Frangipani Fever

SYDNEY GARDEN TALK 2rrr 88.5 fm Saturdays 12noon-1pm

Today I spoke with Anthony Grassi, Events Co-ordinator for the Frangipani Society of Australia.
Next weekend 23rd and 24th January, between 10am and 4-m the society is holding a show at the Tropical centre in the Sydney Botanic Gardens.
There are 2 talks-11am-Frangipani rubra cultivation and care; 2 pm Tropical frangipanis.
If you want to join the Frangipani society go to http://www.frangipani.org.au/

Worm farms and composting workshop also at the Botanic gardens on Wednesday 20th January.
I spoke with John Coco, Horticultural Education Officer and my colleague at the gardens.
John said the you need to sprinkle some water over your worm farm everyday to keep the worms moist and alive.

Vegetable Hero: Rungia klossii or Mushroom Plant.
This mainly tropical plant family includes plants like Snapdragon, Acanthus mollis or Oyster plant, and African violets.
Apparently, the leaves are extremely rich in chlorophyll, making them, valuable for blood cleansing and building. Mushroom plant leaves have 3% protein (higher in protein than mushrooms). 

Has dark green, glossy succulent leaves. Blue flowers in spring. Recommend a semi-shaded position, with morning sun.

The plant will grow from cuttings or from root division. It can be slow to strike. Once established it can grow quite quickly.
If you plant it in the ground it’ll spread by suckering and will form a large clump over time. It needs a fair amount of watering but needs good drainage.

Plant of the Week: Lavender:
When you purchase your lavender, the best you can do first is prune it back by half to two-thirds in the first year. This is to make sure that the plant stays healthy looking and bushy. Otherwise plants soon get straggly and the lower part becomes quite woody with no foliage. Most important in humid climates.
 Lavender. angustifolia and Lavender intermedia, flower in summer, prune in autumn.
Lavandula. dentata or French Lavender, should be pruned in summer so that it is in flower for winter and right through spring.
When taking cuttings of lavender-the best is to take a heel cutting and plant in a sandy mix.

What's On:
Sun 17 Jan – Lane Cove Alive Art & Design markets, 9am – 3pm in Lane Cove Plaza between Burns Bay and Longueville Roads. Free entry. Artists and high end craft; original jewellery, print making, etching, linocuts, handmade soaps and fashion and childrens’ wear. 25-30 stalls.
Sat 23 and Sunday 24 January, Royal Botanic Gardens. Frangipani Show. Beautiful and fragrant frangipanis on display, plants for sale and advice on how to grow them. Hosted by Frangipani Society of Australia. Runs from 10am – 4pm at the Tropical Centre, Adults $5.50, children $3.30.
Tuesday 26 January – free Australia Day concert at North Ryde Common. Time: 5 - 9pm
Venue: North Ryde Common, cnr Twin and Wicks Rds North Ryde Celebrate our nation at our Australia Day Family Concert, with rides, foods, entertainment and fireworks at 9pm. Featured artists include Jenny Biddle, The Beatnix, The BBQ Kings and Go Seek.
Tuesday 26 January – Hunters Hill Council Australia Day at Clarke’s Point. The Australia Day festivities commence with official proceedings in the morning and in the afternoon a family and jazz picnic. The official ceremony is at 10am.  Hunters Hill Rotary will provide a traditional Aussie BBQ. Local Jazz outfit, The Riverside Jazz Band will fill the air with some fantastic traditional Jazz music and 2RRR’s own DJ Streamer will be providing music too.
Tuesday 26 January. If going into the CBD is your thing for Australia Day, The Royal Botanic Gardens has a special ceremony at 8am – Woggan-ma-gule Morning Ceremony. This event acknowledges Sydney’s traditional landowners and gives recognition to the original shoreline of Sydney Harbour. Band Lawn, Farm Cove, Royal Botanic Gardens. Free for everyone to attend.
Sunday 31 January, 12noon – 2.30pm. Guided walk of the Priory and Gladesville Hospital by Peter Colthorpe. Meet at the Priory, 2 Salter St Gladesville with your gold coin donation. Gladesville Hospital has beautiful grounds to walk through with plenty of mature trees and plantings. For more info call Peter on 0434 673101.

Pollination, bats, bees and butterflies.

SYDNEY GARDEN TALK Saturdays 12 noon-1pm 2RRR 88.5 fm
Feature interview: On Asthma gardens-go to http://www.asthamagrden.org.au/ for the plant list.

Madiera Weed: Bev Debrincat talks about this environmental weed.

Vegetable Hero /Healthy Herbs: Coriander, coriandrum sativum.
TO GROW IT FROM SEED..
Sow about 1 cm deep, cover the seeds and keep them moist.
Sow it in rows, scatter it amongst your other veggies, you can use it as a shade plant for your lettuce.
It takes a couple of weeks to germinate, so go do it after my program.
Coriander grow fairly big, about 50 cm or 2 feet tall.
Remember, last week I said grasshoppers don’t like Cilantro er, coriander, so plant it around the spinach.
You want about 5 cm between the plants if you grow it for the leaves.. Leave a few plants to go to seed, yes, on purpose.
When your plants is big enough, take the leaves off from the base of the plant. Just make sure the plant is big enough to cope and leave some leaves on it so it can continue to grow.
Coriander flowers are an important food source for beneficial insects, especially little parasitic wasps and predatory flies.
So to attract many beneficial insects you want lots and lots of coriander flowers in your garden.

Plant of the Week: Frangipani.
Plumeria acutifolia and Plumeria rubra belong to the Apocynaceae (dogbane)family.
Common names: plumeria, frangipani, melia (Hawaiian), temple tree, and many named cultivars.
Plumeria is native to tropical America. In Hawaii, it is grown as an ornamental
and is not found in the wild.
Characteristics
Plumeria is generally a small tree growing to about 5-8 metres. Its broad, usually round-headed canopy with a thick trunk and several broad branches.Often as wide as the tree is tall. The species and hybrids vary somewhat in tree size, compactness, and branching character, leaf and flower size and color, and deciduousness. The leaves are usually glossy green but may be dull green; they are generally ovate, may be blunt-tipped (P. obtusa) or pointed (P. rubra var. acuminata or var. acutifolia),.
Sydney has the deciduous types, the leaves fall during wintertime, and new leaves emerge during or following the spring flowering period.
P. obtusa and its hybrids tend to retain their foliage year-round. The flowers are tubular, expanding into a “pinwheel” of five petals that averages 70mms diameter and may be white, red, yellow, pink, or multiple colors. Flowers of most cultivars are highly fragrant and bloom from October to March.
Plumerias only occasionally produce seed. When pollinated, the flower produces two hard, narrow, pointed pods up to 7 inches long containing 20–60 winged seeds. Maturation

What's On:
Sat 16 Jan – Sun 21 Feb, Mt Tomah Botanic Garden. Under the Sun exhibition. Australian ecological artists Scott Cardeamatis and Joseph Saad have captured the essence of Australia’s rich floral diversity. They use recycled products purchased from conservation organisations. Selected works will be for sale though the Gardens shop. 10am -5pm in the Visitor Centre. The exhibition is free but you’ll have to pay Garden entry fees). Enquiries 4567 2154.


Sun 17 Jan – Lane Cove Alive Art & Design markets, 9am – 3pm in Lane Cove Plaza between Burns Bay and Longueville Roads. Free entry.

Sat 23 and Sunday 24 January, Royal Botanic Gardens. Frangipani Show. Beautiful and fragrant frangipanis on display, plants for sale and advice on how to grow them. Hosted by Frangipani Society of Australia. Runs from 10am – 4pm at the Tropical Centre, Adults $5.50, children $3.30.

Grasshoppers vs Neem Oil

Sydney Garden Talk on 2RRR 88.5 fm, Saturdays 12 noon-1pm

Todays Show:

Crickets, grasshoppers, kaydids and locusts are a group of insects that have strong chewing mouthparts designed for chewing leaves, and they have extra large hind-legs designed for jumping.

There are two types of grasshopper.

Short Horned Grasshopper & Locust s belong to one group called the Acrididae Family.

Antennae are short, horn shaped & half the body length. Length is from 1/2 to 3 1/8 inch long. They feed on all crops and are active during the day. Eggs are laid below the soil surface.

The other type is the…

Long horned Grasshopper & Katydid belong to the Tettigoniidae Family.

Antennae are quite long, bodies are from 1/2 to 3 inch in length.
Hoppers range from dark brown to shades of green Katydids are generally green.
Eggs are laid inside plant tissue. They feed on tree and shrub foliage. These hoppers are mainly nocturnal.

Controlling Grasshoppers
Plant barrier plants like Horehound (Marrubium vulgare, Cilantro, Calendula), netting your crops, catching them early in the morning,
Small traps can be made out of jars or buckets filled with water and a 10% molasses solution, cover with a film of canola oil to deter bees and mosquitoes. Bury the containers up to their rim in the soil; clean and renew the bait as needed.
Insecticidal potassium soap sprays work best on small grasshoppers.
Make up a garlic or chilli spray as a repellent.

Neem Oil:
Neem Oil: Made from the seed of the Neem (azadirachta indica) tree, a shade tree native to India. The active compound azadractin is extracted using water, alcohol or petroleum ether.
Neem has many different effects on insects. It acts as an insect antifeedant and repellant. It can stop or disrupt insect growth (IGR = insect growth regulator) and sterilizes some species.

Plant of the week: GARDENIA

Gardenias prefer regular substantial watering, but they also need moderately well-drained soils with plenty of organic materials worked in before planting. Equivalent to the Rhododendrons and Azaleas, the Gardenia does best in an acidic soil. The root system is shallow and sensitive, so a thick layer of mulch to control weeds is better than cultivating.

Yellow leaves

One of the most ask questions about Gardenias is the yellowing of older leaves in late winter and spring. This is usually a sign that the plant is moving its magnesium to the new growth. In the beginning of spring feed with Epsom Salts (Magnesium sulphate) will usually solve this problem.

To avoid getting other nutrients out of balance, only apply Epsom Salts no more than once a year.

Flower Problems

Watching plump flower buds drop or fail to open is no fun. Neither are blooms that yellow and brown prematurely. Most flowering problems are caused by poor cultural conditions like dry soil, poor drainage, extreme temperatures (hot and cold) and lack of light.

Fertilising:Gardenia plants require to be fed through spring, summer and autumn with Azalea & Camellia food.

What's On:

Hope you recycled that green Christmas tree into the green bin.

Visit http://www.zerowaste.org.au/. For more tips on recycling.

January 2-3, 6-10, 13-17

MOVIES IN THE OVERFLOW 2010 AT SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK

Movies in The Overflow at Sydney Olympic Park is a FREE outdoor cinema series and one of the Park’s most popular summer entertainment events. The 2010 program will kick off on Saturday January 2 and will feature 11 films in addition to an array of international short films which will be screened in The Overflow (opposite ANZ Stadium). http://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Visiting/Whats_on/movies_in_the_overflow

Boxing Day on the radio

Feature interview:Habitat network member and IEWF (international weeds foundation ceo) Bev Debrincat talks about bring back small birds to your garden. Plant small prickly bushes closely, like Acacia ulignosa, Grevillea sericea, dianella spp, and Geranium homeanum.
Fantastic Fruit:
Strawberries.
Garden Design Elements:
Blacony gardens that face south.
Plant of the Week:
Corymbia "Summer Red."

What is this thing called Permaculture?

Sydney Garden Talk, Saturdays 12noon-1pm. 2RRR 88.5 fm
Today's feature interview was with Rosemary Hadaway, Permaculture Sydney North's coordinatore for the Ryde local group.
There are several main elements to Permaculture that makes it different from an organic or sustainable gardenening.
1. Have veggies and herbs, compost bin and worm farm near the back door. This is called Zone 1.
2.Have a water element near you veggie bed. It can be a 30cm bowl to add humidity, attract dragon flies and other beneficials to your veggie garden.
3.Grow perennial herbs like bush basil to support your tomato plants.
4. The next zone contains the fruit trees, further away from the house.
To find out more, join a local permaculture group http://www.permaculturenorth.org.au/
Ryde Rosemary Hadaway 9809 1253 ryde_coord@permaculturenorht.org.au

Plant of the week: NSW Christmas Bush

Asthma gardens

Saturday 12noon-1pm. SYDNEY GARDEN TALK 2RRR 88.5 FM
Feature interview with Michael McNaught, horticultural liasion officer at Eden Gardens.
What changes can you make to an existing garden? See asthma website below.
Spray your living christmas tree with DroughtMaster, an acrylic polymer which fixes any mould spores, before you bring the tree into your home.
http://www.edengardens.com.au/
To visit the asthma display garden go to Eden Gardens Cnr Lane Cove and Fontenoy roads, North Ryde, Ph (02) 9491 9900
For further information about asthma free gardening go to http://www.asthmansw.org.au/ or ring 1800 645 130

Vegetable Hero: Cucumis sativus or Cucumbers.
Cucumbers aren’t picky about soils. As long as your soil is well-draining and has a pH of around 6.5. Add in plenty of organic compost so that they have the proper nutrients to grow strong and healthy. To make sure your garden bed has the proper drainage you can build the soil into mounds (like mini volcanoes) that are about a ruler length and a bit, apart Wet the soil first and then sow 4 -5 seeds into the top of each mound. Make sure the mounds don’t dry out, especially during hot weather so add some sugar cane or tea tree mulch. Of course if you’re watering too much and wondering why nothing is germinating, that’s because the seed has rotted away. When your seeds have germinated, pick out the strongest couple and throw away the other couple so you don’t get overcrowding.

Water regularly at the base of each plant – keeping leaves dry will reduce the risk of powdery mildew disease – and feed every couple of weeks with a soluble plant food.
 Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that is spread by spores carried by the wind. Look for white to gray fungal deposits on the leaves and stems of your cucumbers. As the mildew spreads, the leaves may begin to drop off. There are varieties of cucumbers available that are resistant to this disease. You can also try a natural fungicide. 1 part whole milk to 10 parts water. Make up into a spray bottle and spray directly onto the leaves.

PLANT OF THE WEEK:

HYDRANGEA:

Pictured: Hydrangea "Ayesha" features cupped petals.

Where they grow best?

There is nothing difficult in growing hydrangeas.

The natural habitat of hydrangeas is a woodland setting. This means dappled shade. Morning sun is good –southerly or easterly aspect, or in the shade of tall trees, but not afternoon sun because the flowers will deteriorate (scorched and bleached looking) much quicker if they receive hot afternoon sun.

Hydrangeas are hardy and can take some frost as they lose their leaves in winter anyway.

Mulch well with compost and some form of animal manure. Feed heavily in spring.

WINNER OF PLANT OF THE WEEK: Ann from East Ryde, wins a Hydrangea "Endless Summer"-a repeat flowering Hydrangea. for ringing in with a gardening question on how to get rid of white fly.
Use Natra Soap a concentrate available from Yates.
Spray needs to make direct contact with the pest.
 
WHAT'S ON
Sunday 20 December. Carols spectacular at North Ryde Common in support of local Rotary clubs. Festivities start at 5pm at suburban Sydney’s biggest and best carols show. Admission is free. Food stalls and drinks plus rides for the children. School choirs and well-known artists will be on stage singing some of your favourite carols. Spectacular Fireworks Finale at 9.30pm.

Monday 21 December Botanical Christmas Craft - Kids’ Activity at Royal Botanic Gardens. Make special Christmas decorations and wreaths from plant materials. When: Mon 21 Dec, 2 sessions daily: 10.30 am-12 noon & 1-2.30 pm
Where: Community Education via Woolloomooloo Gate
Cost: $15, Friends $13.50
Enquiries: 9231 8134

Green Christmas ideas: Christmas is a great opportunity to give gifts to the people we care about. However, we need to be mindful of making sure the gifts we give are more sustainable.
Consider giving someone a voucher for a service this Christmas. Services use fewer resources than manufactured goods but still contribute to the economy! Ideas include:

1.  Dinner at a café or restaurant
2.  Subsription to "Friends of the Botanic Gardens." http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/
3. Tickets to a theatrical performance, concert, movie.
4.  A cooking class, gardening course from Eden Gardens, photography or other course…
5. Lawnmowing or general gardening service.

For more sustainable Christmas ideas visit the CSIRO website:
http://www.csiro.au/science/Sustainable-Christmas.html

Community Gardening

Sydney Garden Talk Saturdays 12noon-1pm 2RRR 88.5 FM

PLANT GIVEAWAY-Begonia fuchsioides "Red Cascade." Gorgeous plant to suit full, sun or semi shade. Drought hardy, with bright red fuchsia style flowers. Suit pots, hanging baskets or front of garden beds. Grows to 50 cm.

All you have to do is write in with a gardening question. sydneygardentalk@gmail.com

Today's show featured Mark Hall, president of Macquarie University Community Garden Club corner of Culloden and Talavera roads, Marsfield. A 3,000 square metre site of 60 members. Winner of the Royal Easter Show flower and garden section, and 3rd prize of vegetable garden section in the Ryde Spring garden competition for 2009.

Start a community garden by applying for some land. Get members by leaflet dropping, newspaper announcements, notices on community boards.

Then digging, weeding and improving the soil with the addition of compost. Each member pays an annual fee of $20, plus a dollar fifty for every square metre of allotment.
Anybody can join, ring Mark on 0408 869 863  or emaill: markhall1@bigpond.com for an application.
Fantastic fruit: Peaches and growing Peach trees, (Prunus persica.)
Peach trees are vigorous growing, but small tree with a spreading canopy, usually 2-3m in cultivation. Of course you can get the dwarf cultivars known as Nectazie, with yellow flesh and Pixzie, a white fleshed peach. Easily grown in a pot of 30cm -40 cm, grows to about 1.5m but with full sized fruit.
Peach trees like deep, well-drained soils, loamy to moderately sandy soils are best. Most varieties naturally form a vaseshaped tree which is the simplest way to grow stone fruit. Remove any dead, whippy or crossing branches. Prune to shape in late summer or autumn after harvesting.
apply lots of nitrogenous fertiliser like Dynamic Lifter, Blood and Bone.

Garden Design Elements: South facing balconies. Choose, ferns  (Dryopteris erythrosa) or Gold dust Plant, (Aucuba japonica "Crotonifolia.") . For Morning sun and afternoon shade, Begonia "White Cane," Fatsia japonica (2 metres), Plectranthus "Mona Lavender."
Morning shade, afternoon sun-Bromeliads such as Aechmea blanchetiana, or any Neoregelias.

Plant of the Week: Eleaocarpus reticulatus or Blueberry Ash tree. Aa small tree, that grows between 3-15m tall and 3-5m wide. It has a dense crown of foliage, and an approximately conical form. It needs little maintenance, surviving well in low nutrient and dry soils (although it performs best when well watered). This species grows in a range of light intensities, from shade through to full sun.

E. reticulatus is naturally found in a wide range of environments, from moist gullies through to rocky ridge outcrops and sandy coastal scrubs. An Australian native that naturally grows along the east coast from Fraser Island, Queensland down to Flinders Island, Tasmania. The warmer temperate conditions along the coast suit this species, and it is not found at cooler high altitudes or in areas with frosts.