Garden Club (April)
NOTICE: Meetings cancelled until further notice.
Our first meeting of the year was a good time to catch up and recap. We initially met at Adelaide Advanced Trees, which is located in a disused quarry behind the Cherry Gardens CFS station. Guided by Corin we wandered along in the balmy evening, enjoying a most enlightening tour of the beautiful, orderly rows and rows of amongst others, advanced Bottle Trees – Brachychiton rupestris, Native Frangipani - Hymenosporum flavum, Flowering Gum - Corymbia (prev Eucalyptus) ficifolia, Crepe Myrtle – Lagerstroemia varieties. We asked many questions and learnt a great deal about many, many interesting trees and shrubs, often of the newest varieties. Of course, the biggest matter on all our minds for a while has been the bushfires, more specifically the damage from the Cudlee Creek fire. We heard from Helen Whittle who, along with her husband, has been volunteering, by replacing fences in the Cudlee Creek area and so has seen the devastation caused to people’s gardens, where all that remains is bare black earth. They are desperate for donations of pots and potting mix at this stage and plants a little later and will accept donations anytime. John Duckmanton can be contacted on 0455 822 487 for picking up or dropping off donations on Cherry Gardens Road.
Elizabeth Dobson reported on the Garden Clubs of Australia AGM that:
A new Constitution had been passed
It was their 70th birthday
a vacancy exists for a zone co-ordinator for the 23 clubs in our zone.
Back at the Cherry Gardens Church Hall the program contained a new item which proved very popular. Folk were asked to bring a gardening question they’d like answered by fellow members. Members’ entries for the annual Tomato Challenge were judged by members. The winner was one of our longest standing members, Marilyn Marsh. As Feb was the club’s 20th Anniversary, the highlight of our delicious supper was the cutting of our 20th Birthday cake by the three most longstanding members: Lyn Meese, Meredith de Roos, and Marilyn Marsh.
GEORGE'S GARDENING SUGGESTIONS FOR April 2020
If you have a moth orchid and would like it to flower again, try to maintain night temperatures above 19C. Keep it in a light window, over pebbles and water.
Plant winter flowering annuals – linaria lobelia, alyssum, cornflower, nemesia, poppy, primula and sweet peas.
Plant bulbs of anemones point down and 5cm deep.
Plant ranunculus claws down 5cm deep and 10-15cm apart.
It is a good time to divide and replant clivea, agapanthus, daylily, and hippeastrum.
Foliar fertilise mandarins with a zinc/manganese spray to avoid thick skins.
Dwarf citrus in pots on trifoliata rootstock don’t grow in winter so only apply liquid fertilizer in warm months.
Plant quick growing leafy winter vegetables and prepare soil for later plantings of asparagus, artichoke and rhubarb by adding lots of manure.
