Flower borders are easy to care for and the ideal solution for the garden that seems to have become lost in all green shrubbery and lawns.
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Borders and edgings of flowers define the outline of garden beds and can be used to soften lines. When lining a path or driveway they make an instant visual impact.
The ideal edging plants are small, dense clumping types or spreading in growth habit up to 30 centimetres tall.
Border plants can also be positioned behind, using plants up to one metre high. Choose low-maintenance subjects and don’t plant too close to the edge.
Colour plays an important part in this garden plan and with the vast flower combinations available the possibilities are endless.
Snapdragons with their profusion of colour on showy spikes make a great multi-mixed border or background planting. These combine well with pink petunias or dianthus as the edging plant.
Californian poppies make an excellent border when combined with the pale grey leaves and masses of tiny mauve, pink carnation-like flowers of Sweet Williams.
Stocks are still very popular for winter flowers in borders. Delightfully fragrant, they come in a variety of colours and look beautiful in one bold sweeping mass of multi-coloured blooms or in one plain shade.
Gypsophila is also an elegant addition to the garden border.
The use of pansies as edging plants is unsurpassed and the choice is so wide and varied in colour selection with winter- and summer-flowering varieties.
Compact nasturtiums, carnations, lobelia, catmint, thyme, dwarf lavender and erigeron daisies add a welcoming burst of colour.
Correas
Correas are a small genus of endemic plants mainly prostrate to small or medium shrubs that will fit into an established garden with ease as they don’t need a great deal of space.
A grouping of five or more will provide a lovely year-round visual effect.
Flowers come in colours of cream, green, lemon, pink, vermilion and numerous shades of red, many having green or yellow tips.
Correas attract native honey-eating birds as the tubular bell-like flowers contain nectar often at times of the year when the supply of this valuable food source is meagre.
Two of the most popular are Correa alba which has white star-like flowers in summer and grows under extreme coastal conditions, and Correa reflexa producing pink, bell-shaped blooms with green tips that will grow in a number of adverse situations.
Correas respond to tip pruning as they grow thus establishing a bushy plants. Give small feeds of slow-release fertilisers like blood and bone in autumn and spring.
The next time you have a shady space to fill, a few correas could be the solution.
Diary
April 11: Longford Garden Club meets at the Christ Church Parish Hall, William Street, Longford at 7.30pm
April 19: The Launceston Orchid Society meets at the Newnham Uniting Church Hall, George Town Road, Launceston at 7pm.
April 17: The Australian Plant Society meets at the Max Fry Hall on Gorge Rd, Trevallyn at 7.30pm. Visitors are welcome. Hear experts talk on gardening with native plants.
April 18: The Launceston Horticultural Society meets at the Windmill Hill Hall, High Street, Launceston at 8pm.
April 21: Autumn Spectacular at Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden, Burnie featuring Burnie Concert Band and the Segway Singers from 10am4pm. Entry $10 adults, concession $8, children free. Tea room open 10am – 4pm.
