Poinsettias and colourful Christmas decorations have arrived at Riverside Gardens Garden Centre.
Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
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During the first week of November right on cue, Santa, riding one of his reindeers pulling his sleigh loaded with gifts and helpers, appeared suspended in mid-air in the middle of the Garden Centre.
It is a sure sign to all that Christmas is just around the corner and that really is easy to see as you walk through the shop.
A beautiful pot of fuchsias.
Because after Santa and his reindeers appeared, so did a lot of our Christmas garden gift lines for both inside and out.
Then loads of popular plants for Christmas including the traditional beautiful red poinsettia arrived so now the shop is bursting at the seams and looking Christmasy.
Poinsettias are probably the most well-known of all the traditional Christmas plants, even though in our part of the world they would not normally be in colour for Christmas.
However, if you walk into almost any garden centre or florist at this time of the year, you are bound to find a display of beautiful poinsettia plants in full colour.
A perfect gift.
The flowers of a poinsettia are a very small and insignificant yellow flower, but the surrounding modified leaves called bracts colour up in striking colour to attract the interest of insects and bees.
It is these bracts that create that beautiful traditional bright red Christmas display.
In the Southern Hemisphere, poinsettia plants are tricked into colour for Christmas.
Claibrochoa are full of colour.
This is done by starting out about eight weeks before the festive season by exposing the plants to total darkness for 14 hours each day.
During this time, the plants will also need at least eight hours of bright indirect sunlight each day.
They will also need to be kept moist, but not too wet, and in a reasonably humid environment.
This is all done to mimic the Northern Hemisphere winter of Mexico and Central America where they naturally occur and colour up at Christmas time.
Given all this work to have the plants looking so good for Christmas, it is no wonder that most customers treat poinsettia plants as a living bunch of flowers or an annual plant to be replaced next year.
If you do grow one, either in a protected spot in the garden or in a pot, they will often colour up a bit in July if the conditions are right.
There are a few tricks to getting the most out of your poinsettia plant for Christmas.
So be sure, when purchasing your poinsettia, to ask the Garden Centre team how best to look after your plant.
That way it will still be looking its best for Christmas and the months to come.
Just like in the Garden Centre, now is also the right time to get your garden looking great for Christmas.
If you leave it too much later, you could miss the boat.
Besides, you will most likely be way too busy with other things as Christmas approaches, and despite all the good intentions, it just won’t be done.
So here are a few things that will have your garden looking an absolute picture for when friends and family come to visit.
Lightly trim plants that have finished flowering, encouraging them to quickly flush with new growth.
Do a general tidy up, weed, clean, edge and mulch.
Stand back and look at your garden as a whole and take note of the feature areas and dull patches in your garden Areas that could be planted out with quick-growing, strong-flowering pops of colour like Calibrachoa, spreading petunias, Sunpatiens, Bedding Begonia, Coleus and Impatiens.
Feeding lawns and gardens now will see them flushing with fresh new growth in time for Christmas.
Pot up some hanging baskets or feature planters in your outdoor alfresco area, front entrance, verandas or pool area. There are some beautiful ready-to-go hanging baskets of Suchsias, Calibrachoas, Silver Falls Dichondra, Calliope Geraniums and more that are also available in pots to give you an instant effect.
Check your watering system is working correctly; you don’t want your garden to wither and suffer on the first few hot days.
Make sure that everything is receiving a good deep soak every few days as it needs it, rather than a little bit each day.
Having done all that, apart from the satisfaction of having everything in the garden looking great for the festive season, you will be able to sit back, relax and enjoy it along with everyone else.
After all, that is what it is all about.
Anyway, over the next few weeks as the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping keeps you busy, call into the Garden Centre where the ambiance is relaxed, the gift ideas are plentiful, there’s room to move, the customers are Zen and the staff enjoy helping them.
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