Episode:#11 11/11/06
Presenter: Melissa King

Late spring and summer is an outstanding time to get out and explore gardens because it is the height of perennial colour and if you are after an inspirational garden to visit then Cloudehill Nursery and Gardens in the Dandenong?s is one of the best.

Altsroemeria ?Red Fury? is hot choice with furious red flowers. It is a great complement to other warm coloured perennials. For stunning maroon-purple foliage you will love Euphorbic dulcis ?Chameleon?.

The heat this season bought a lot of flowers out early and Arctotis ?Flame? has been in full swing since early October. It is a vibrant choice for the hot perennial border.

Pear and cherry slug is a voracious little thing and if you don?t look out you will have no decent foliage left on your trees by mid summer.

So make sure you have some Success in the cupboard. It is a natural insecticide that is active by both contact, when you spray the pest direct and by ingestion, so when they eat foliage that has been sprayed. Make sure you spray all the foliage, including underneath.

Rhododendrons (Rhododendron Hybrid Cultivar) are an absolute picture in spring and they don?t need to be confined to large extravagant gardens, because there is one of every size for every garden, in almost every colour to suit most positions from hardy full sun varieties to moist shade lovers. They even come in standards perfect for smaller gardens.

Try the beautiful and compact Ross Maude (Rhododendron Hybrid Cultivar ?Ross Maude?) with bushy growth to around 1.2 m and prolific hot pink flowers. Winsome (Rhododendron Hybrid Cultivar ?Winsome?) is another star variety and a bush of similar height. The real feature is the loose trusses of salmon pink flowers. Morning Magic (Hybrid Cultivar ?Morning Magic?) is harder to come by, but worth the effort for its pretty two-tone pink flowers.

Now for this week?s water saving tip of the week:

Just about everyone has one slightly damp patch in the garden so why not be disciplined and confine moisture loving plants to areas where they can make the most of natural runoff.

Right now Cloudehill Nursery and Gardens is a showcase of perennial colour so if you are a serious garden lover put it at the top of your list of places to visit.

For more inspiring ideas and gardens to visit, simply log on to the Garden Gurus online Club.

Cloudehill Nursery and Gardens
89 Olinda Monbulk Road
Olinda, Victoria
www.cloudehill.com.au

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Yates Success Naturalyte Insect Control

• Controls various caterpillars on fruit and vegetables
• Low toxic formulation.
• Contains spinosad, which is derived from naturally occurring beneficial soil bacteria.
• Controls a wide range of caterpillars plus pear and cherry slug.
• Controls insects that may have become resistant to other insecticides.
• Non-residual, broken down by sunlight and soil microbes into carbon dioxide and water.