Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
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Walking along the Goulburn and Broken River junction path earlier this week, it was great to see the silver wattles, Acacia dealbata, covered in flower buds, ready to bloom in a few weeks or so.
A great sign that spring is just around the corner.
The silver wattles and the gold dust wattle, Acacia acinacea, are the two that seem to herald the arrival of spring each year.
So it is heartening to know that spring is on its way.
Next, we will have all the deciduous magnolias in flower as well, and the golden fields of canola.
It was also good to see the great display of correas in full flower beside the path between Aquamoves and Victoria Park Lake.
There are several varieties mass-planted along the path, and they are either in bud or full flower and looking very showy.
The correas in the nursery have been quite popular over the past month, as they put on their biggest display for the year.
They will, however, continue to flower in flushes over the rest of the year.
Amber Chimes or Coral Chimes are probably the pick of them at the moment.
Both grow to about half a metre in size but have different coloured long tubular flowers.
Correa Orange Glow grows slightly smaller with bright orange flowers that are just starting to appear.
The taller growing Correa Dusky Bells and Correa reflexa, which can grow to about 1.5m, are a little further behind in flower again.
Correas grow in a full-sun to part-shade position and tolerate competition from overhead trees well.
But the more sun they have, the more prolific their flower display will be.
However, some varieties, such as Correa decumbens, are particularly well-suited to shady locations and still flower strongly.
Grevilleas are also making impressive displays in gardens around town, and many of those with larger flowers are very popular with the honeyeaters.
Grevillea Big Foot is a low-mounding shrub that produces long, striking red flowers.
Some of these nectar-rich blooms can reach 30cm in length and can appear on and off all year round.
We often carry these in a grafted standard form, which makes an amazing feature plant.
We are expecting the next batch to be ready by mid-spring, so keep an eye out for these, as they can sell out quickly.
Grevillea Loopy Lou is another large-flowering variety that is looking great in the Garden Centre.
With a new batch of flowers just opening out, these plants will continue to flower right through spring and summer.
Growing to around 1m high, they can easily be worked into any full-sun position in the garden.
Grevillea Knockout is a smaller, spider-type flowered grevillea that is looking great right now with small yellow and red flowers all over the plants we have in the nursery.
Knockout grows to about 1m high with fine, dark green foliage and forms a dense, low-mounding shrub.
Other grevilleas worth looking out for in the nursery are Grevillea Robyn Gordon, Grevillea Superb and Grevillea Ned Kelly.
All of these are similar in size and habit, but have different coloured flowers.
Grevillea Red Hooks is a taller growing variety that can reach up to 3m high by 3 to 4m wide, with large bright red toothbrush-type flowers.
A quite different-looking variety of native plant that is about to flower now is the Philotheca myoporoides.
These are often called native wax plants for their white, waxy-looking flowers.
This group of hardy native plants likes a free-draining, sunny position and can tolerate dry conditions well.
They come in a range of heights, from ground covers to medium shrubs.
Their white flower is very fragrant, as is the leaf when crushed.
The plants we have in stock are covered in flower buds and will look a picture and smell beautiful in the coming weeks.
Even though there has been a distinct lack of sunny weather over the past few weeks, it seems that the plants are not waiting around and are getting ready to give us an early spring.
Be sure to make the most of it.
Have a walk around your local gardens, pick up some ideas, and call into the Garden Centre to have a chat and see what you can be doing to get ready.
Growing For Success