Plant of the year announced

It has been amazing to watch things grow; lawns seemed to have doubled in height overnight, plants are looking greener and fresher with new growth already pushing through in a lot of gardens.

That kind of soak is hard to beat, especially when there is still warmth in the ground, mild temperatures and sunshine to go with it.

All we need to do now is to make the most of it. Don’t put off your autumn planting, your garden projects or your full-on landscaping ambitions.

The growth we will get now and right through to the first of the winter frosts will be so beneficial in establishing plants before the slow-growing cold months ahead.

The first of our autumn stock arrived this week, and fittingly, it included the hard-to-come by Hydrangea Runaway Bride, which was announced as the plant of the year this time last year, and ever so sparingly available ever since.

Hydrangea Runaway Bride is a stunning new variety of hydrangea that will grow to 1.2m high by 1.5m wide.

Runaway Bride has large crisp white blooms that form a garland around the stems.

They flower on both old and new growth, so the volume of flowers you get will improve with each year.

It also means that apart from keeping it in shape, little or no pruning is required.

The flowers are set at each pair of leaves all along the branches, giving that garland appearance.

These beautiful blooms appear for upwards of four months, providing a long-term flush of flowers through late spring and into autumn.

They are best grown in a full sun to partly shaded area with a well-drained soil, and once established, they will require only a moderate amount of watering, unlike some other varieties of hydrangea.

The Nursery and Garden Industry of Victoria announces a plant of the year each year chosen on its merits of horticultural excellence and selected from among winners of several categories and recognised as the standout across the judging criteria.

This year, Corymbia ficifolia ‘Precious Pearl’, which is an attractive native flowering gum, has been awarded the crown of both plant of the year and tree of the year.

Corymbia Precious Pearl is a medium-sized flowering gum growing to around 7m high and 4m wide. It is a hardy, low-maintenance tree with a well-balanced elegant canopy.

In summer it is covered in masses of soft pink to white flowers over its dark green foliage.

They are ideally suited for use in medium to larger sized gardens, as street trees or in parks.

Corymbia Precious Pearl is propagated by tissue culture, which involves reproducing clones of the plant taken from cells from the original plant and growing them on in vitro.

This ensures the new plants keep the reliable growth, consistent form and uniform floral display, the same as the parent plant.

It is a quicker and more reliable way of mass reproducing plants.

After the difficulties of sourcing last year’s plant of the year, Hydrangea Runaway Bride, it will be interesting to see how this year’s winner goes.

On recent searches of our grower’s databases, it is not looking great, with only three growers listing them, and only in advanced sizes, but it is early days yet, so here’s hoping.

The plant that took out the shrub of the year category is Magical Lemon Lime Nandina.

This has been a popular plant over the past few years and is already well known and in high demand.

Magical Lemon Lime Nandina is a tough-growing, low-maintenance small shrub, with bright lemon-green new growth that fades to a lime green as the plant matures.

The refreshing contrasting colours make it a year-round feature plant. Its tight compact habit requires no pruning to keep it in shape as it matures into a metre-by-metre shrub.

This shrub has established itself in the market and is usually readily available.

For those gardeners thinking of heading to The Melbourne International Flower and Garden show from March 25 to 29 at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, and the Carlton Gardens, all of these plants will be on show and featured in the displays.