Orchidaceous Time

Sydney Garden Talk 2RRR 88.5fm Wed 5pm, Sat 12noon
Feature Interview: Kevin Hipkins of Royale Orchids talks about care for orchids.Tip: flush your orchids in summer, late in the evening to cool the bark. Heat builds up in the bark during the day and cooks your orchid. Avoid watering the leaves. http://www.royaleorchids.com/
For upcoming shows http://www.orchidsocietynsw.com.au/
Vegetable Hero:Tetragonia tetragonoides, Warrigal Spinach. An Ice Plant because it exhibits Crassulacean Acid Metabolism or CAM. That's an ability to store carbon at night, not requiring the stomates to open during the heat of the day. Very drought tolerant, growing on sand dunes on the east coast of Australia. Needs minimum blanching of 2-3 minutes to get rid of the high concentrate of oxalates.
Design Elements:Mulch for your garden. Most bark and leaf mulches add to a level of 7 -10cm. Tea tree and sugar cane mulch, only 5 cm is needed.
Apply soil wetter over the top to stop an impenetrable mat forming.
Plant of the Week:Boronia spp. Best to grow from seed so that a tap root is formed. Adventitous roots from cuttings are very prone to root rot from too wet a soil. Otherwise treat as an annual plant. High perfume.
What's On: Kauri Project at Lion Gate Lodge-Sydney Botanic Gardens from 21-29 August, 10-49 each day. Agathis moorei, a 150 year old Kauri pine in the gardens was decimated by the resident flying foxes. Tablets of the trunk of the tree were distributed to 15 craftsmen to fashion items of art and decoration such as frames of mirrors, bangles, a boat, dining table and much more.