgrown small garden and created an interesting and modern landscape.

Out went a lot of plants and in went some pretty cool structures like the steel hoops and artificial grass mound seen in the first photo above.  A firepit, custom-made white ‘dinosaur eggs’ and whimsical artwork on the wall are featured in the back half of the garden (see below).

What impressed me the most is not just the clever design but the fact that its over two year since the garden was built and it still looks great.  A lot of make-overs done for TV only plan to look good for the final shot with seemingly little regard to how the garden will evolve over time. A lot of thought has gone into the design of this garden and it really shows.  It was particularly lovely to meet the owners and hear how much they still love Brendan’s design.

The second garden I fell in love with from the moment I stepped into the front yard.  Whilst the photos don’t really do it justice I hope you can see what the attraction was for me.

The owners had very cleverly used the small space at the front of the house to create a patch of Japanese inspired tranquility.  Stepping off the street and into this garden I instantly felt transported into another world.  Raked pebbles and a few feature rocks were complemented with a restrained planting of clipped Japanese box (Buxus microphylla japonica) and Orange Jessamine (Murraya paniculata).  I particularly liked the murraya being clipped into ‘clouds’ – a technique more commonly seen with cypresses.

The back garden was completely different again.  It was a fairly small paved courtyard split over two levels.  Its theme was obviously a tropical garden, packed full of wonderful exotic specimens including: bromeliads, heliconias, angels trumpets, succulents, gingers and more.

I was particularly impressed (and jealous) with their flowering Heliconia rostrata, seen above in the bottom right hand corner.  This coastal garden (in Clovelly) was obviously warm enough to allow the heliconia to thrive.  Following are a few other flowers which caught my eye…

Globba winitii

Globba schomburgkii

These ugly ducklings grew up into ugly swan pots...

Mike and I couldn’t stop laughing when we saw them.  Strangely though noone else in the nursery seemed remotely amused by them.  Maybe cement swan pots are big business in that town.

The silvery grey plant in the pots is the Western Australian native, Eremophila nivea. It has beautiful soft furry felt-like foliage and mauve flowers.  Its a personal favourite of mine.  Being from Western Australia they require excellent drainage and dislike the summer humidity and rain we get here in Sydney.  You can get them grafted onto different rootstock which helps them to withstand this extra moisture but be prepared to pay more for these guys. 

Their common name is Emu Bush and I still wonder if the nursery staff placed the emu bushes into the swan pots intentionally or if it was just serendipitous…

Air quality indoors is often worse than outdoors due to the build up of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).   These are given off by people, electronic devices, plastics, paints and other synthetic materials. In enclosed environments levels can quickly rise and have significant negative impacts on us. Given that 90% of peoples’ time is spent indoors (shocking but true) air quality is something we really should think about.

 
Professor Burchett’s study revealed that indoor plants can:

• Reduce carbon dioxide by 10-25%
• Reduce carbon monoxide by 90%
• Reduce VOCs from a range of 80-400ppb to always under 100ppb (neglible respiratory health risk levels)

So how do plants do it? Well the carbon monoxide and dioxide is soaked up by the leaves of plants and replaced with oxygen.  Soil microbes (bacteria mainly) in the potting mix breakdown the carbon monoxide and toxic VOCs into harmless components.  It is suspected that these components then become nutrients for the plant.  Together the plant and microbes are very effective at purifying the air.

All it took was 2 floor plants (300mm diameter pots) or 3 desk plants (200mm pots) per office. Several different types of plants were trialled and the good news is that any plant that happily lives indoors should achieve these results!  Leafier plants though were more effective at removing carbon dioxide.

Prof Margaret Burchett with Ray Borg from Ambius (study supporter)

Another fascinating aspect of the study was the impact of plants on negative moods in office workers.  With the presence of indoor plants people showed:

• 37% reduction in tension/anxiety
• 58% reduction in depression/dejection
• 44% reduction in anger/hostility
• 38% reduction in fatigue
• 30% reduction in confusion
• 4.5% increase in vigour

These findings add to the existing body of research showing that indoor plants significantly reduce worker sick days, increase productivity and overall job satisfaction.  Is there nothing these little green miracles can’t do?

Informal meeting space with climbing cissus

So go get yourself a few indoors plants and be happier and healthier.  Remember you don’t need to turn your home or office into a jungle to repeat the benefits but if you do send me some photos!

PS If you want to read the complete report go to: www.nipa.asn.au/uts_project.htm

Really, can you ever have enough terrariums?  Naturally Mike thinks YES but well I just can’t help myself… 

I have been wanting a ‘goldfish bowl’ terrarium for ages but baulked at the price of them in florist shops. However when I found this bowl in a home decorating store and it was super cheap there was no holding me back!  I’ve filled it with a type of bromeliad commonly called Earth Stars but their botanical name is Cryptanthus. These guys are mostly native to Brazil and are almost all terrestrial (they grow in soil rather than clinging to trees like other bromeliads).  They like high humidity and for their soil to never dry out making them perfect for terrarium culture.

The small green one at the front is a hybrid called ”Earth Angel” and the one at the back to the right is “Cascade”.  The large striped one I found at a big box hardware store and was unnamed so its a mystery to me.  Does anyone know it? 

 Its going to be a bit of trial and error to determine just how much light these guys will require.  As they are hybrids from unknown parentage I don’t know what their preferences will be.  But that’s all part of the fun of gardening.  For now they look great sitting in my loungeroom!

One day  I found myself in a large bed of roses and flowering annuals when I spotted this particular rose.  A friend of mine would call it a ‘fruit salad’ garden as it had pretty much a bit of everything with no apparent colour scheme.  I had been somewhat overwhelmed by this riot of colour and was lucky to have seen this beautiful unfolding rose bud.  Unfortunately the plant was not tagged so I don’t know the variety but I suspect it is probably a type of David Austin.

Photo taken on my old camera, a Fuji Finepix.

If you love this image you check out the greeting cards I have at: http://www.cafepress.com.au/stevefalcioni/4856327

Recently Mike was away on a trip to America and Canada.  On the day he left he very thoughtly sent flowers to my work.  They were giant gerberas in shades of yellow, gold and orange.  You’d swear they were fed steroids they were so big.  A far cry from the dainty little daisies my mother grew when I was still living at home.  Anyway after parading my body-builder gerberas around the office I took them home and enjoyed them each day. 

  As they began to wilt I kept telling myself to throw them out but somehow never managed to find the time.  Okay so that’s where the laziness comes in.  We had a couple of super hot days and the poor things were finished off quick smart.  I’m ashamed to admit that I still left them sitting in the dry vase dessicating away.  But then something kinda cool happened…

 The flower heads completely fell apart releasing hundreds of fluffy umbrella shaped seeds.  The ray florets (they’re the parts most people think of as the gerbera petal but technically they’re ray florets) were still full of colour and made for an interesting composition.  Well I thought so.  I hope you like them too!