The Growing Edge – March 2015

This Month's Featured Trees

This month we are featuring two magnificent garden trees, The Magnolia 'Greenback' with beautiful glossy leaves all year round and the Ornamental Pear 'Manchurian' with a spectacular bloom of white flowers in early spring.

Evergreen Magnolia 'Greenback'

The Greenback Magnolia is noted for the smooth, hairless backs to the mature foliage that combines with a dense, uniform, upright growth habit to make an excellent specimen or screen.

It reaches a maximum height of 8 metres and width of 5 metres, but can be kept trimmed to as low as 2 metres if required. 

We have wonderful stock currently available in 33cm pots at 1.5 metres tall, covered in fresh new growth and ready to take off in your garden.

Pyrus Ussuriensis – Manchurian Pear

The Manchurian Pear Tree is a well known medium-sized tree that flowers very early in spring and has bright autumn leaf colour that is held well on the branches. The Manchurian Pear is a great addition to any landscape, including parks and medium to large gardens. With a height of 7-9m and width of 7m, the Manchurian Pear Tree is an ideal specimen tree for shade or for multiple plantings along an avenue planting and long driveways.

 Autumn Is Pruning Season

Autumn is a very busy time in most gardens. It is the ideal time to trim back hedges and shape trees to get them ready for the Spring flush of growth. 

The key with pruning is to use sharp tools. Using blunt tools can bruise the wood around the cut, making it susceptible to rot and disease. A clean cut will cause water to run right off and not sit in the cracks. Clean cuts will also heal significantly faster. 

As a general rule, don't cut off any more than one third of your plant. Take the time to locate and remove any dead or broken branches. If you are removing any infected material, clean your secateurs before moving onto the next tree to reduce the spread of disease in your garden. 

What Is Happening At Blerick

This month is FARM WORLD! Blerick Tree Farm have been long standing exhibitors at this fantastic event. Not just for farm owners, Farm World caters to everyone. Last year, there were over 650 exhibitors, so many, that you may want to take advantage of a two day pass. This is a great way to spend a day or the weekend with something to interest everyone in the family. Farm World is on 26-29 March at Lardner Park in Warragul. More details can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/m6zh8sj 

Find us at stand 38-39. We hope to see you there!

What's Looking Great

Lagerstroemia indica 'Natchez', an Indian Summer variety of Crepe Myrtle.

These are spectacular trees providing huge splashes of flowers at the tips of every branch. The Natchez Crepe Myrtle has pure white flowers and reaches a maximum height of 8 metres after 20 years. It has a vase shaped to spreading branching habit with highly decorative mature branches that help provide year round interest. The best thing about these trees is that they love hot, dry conditions, making them suitable for areas where other trees have failed to thrive. We have stock available now at 2.5m tall in 75L bags for $330.

Accommodation Hotspot

Are you visiting or exhibiting at Farm World this month? We are only a 20 minute drive from Lardner Park. Our cottages contain fully equipped kitchens, queen size beds and spas for a relaxing soak after a long day on your feet. Book now to avoid disappointment.