Rain and your Plants

Winter’s continuous rain can, from time to time, rot some of your precious succulents and cacti.

Having your favourite species in pots means that you can move them to areas where the watering can be controlled by you.

Move them to under the eaves of your house or under your pergola for Winter.

They will thank you for it!!!

Succulent Garden Raffle Prizes

Howdy, fellow Cactorians!

I just wanted to share with you some succulent gardens I have just potted up! These beauties will be raffled off each show night of Phoenix Theatre's production of Alice in Wonderland :)


So, if your in Perth and looking for a great night out, head on down to Phoenix Theatre, Cnr of Carrington Rd and Rockingham Rd, Hamilton Hill and come see this magnificent Musical Production.

Full of laughs, this pantomime adaptation of Lewis Caroll's story come to life on stage with stunning costumes, great performances and yes... audience participation!

Opens this Thursday, 24th November. Runs until 4th December, tickets are $20 Adult and $15 Concession. And hey, you never know, you may win the raffle and be the proud owner of one of these succulent gardens!

See Phoenix Theatre's profile on Theatre Australia for more information.

Mulch it! Mulch it good!

Before our hot summer rears its warm, ugly head, It's time to start thinking about mulching your gardens. You may not realise it, but succulents benefit greatly from a good mulching too!

In this photo: Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy' and Echeveria 'Dondo'.

Adding mulch around your succulents in your garden helps to:

• lower the soil temperature
• retain moisture within soil
• reduce water evaporation rate
• reduce soil erosion
• suppress weeds

Here, we have used Red Gum wood chips because of the nice red colour, but you can use whatever is available - wood chips, pebbles, gravel - It's up to your imagination.

TIP - Make sure you lay it on thick! For wood chips, 100mm thick will do the job nicely. ALSO, make sure you keep the mulch away from the base of your plants (unlike our photo here!) - this helps to prevent rotting at the base of your plants.

So...How much mulch will I need, and where do I get it from?
You can get mulch from any good garden centre or landscape supplier, and quantities are usually measured in cubic metres. To find out how many cubic metres you will need, simply times the length by the width of your space, then times that by the thickness/height of your mulch:


For a garden 2m long by 3m wide:
2m x 3m x 0.1m (100mm thick) = 0.6m³ (0.6 cubic metres)

So go out there and have some fun mulching your succulents!
And be proud of your garden!!! Go take a photo or two, post them on our Facebook Page and boast about your hard work! Go on... all the other kids are doin' it :)

Spring Projects

Spring Projects

Spring has sprung, and now is the perfect time to go out in the sunshine and get started on those spring projects. Here are a few ideas for you to ponder about:

• Brighten up the patio with some potted colour, succulent style! There are some vibrant reds available at the moment, like Crassula erosula Campfire, or Crassula fusca.
  
  
• Give your garden some colour too, with some Aloe Walmsleys Blue, or Aloe Black Gem.

So, what's the tip to making them look outstanding?
Mass Plant!!!
Whether it is in a pot or in the ground they need to be tightly packed. This creates not only an aesthetically appealing appearance, but it also makes a mini micro climate where each plant protects the others from severe heat, cold or any other undesirable elements.

October Kalamunda Markets Stock

Despite the fact that it is bucketing down outside, I managed to run out between showers and take some photos of our stock for the October markets coming up this weekend:

In this photo: Crassula Anomala and Sempervivum tectorum

I love sempervivums at the moment! They colours and the shapes of the leaves are just stunning! I don't think these will last long at the markets...

And these two matching Euphorbias shall hence be known as Tweedlee and Tweedledum!

According to weatherzone.com.au, showers will clear by Saturday :)

Is your Cactus looking Cactus?

Is your Cactus looking Cactus???

Is your cactus looking a little sad and depressed at the moment?
Well, don't stress out about it too much, because you might find that he's just suffering from the Winter Blues!

During the winter months most species of cacti tend to go into a dormant state, and because of this they don’t like very much water.
So... Are you guilty of over-watering your cactus this month?
If you are, this may be the reason why he looks a little on the sad side - his roots may be sitting in water and slowly rotting away.
If this is the case, let him dry out and you will find that he will bounce back when the weather warms up.

So remember - during the winter months, let your cacti dry out between waterings. They will love you for it!!!

Kalgoorlie Paradise

I recently received an email from a landscaper in Kalgoorlie.
Lee Mullen, horticulturist, landscaper and owner of Gan Eden Landscapes, lives and runs his landscape business in Kalgoorlie and also has a great passion for cactus and succulents.

He moved to Kalgoorlie 4 years ago from Perth and has many cacti and succulents in the garden where he lives. He started his collection back in the 90’s when he grew them outdoors in the UK.
He then continued his passion when he arrived here in Australia only for it to take over his life.

His main love is with Pachypodiums, Aeoniums, Aloes and Agaves however his garden has an amazing collection of numerous other species.

I asked him about the climate in Kalgoorlie. He said that the temperatures can reach up to 42C in summer and can drop to around 0 C with the odd -1C or -2C in winter.
He mentioned that  Kalgoorlie only gets 220mm of rain a year and the  vast majority of the species are grown on straight red dirt which is a clay based loam and around 7.5-8.5 in pH.

He also mentioned that the drainage seems fine and it also holds nutrients well which although Perth has the drainage ( a little too much I might add) it does lack the nutrients that these specimens would really thrive on.

Another interesting tip was to plant closely together, which I thought was a great tip. In my own experience I have also found this very beneficial for the plants help to create a micro climate around each other which reduces evaporation from the soil and also reduces transpiration from the plants. The plants also shelter each other from the severe rays of the sun. They almost tend to look after each other.

Thanks for contacting us Lee, and thank you for your great input and photos of your beautiful garden.