Brightening your winter garden | Gympie News | Local News in Gympie

IT IS winter with some chilly winds and some grey skies. One flower that will light up winter is the kalanchoe family. Their brightness in hot pinks, yellows, red and oranges are guaranteed to light up a winter's day. Be warned the flowers can be frost affected. My late brother Syd Ardley grew a wide range of these easycare waterwise plants. Some have tubular flowers and these different flowers are often maroon and gold. Kalanchoes will always remind me of Syd in our birthday month of July. Trim frost affected kalanchoes back and also prune back well after flowering.

Other flowers in bloom are bromeliads particularly the orthophytums in lime green bloom. These also light up a wintery day. Another orthophytum is silver foliaged. Billbergia, Queen's tears are in glorious pink and purple bloom.

Aloe Aloe has a range of these tough flowering plants that are new to the gardening scene. The new aloes are like flowering perennials and make wonderful plants for borders. They are very attractive to our native birds. Although not quite as hardy as the old aloes, their beauty is well worth a place in all gardens.

The Queensland Home Garden Expo on Friday, July 10, Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 12, will show all these plants. Violas are usually on show together with bigger flowering pansies. You can usually buy them in pots of colour.

The kitchen garden will have violas, violets, calendulas and more in the vegetable garden. Here you will see all the greens that you can grow successfully now. Chillies will be in full colour. There will be herbs and others vegetables like eggplants as well as the more unusual like a spinach that grows in ponds. Take time in this area for practical waterwise gardens.

Make time to view the 30 scarecrows on display throughout the ground. Nambour Garden Club is looking after these. This is the first time scarecrows have been a part of the expo. Floral art is a beautiful pavilion at the expo. Silver is the feature here.

In stunning bloom now are golden wattles and the smaller less flamboyant sweet wattle of our wallum country. Fairhills is an expert on native plants and has supported the expo from the first year. Nick Hansa will speak at 2pm on Friday about gardening myths with Australian native plants.

It is 25 years now since the expo began. The expo opening is timed for 10.30am Friday on the Channel 7 Oval Stage. Queensland Home Garden Expo at the Nambour Showgrounds has been a big part of our gardening scene and is the best in Queensland.

Annette McFarlane will be speaking on the centre stage at 10am Friday about fertiliser sausages and tree pastes. Birdwood's Peter Young will be speaking on fruiting trees at the Birdwood Marquee at 11.30am. Colin Campbell will enthrall with growing your own vegetables at midday at the expo centre stage.

The first Q & A session will be held at 2pm with Annette McFarlane, Phil Dudman and Judy Horton. Bring problem foliage in plastic bags. These are very valuable places to learn about your plants and the problems in gardening. Nowadays there is generally an answer that is safe in our environment.

Some Gympie Horticultural Society members will be enjoying the expo. Keen plant collectors Norm and June McClintock usually visit on the Friday morning to add to their wonderful Southside collection. President Henry Kross is sure to attend. Maybe they will find a new camellia - these are in beautiful flower now.

The July meeting of the Horticultural Society will be held in the Lagoon Pocket garden of John and Kaye Green. The Greens are orchid growers of note. Keep Saturday, July 18, free for this interesting garden. One particularly beautiful orchid I viewed this week was Onc. Twinkle a very small orchid with open cream and yellow tiny flowers. Some vandas are in bloom now.

The main fruit just now is citrus. Avocados are in good supply. Strawberries are fruiting well; there are some pawpaws ready to eat now.

Eggplants are doing very well. Tomatoes in areas of no frost are managing. Spinach is really picking well. July in our part of the world is a time of plenty. Take time out and visit the Queensland Home Garden Expo this weekend.