Tag: garden

Two people stand in a colorful garden, showcasing the many benefits of gardening. The person on the left wears a pink tutu, while their companion sports a colorful top amidst vibrant foliage and blooming flowers.

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

Written by coldev on 29/03/2025. Posted in Garden Ideas, Plants.

In all his pink tutu glory, Chris took to the streets of Carlton Gardens where the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show was taking place.

We interviewed the Garden Designers, took photos with many people, made educational videos about some of the plants, and so much more! Follow us on our socials and stay tuned for all the incredible content we’ll have coming out in the next few weeks.

We wanted to take some time to express our love and appreciation for Melbourne’s horticulture industry and all the hard working people within it. We were truly so impressed by the breadth of talent and horticulture knowledge at the show (although not surprised at all).

We’ve always said that Victoria has the best horticulture industry in Australia, and its become even more apparent with the innovative garden displays at the show.

Did you know the International Melbourne Flower and Garden Show is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest floral and garden event? We went on one of the supposed ‘quietest’ days of the week, but the place was still teeming with people.

If you weren’t able to make it to the show, let us guide you through some of our favourite displays.

We started off inside with the great variety of flower bouquets for sale and chatted to Eliza about how well thought out the displays were. It’s such a great idea to have something you can take back to remember the show by, or a delightful gift you can give to a loved one.

We admired the wonderful displays inside, in particular the Growth sculpture created by Sarah Coffey using completely repurposed items from last year’s show caught our attention. It’s so important that we are taking care of our planet and being thoughtful with our purchases.

After that we moved outdoors where we fell in love with every garden display, and the themes they were conveying.

Nostalgia called back to a time of colourful cottage gardens brimming with flowers, bees and butterflies. Designed by Paul Pritchard we were reminded of the joy that can be found in taking the time to really care for your garden, and that there’s no such thing as too much colour.

Doable, designed by Jason Hodges, examined our need for instant gardens and encouraged the cheaper route of buying small plants that grow and evolve with your family. A truly beautiful sentiment that more people need to hear.

The green and white garden, Spires and Sounds, circled one of the musicians stages, creating a multi-sensory experience of beautiful visuals and beautiful sounds. It actually made us discover a plant we had never seen before! Designed by Ellen Freeman we loved the way different textures and shades of green were used to create interest and beauty.

Timeless Outdoors oozed elegance and class, but the plants themselves are actually not that expensive at all! Now we won’t speak for the paving and appliances, but the actual garden itself could be recreated for quite cheap! Designed by Aaron Leslie & Kelsey Johns, we definitely found ourself imagining a summer’s night spent sipping some wine here.

The Straightcurve Breaking Free display designed by Bayley LuuTomes Design and Bespoke Landscapes made us even more excited for autumn then we already were (which we didn’t think was possible). Already some of the trees were transforming into their fiery autumn hues, creating quite a spectacle that is only going to keep getting better as the weeks go on.

Then we stumbled upon a line of mini-garden stalls that drove home how space doesn’t stop you from having a beautiful garden.

We started with Jake McCorkell’s low maintenance garden, titled Evergreen Escape, that was filled with lush greenery of all shapes and sizes. A really great takeaway from this was layering. One reason why this garden was so beautiful and could fit so many plants was the way they used vertical space. Starting at the bottom with Native Violet, then Tractor Seat, then Bamboo and Magnolias to top it off, there was even a planter box on top of the seats to fit more greenery in the small space.

Next, we spoke to Adam Clements with his gorgeous Mediterranean inspired garden (he told us he carefully selected the word inspired so that he could also fit in some natives without getting in trouble). Appropriately titled Mediterranean Musings, this is a garden that makes us feel like we’re on an exotic getaway. We really like how this garden showed that you can create a luxurious escape in your own garden.

An explosion of colour greeted us in the next stall with the Mi Casa Es Tu Casa garden designed by Mia Zielinski. It was created out of her travels in Mexico and love for their culture. There was so much to admire in that small space but it didn’t feel cluttered at all, which goes to show how you can still have a colourful garden even if you are very limited by space.

Our final stop was appropriately the show’s winning garden designed by Rob from Distinctive Gardens, and wow, what a well deserved win it was.

We adored every detail that came together to create a lush, luxurious garden that made you feel like you were on a high class getaway. We really think more people need to put the effort into making their gardens serene sanctuaries that they can use to relax and rejuvenate in.

We hope you enjoyed this mini tour through the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, whether it was a recap on your own experiences or a peek at something you would otherwise not have had the chance to see. Be sure to follow us on our socials to see all the wonderful videos that come out from this day.

If you see any of these gardens and you’re like WOW I NEED THAT RIGHT NOW, we don’t blame you. It can be difficult knowing where to get started or how to replicate it, which is why we offer a Free Garden Design service. Book yours here.

Feeling inspired to create your own garden, but want some expert advice? Try our one-on-one garden design service with Chris. Together you’ll come up with a selection of plants along with a layout plan that gives you the look you want, as well as being suitable for your local soil and conditions.

get your own tailored modern garden design:

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A variegated rubber plant in a blue pot sits indoors on a carpeted floor, exuding a touch of Hamptons garden elegance. In the background, another potted plant stands gracefully near a doorway.

Rediscovering the Beauty of Plants That Went Out of Fashion

Written by coldev on 06/11/2024. Posted in Garden Advice, Garden Ideas, Plants.

It’s strange to think of gardens having trends in the way clothes and interior design does. Plants are so much more forever than a pair of flared jeans.

But it is true that certain plants can come in and out of fashion. It’s funny, plants like Hydrangeas and Rubber plants were SO well loved, that people, well, stopped loving them.

Here’s the plants we’ll be talking about today:

Hydrangeas
Rubber Plant
Flowering Currant
Viburnum Snowball Bush
Mother-in-Law’s Tongue
Silver Birch

Tall green snake plant with yellow-edged leaves in a round wooden pot, reminiscent of a Hamptons garden, against a dark gray background.

Rubber plant in a white pot on a pristine table, evoking the serene elegance of a Hamptons garden, with a clear glass pitcher and two glasses adding to the tranquil setting.

A branch from a Hamptons garden bursts with vibrant pink and red flowers, complemented by lush green leaves against a softly blurred background.

A modern backyard with a thoughtful garden design features a swimming pool, glass fencing, a paved stone pathway surrounded by greenery, and a dining table under a canopy of trees.

A cluster of vibrant blue hydrangea flowers in the foreground stands out, with pink blossoms and lush greenery creating a soft blur in the background, reminiscent of a picturesque garden during a rose clearance sale.

We get it, when every second house has a bush of Hydrangeas flowers or every apartment has a Rubber Plant in the corner, they start to lose their sparkle a bit.

But what’s interesting is that we’ve seen a resurgence of these once-popular plants, so we thought we’d take the time to go over the basics again. How to take care of them, what varieties to choose and what made them so loved in the first place.

Being a Nursery means we get firsthand knowledge on what’s selling, and what’s collecting dust on the shelf. We see the way certain plants are flying out the doors, where we can just never seem to keep them stocked up.

But we also see the exact moment this changes, when the sales start to die down and people turn to something else to fill their garden with. Hello Hello Plants has been around for a while, and Chris, the owner, even more so.

Think of it like a trip down memory lane, where we explore the nature of gardening trends.

There are quite a few plants that this is happening with, as listed out earlier. We’re even going to chat about some of the plants that are starting to go out of fashion. Let’s dive right into it.

The Charm of Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are one of those plants that everybody knows about, even if you’ve never done gardening a day in your life.

Back in the 60s Hydrangeas were all the rage, almost everybody had them in their garden. But then people seemed to forget about them, and nobody brought Hydrangeas for many years.

Which takes us to today, where we are seeing a resurgence of this amazing plant. It’s no surprise, Hydrangeas are very beautiful and offer up so many different colour options.

Now we already have an incredible article that covers EVERYTHING you need to know about Hydrangeas. You can read that here.

It’s quite a lengthy article, so we thought we’d just recap some of the most important parts so that you can get to planting and growing them much quicker.

Hydrangeas ADORE water, they need plenty of water, especially if you’re growing them in the sun. But a lot of people choose to grow them in the shade where the water requirements are lower.

Most Hydrangeas are deciduous and lose their leaves in winter, with the flowering season being from December through to April.

They can be grown in pots or garden beds, so you have a lot of versatility with where you choose to put them, whether it’s on the balcony or patio, or in spot somewhere in the garden.

CLICK HERE to see our full range of Hydrangeas at Hello Hello

The Indestructible Nature of Rubber Plants

We recently did a video about the indoors plant for Mr or Mrs Kill ‘em Quick and in Chris’ words “they were so common that they went out of fashion.” Check out that video here.

But Rubber Plants are just too damn tough to stay unpopular for very long. If you’re the type of person that kills every indoor plant you come across, this is the plant for you.

Grow them in the sun or shade, have it indoors or out on the gazebo.

They grow so easily and are so low maintenance, you’ll plant one and practically forget about it.

CLICK HERE to see our full range of Rubber Plants at Hello Hello

The Soft Beauty of Flowering Currants

It wasn’t until we accidentally stumbled upon one of these on our content shoot days that we remembered how wonderful this tree is. You can check out that video here.

We found it in a country town in front of a cottage house, and it really suits that aesthetic perfectly.

In spring it is densely packed with small pink flowers that give off that sweet currant flavour. The Flowering Currant is an ornamental plant that doesn’t produce any actual currants, but it is a cousin of the black currant. It’s a very hardy plant that works well in a number of different situations.

The Delicate Wonder of Viburnum Snowball Bush

This is such a gorgeous plant it’s hard to imagine it becoming unpopular, but there was a time where stock of it was just not moving that well. Not anymore.

When in flower, this large shrub puts on quite a spectacle, with big clusters of flowers that start out an apple-green shade and brighten to white, eventually fading into a rosy pink. They are perfect for cut flowers.

The Viburnum Snowball Bush grows in an upright mounding manner, meaning it’s not a lot of effort to keep it looking great. It also doesn’t produce any berries so there’s no messiness produced by the bush.

Not only do you get blossoms but come autumn the maple shaped leaves turn red and orange. So this is a bush that is going to give you interest in the garden year round.

The Indoor Classic Mother-in-Law’s Tongue

Now this was THE present plant for ages, either you were buying it as a gift for a loved one, or you were the loved one receiving it.

It’s likely because they are so great at tolerating heat, coupled with the very interesting foliage. Those upright sword shaped leaves with a mixture of deep green, cream and yellow markings make for quite a striking sight.

Now they’re not completely immune to neglect, as they don’t do well in the cold. So make sure to plant it in full or part sun, and if you are in a cool climate, grow it indoors.

Mother In-Law’s Tongue are perfect for a low water or low maintenance garden, and look fantastic in pots.

The Classic Silver Birch

Okay so Silver Birch never declined in popularity as much as some of the other plants on this list, but there definitely was a dip where people weren’t planting Silver Birch as much.

But this is such a classic option that it’s no surprise that it’s returned to being the go-to feature tree for so many people.

What makes Silver Birch so incredible is its versatility. It suits almost any garden design, from minimalist to classic to cottage and so on. They are cheap to buy, quick to grow and don’t require a lot of effort.

We love Silver Birches so much we wrote a whole article about it, which you can check out here.

CLICK HERE to see our full range of Silver Birch at Hello Hello

Plants That Are Now Going Out of Fashion

We couldn’t talk about the plants that are coming back, without mentioning the ones that are actually now going out fashion. But who knows, maybe in a couple of years we’ll be writing about how they’re once again rising in popularity.

Ornamental Pears: The Perfect Avenue Tree

Perhaps too perfect of an avenue tree, Ornamental Pears are starting to decline in popularity.

It seems that every person and their dog has a row of Ornamental Pears planted outside their house or business.

Both commercial and private owners have ADORED this tree for a number of different reasons.

The main reason is because the consistency in appearance. There’s nothing worse than a row of plants that look nothing alike, even though they’re the same species.

With the Ornamental Pear, in particular Cleveland Pears, their ability to leaf, autumn colour and blossom all at the same time is what makes for such a spectacle as an avenue.

Also just the fact that tree puts on such a gorgeous display year round is very attractive to commercial property owners wanting their property to look good all year. Of course this same principle applies to the homeowner.

But interestingly we’re starting to see a decline in their popularity, there are just so many of them planted everywhere, and it seems people are starting to get bored of it.

Now this is not us telling you you’re not allowed to plant Ornamental Pears anymore – they are clearly incredible trees. But we just wanted to point out how we are seeing a significant decrease in the sale of Ornamental Pears.

CLICK HERE to see our full range of Ornamental Pear Trees at Hello Hello

Are There Any Plants That Are Immune To Trends?

Or more accurately – are there any plants that will stand the test of time and always be popular.

Now we aren’t psychics (although sometimes we’re pretty sure Chris is with the way he knows everything about plants), but we reckon that trees like Flowering Cherries and Japanese Maples will never go out of fashion.

They are simply too beautiful, and particularly in the case of the Japanese Maple, the different varieties look so different you could never get sick of it.

Get Inspired

There you have it, the resurgence of some beautiful plants. It’s funny how trends can be quite cyclical in nature – just think about the return of flared jeans.

Now you never have to buy something just because it’s popular, but there’s definitely merit in checking out plants that a lot of people are buying. They’re obviously selling out for a reason.

If you’re not already following us on our socials, which is insane because we post educational and inspirational content literally every day, then be sure to check us out on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook and YouTube.

get your own tailored modern garden design:

FIND OUT HOW

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Front view of a house with a manicured Hamptons garden featuring shrubs, grasses, and decorative pots. The house boasts a white exterior, large windows, and a covered porch with elegant columns.

How to Design a Hamptons Style Garden Unique to Your Tastes

Written by coldev on 29/10/2024. Posted in Garden Advice, Garden Ideas, Plants.

Is there anything better than having a garden that makes you feel like you’re always on holiday? Now we can’t bring the ocean and time off work of the Hamptons to you, but we can help you create a garden that is luxurious, classy and beautiful.

Small white wildflowers surrounded by green foliage and large rocks.

Two people standing in a lush garden, holding hydrangeas, in front of a shingled house with a white door. The garden path is lined with various flowering plants.

Field of purple wildflowers with tall, thin stems and clustered blooms, set against a blurred green and brown background.

A charming house with a porch and two chairs, surrounded by a blooming tree and manicured garden.

Pink flowers with yellow centers surrounded by green leaves and other purple and white blooms.

A dense bush with light green leaves and pink tips, set against a background of grass and trees.

A cluster of vibrant purple flowers with green leaves overflowing from a white planter.

The Hamptons style has been popular for a long time, and we find that almost every second garden design is asking how to do a Hamptons style garden, but with a little twist. Maybe it’s a Japanese element, or a Cottage leaning angle.

First, we’re going to define what the Hamptons style is. Then we’re going to chat about how you can make the style uniquely yours so that you stand out from the other Hamptons Style Gardens.

Here’s what we will be covering in this article:

THE ESSENTIALS
THE BEST PLANTS TO USE:
– Flowering Plants
– Trees
– Hedges
HOW TO ADD A TWIST:
– Hamptons with a Cottage Twist
– Hamptons with Australian Native Plants
– Hamptons with a Japanese Style
TIME TO MAKE YOUR HAMPTONS GARDEN

The Essentials of the Hamptons Style

Let’s start with breaking down the essential elements. It’s important that you have a set parameter to work within, or you’ll risk having a hodge podge of random things thrown together.

Chris actually likes to define Hamptons as a “Cottage Garden but with a specific colour palette.” Whereas a Cottage Garden gives you the freedom to mix and match as many different colour plants as you choose, you want to stick to certain shades when it comes to a Hamptons style.

The colours at your disposal are white, pink, mauve, blue or purple. And of course green for the foliage of the plants, or even green-silver.

What you don’t want is any plant that has shades of yellow, red, or orange, whether that be in the foliage or from the flowers.

You’ll probably have already noticed but we’ll just point it out that essentially the colour palette is quite cool tones.

That doesn’t mean a warm-ish colour like magenta can’t ever find it’s way into a Hamptons garden, but you just want to make sure to use it sparingly and always strive for more cooler shades.

Now the secret to a Hamptons Style is finding the perfect balance between formality and looseness.
Lean too much towards formality and you lose the relaxed laid back quintessential vibe of the Hamptons. Err too much towards looseness and you abandon the sophistication and classiness.

To strike this perfect balance you want to bring the structure and symmetry by using hedges, topiaries and standard plants.

Then you add the soft romantic touches with your other plants like flowers, border plants, trees, shrubs, ground covers and climbers. You want to make it flowy and wild (but not too wild).
In every Hamptons Style Garden there is an interplay between structure and softness.

The Best Plants for the Hamptons Style

So you’ve got the basic elements down, what are the plants that are best suited? We’ll start with flowering plants.

Flowering Plants:

Nepeta ‘Catmint’

With the most gorgeous delicate purple flowers, Catmint is a no brainer when it comes to picking flowers. The foliage is also a perfect grey-green. Catmint is actually a herb, with a nice fresh scent.
Those gorgeous flowers will come about in summer and autumn, with the nice foliage filling your garden the rest of the time.

You could use Catmint for edging or large spaces you want to fill with a mass planting. They are so easy to grow so you don’t have to worry about spending a lot of time taking care of it.

If you are in a hot and dry area, you definitely want to be going with Catmint as they are excellent for those conditions.

Agastache ‘Sweet Lili’

With larger bottlebrush flowers and a more pink-purple colour, Sweet Lili is another great option. They flower from end of December through to autumn, giving you colour for a long time.
They are fantastic for the hot summer conditions and are a resilient perennial that are drought tolerant once established.

Make sure to plant in full sun with well drained soil. If you want to prolong the flowering, deadhead regularly.

You can even eat the foliage! It is anise-scented and can be used in salads and teas, or you can just use it in the kitchen as a pretty flower arrangement.

Convolvulus ‘Blue’

Convolvulus ‘Blue’ is an excellent ground cover that is not only low maintenance, but also very long flowering. You can put this in a large space that needs covering or plant it by an embankment and let it spill over and down.

The flowers are a vivid purple-blue that absolutely cover the entire plant. But even when the flowers are gone, the foliage by itself looks wonderful.

You can also use it to fill spaces between shrubs and larger perennials or even by the poolside.

Salvia ‘Mexican Bush Sage’

Now here’s a plant that’s really going to add that looseness your Hamptons Garden needs. This is an evergreen shrub that flowers for a long period, from winter until end of spring.

You can choose between purple or white flowers (both fit the Hamptons colour brief!)

Mexican Bush Sage is great as a flowering hedge or a medium sized border plant. They are very easy to grow and can handle moderately dry conditions.

Make sure to plant it in a sunny spot, as it will only handle small periods of shade throughout the day.

Lavandula ‘Hidcote’ Dwarf Lavender

This is a dwarf bush with striking silver-green foliage and purple-blue flowers throughout spring and summer. Of course, it also smells incredible.

Hidcote is a hardy plant that does well in hot dry conditions, and to get the best flowering make sure to plant in full sun with free-draining soil. It doesn’t grow as tall as some of the other varieties.

This is great to plant as a hedge or in a pot and its perfect for creating a romantic vibe in the garden.

Leucanthemum ‘Shasta Daisy’ Shaggy

Those shaggy flowers really bring the wild looseness to your Hamptons Style Garden, but if you want flowers that are just a bit more formal looking you can always go for the regular Shasta Daisy.

It’s quite an unusual daisy with its ruffled petals, but we love how it’s something a bit different from normal daisies.

They have white flowers with yellow centres (don’t worry this yellow is fine in such a small dose) and green compact foliage.

Shasta Daisy can handle almost any soil and should be planted in a full sun position. Once established they are frost hardy.

This would be a perfect border plant amongst some of your other purple and blue flowers.

Japanese Anemone

The Japanese Anemone is a flowering perennial with elegant pink flowers that rise up quite tall from the foliage. They are resistant to most insects and diseases.

Now you don’t have to plant these in full sun, and they actually prefer partial shade.
They are great for a border or planted anywhere you want a pop of colour.

Arenaria ‘Mountain Sandwort’

Here is a low growing evergreen perennial that flowers from late spring through to early winter, so you can enjoy flowers even in the colder times.

They are great for rockers and filling gaps in the garden and form compact small mounds.

Hydrangeas

We couldn’t write an article about the Hamptons style without talking about Hydrangeas – they are practically THE Hamptons flower.

If you have a sunny spot you want to plant a Hydrangea paniculata, if it’s a shady spot you want to use a Hydrangea macrophylla. We aren’t going to go too much into Hydrangeas here because we already have a very in depth article all about Hydrangeas which you can read here.

So there’s a huge selection of flowering plants, let’s move onto trees now.

Trees:

Betula ‘Moss White’ Silver Birch

Silver Birch will always be a classic and we particularly love Moss White for its striking white bark and foliage that turns a vivid yellow in autumn.

This is a deciduous tree that looks incredible even in winter, because you get a full view of that distinctive bark.

Moss White Birches are best in a position of full sunlight to partial shade and look fantastic when planted in groups.

Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’ Crepe Myrtle

Crepe Myrtles are the trees you buy when you want something that will look incredible all year and give you something special in each season.

Summer brings a riot of white flowers, then comes dark green leaves. In autumn you see the foliage turn a bronzy red shade. Then winter the tree will be bare, with distinctive bark on full display. Spring then circles back to flowers.

Truly a beautiful tree, you can’t go wrong in picking this as your feature and for your Hamptons garden we recommend the ‘Natchez’ Crepe Myrtle as a good option.

Salix ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ Variegated Willow

You will mostly see this tree as a standard, but it looks incredible in its natural form as well. The green-white variegated leaves, pink buds in spring and catkin in autumn make for a very striking tree.

It originates from the Asian flower garden culture and elevates any garden it is added to. Hakuro Nishiki is quite low maintenance, so you don’t have to fuss over it much.

However if you want the best results plant in a sheltered full sun to part shade position. The exotic foliage is quite a wonder to look at, with even hints of pink in the leaves.

Magnolia ‘Little Gem’

This is a classic beauty with two-toned leaves, one side is a glossy green, and the other one a velvety brown. On top of this in summer and autumn you get gorgeous creamy white flowers.

Little Gem is great for screening or as a feature tree, and once established is very hardy.

To add structure you’ll want to add some balls and topiaries which are best done with English Box.

Buxus ‘English Box’

This is Melbourne’s most popular topiary plant, and for good reason.

First of all, it is gorgeous and lush, remaining nice and green through situations that would turn other plants brown or scraggly.

Next it is low maintenance, only requiring pruning once or twice a year.

Lastly, you have practically no limits when it comes to what you can do with English Box, from the classic ball and cone, to more fancy options like spirals and standards.

To continue with creating that formality these are the plants you can use for hedges.

Hedges:

Buxus ‘English Box’

As we said before, English Box is such a popular and incredible plant. You can grow it up to 3 metres or trim it and keep it down to 1 metre

Viburnum odoratissimum ‘Sweet’

This is a gorgeous flowering hedge that is great as a screening plant. The fragrant small white flowers in spring nestle nicely alongside large oval shaped leaves.

Then in autumn you get beautiful red berries, adding even more interest to the hedge.

Sweet Viburnum is fast growing, reaching a maximum height of approximately four metres.

Prunus ‘Portuguese Laurel’

When you really want to add the classiness to your Hamptons Garden, this is the plant you go for. With deep green foliage and elegant white flowers in the warmer months, Portuguese Laurel is a great choice.

It’s perfect for pleached hedging and large standard topiaries. Portuguese Laurel will tolerate most soil conditions and loves full sun to part shade.

How to Add a Twist to Your Hamptons Style Garden

So let’s say you’re one of our Garden Design clients that wants to add a unique spin to the Hamptons Style Garden. Here are some of the things we’ve heard our customers say they want:

I want Hamptons but with a Cottage twist.
I want Hamptons with all Native plants.
I want Hamptons but in a Japanese style.

Let’s tackle each option and go through how we would approach each one.

Hamptons with a Cottage Twist

Now because Hamptons is essentially a “Cottage Garden but with a specific colour palette” you have so much freedom of choice here. We’ll mention a few of our favourite Cottage Plants but you definitely aren’t restricted to just them.

Some of the Cottage plants that fit the Hamptons colour palette are:

Explore our entire Cottage range here.

Hamptons with Australian Native Plants

Topiarised Natives are a great starting point for a Hamptons style using Australian Native plants. Westringia and Correa alba are to great options for topiaries, or you can also make hedges out of them.

There is also quite a few Natives that will give you that wild loose look. This is plants like Prostanthera ‘Round Leaf’ Mint Bush which has an incredible show of purple flowers with a strong mint smell. You can keep it natural or shape it into a low hedge or neat round shrub (just make sure you still have those ‘loose’ looking plants).

Native Grasses are another great plant, particularly Lomandra ‘White Sands’ with its fascinating variegated foliage. White Sands is fast-growing and great for mass planting and rockeries.

Explore our entire Native range here.

Hamptons Combined with a Japanese Style

Take the quintessential plant of the Japanese style – a Japanese Maple, and cloud prune it to make it Hamptons style. It looks absolutely incredible and gives you a feature tree unlike anyone else’s.

Then it’s just a matter of choosing plants that fit the Japanese style and criteria of the Hamptons style such as Ophiopogon ‘Dwarf’ Mondo Grass, Gardenia ‘Florida’, Jacaranda Tree, Prunus ‘Falling Snow’ Weeping Cherry and Wisteria sinensis ‘Purple Chinese Wisteria’.

Explore our entire Japanese range here.

Now it’s Time to Make Your Hamptons Garden

Whether you go for the classic Hamptons Style, or incorporate some new twist to it, we hope this guide has helped you get started.

Remember, a few solid shapes combined with loose and wild plants that stick to that specific colour palette and you got a Hamptons style.

If you’re still feeling a bit suck and want some personalised advice, book one of our Free Garden Designs here.

get your own tailored modern garden design:

FIND OUT HOW

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A winter garden featuring various types of coniferous shrubs and trees arranged in rows, with spherical and conical shapes, against a backdrop of lush green foliage.

Don’t Get Conned by Conifers

Written by coldev on 18/06/2024. Posted in Garden Ideas, Plant Sales & Plant Specials, Plants.

Now we’re not talking about your uncle Richard emailing you that he urgently needs $500,000, but rather how many people choose the wrong Conifer for their garden. Slight difference.

You may think you’re getting a cute little Conifer and next moment it has taken over your yard and kidnapped your kids for ransom. Okay maybe not that last part. But there are so many cases where people have a monstrous Conifer towering over their suburban home, or farmers have puny dying Conifers in the yard. When you don’t have the gardening knowledge, it can be really hard knowing what Conifer is right for you.

Especially when there are SO many different types of Conifers that all grow to different sizes and shapes. At Hello Hello we have around 40 different types. Some are really tiny, and you can keep them in nice pots. But some are gigantic and best suited for farm life. It’s all about choosing the right Conifer for the job.

Today we’re going to break down the best Conifers for different types of application, including:

Conifers for Large Gardens

Conifers for Small Featurs

Conifers for Hedging

Conifers for Feature Trees

Conifers for Large Gardens

Pencil Pines are tall, skinny Conifers that are best for large gardens where you are wanting a focal point. Plant them as an avenue, where you could have them lead up to an even greater feature at the end of the garden. If planted close enough together, they also make an excellent narrow hedge.

These are some of the best types:

Cupressus ‘Swanes Gold’ Conifer

Swanes Gold is a lovely, neat shape with golden-green foliage. It doesn’t grow very quickly and keeps that nice tight shape forever. It grows to about five metres in height in ten years. They love full sunlight or partial shade.

Juniperus ‘Blue Arrow’

Blue Arrow has a very elegant look and is the best option for keeping really narrow and tight as it won’t grow too big. It trims up beautifully and has blue-green foliage. Once established, Blue Arrow is hardy and drought tolerant.

Cupressus ‘Glauca Pencil Pine’

Glauca Pencil Pine is absolutely fabulous – tough, fast-growing and requires minimal maintenance. Yet even though it grows like crazy, it still stays neat and tight.

The dark green towering column grows to about nine metres tall. Glauca is the one we recommend for people that don’t want to be climbing up ladders and using all this special equipment to trim it and keep it looking nice. Especially for people who are a bit older but still want something tall to block out other units.

Where a hedge needs trimming, the Glauca Pencil Pine will shoot up nine metres very quickly and only stay a metre wide. Best of all, you will never have to get up and trim it. Glauca is also a fabulous avenue option on a farm or big space.

Juniperus ‘Spartan’ Conifer

Then there is Spartan, which some people wouldn’t call a Pencil Pine, but we like to say is a fat Pencil Pine. Just like the warriors, Spartan is very tough – it doesn’t need much water or good soil. Yet, it is still such a fast grower, ending up at about six metres tall and 1.2 metres wide.

Spartan is excellent as a windbreak, dust/dirt screen and sound block because of its thick foliage. For example, if you live near a railway line or freeway and want to block off some of that noise, you are not going to want a hedge, but rather something dense like the Spartan. Similarly, if you live on a dirt road, Conifers are great at absorbing the dust and dirt.

Conifers for Small Features

Although not tiny by any means, these are some of the smaller Conifers that would look great in a regular garden:

Thuja ‘Smaragd’ Conifer

Smaragd is perfect for the suburban garden, it makes an excellent feature reaching a maximum height of three metres. However, with some trimming you can keep it just over a metre tall. Smaragd is fairly slow growing and has a slightly higher water requirement. It will form a pointed top.

It’s beautiful, thick, and lush, and can be planted in a large pot or as an obelisk style feature. They look excellent in a variety of garden styles, such as cottage, coastal, formal or Mediterranean.

Thuja ‘Golden Biota’ Conifer

A cousin of the Smaragd, Golden Biota grows in a lovely golden-green ball shape, that with a bit of a trim you can keep to one metre tall. Or if you leave it, the end height will be of about two meters tall. The round shape and dense foliage make for a stunning garden feature.

You can plant them as a row along the front fence, or up the driveway. It has more of a rounded top than the Smaragd.

Juniperus pingii ‘Prostrata’

Prostrata is commonly made into a bonsai, by wiring the branches to hang down and arch over. They make for a spectacular small feature and can be kept in pots.

But you can also plant it as a groundcover, and it will fill a large area and grow really low. Prostrata is also extremely hardy for things like the heat and wind.

Conifers for Hedging

Whether it’s for privacy or looks, Conifers make fantastic big and bushy hedges. These are the best ones suited to the job:

Juniperus ‘Spartan’ Conifer

Back again, Spartan is also an excellent option as a hedge. What’s interesting is that you can actually topiarise Spartan into whatever shape you’d like – we often sell them as a spiral, but you could cut it into the shape of chook if you were so inclined. But let’s chat hedging, plant them up close and cut them into a beautiful square for the most fantastic hedge.

Out of all the Pencil Pines discussed before, Spartan is the best choice because you don’t need to plant them as close together due to the thicker foliage.

Cupressus ‘Leighton Green’ Conifer

Leighton Green is one of the most popular options for hedging because it grows at an enormous speed. You need something quick? Plant a small one of these and you can have it up three metres in two years. Trim it up and it’ll grow thick and bushy.

It’s one of the fastest three metre hedges ever. There was a case where someone got their Leighton Green hedge up seven metres in three years from a small plant. That was with perfect conditions, water and fertiliser, and no grass or weeds around the bottom. Leighton Green is great as a tall screen on a farm.

Cupressus macrocarpa

Many of the most expensive properties around Melbourne have macrocarpa hedges because they look incredible and are such a classic look. A lot of people believe macrocarpa is slow growing, but the reason for that is because they receive so little care and attention. Most farmers stick them out in the paddock and never water or fertilise them.

But what we found is if you properly watered and fertilised it, macrocarpa actually grew quite quickly. If you take care of it in the first couple years, you’ll get fantastic growth, and then after that it doesn’t need very much water. So if you are in quite a dry area, then macrocarpa is the perfect option.

We sell the ‘Monterey Cypress’, a vivid green shade and ‘Lemon Scent’, a striking yellow-green colour with a lovely citrus smell.

Cupressus ‘Castlewellan Gold’ Conifer

This is the gold version of Leighton Green, although it isn’t as fast growing, it is a bit hardier. The foliage is dense and a stunning golden green hue. Castlewellan Gold is best suited for medium to large sized properties. They are easy to maintain and shape.

Conifers for Feature Trees

Conifers make the most wonderful feature trees. Some will grow quite large and are best suited to bigger properties, whereas others are great for a suburban backyard. Here are some of our favourite choices:

Pinus ‘Japanese Black Pine’

The lovely dark green foliage is contrasted beautifully by white candle shaped needles. In Japan they trim and train these into beautiful shapes. It will reach a maximum height of 15 metres and has an irregular spreading habit. The Japanese Black Pine is perfect for sunny spots but will tolerate afternoon shade.

Araucaria ‘Norfolk Island Pine’

If you live by the beach, then Norfolk Island Pine is a great option. Being both hardy and beautiful, you’ll find that Gold Coast and South Australia is absolutely filled with them. They are fast growing and make for a stunning specimen tree.

Picea ‘Stone Pine’

The Stone Pine has a fascinating turtle shell like finish on its trunk with a flat head and a widespread body. They are a beautiful tree for big fields and do quite well in hot, dry, difficult sites.

Cedrus ‘Himalayan Cedar’

The most common Cedar is the Himalayan Cedar, also known as the Indian Cedar. It has a natural weeping form that is covered in fine long needles and cones. They are fast and easy to grow. Once established, the Himalayan Cedar can withstand frost and some drought.

Cedrus atlantica ‘Atlas Cedar’

Atlas Cedars are beautiful with short needles, as they get older, they develop a really interesting shape to them. They start off slow, but once they’re more established, they will start growing at about one and a half to two metres a year.

They trim really well, and so even though they can become huge, they are still suitable for the suburban garden. If you don’t trim it, in about thirty years, you’re going to have an absolutely massive tree (may or may not kidnap your children).

Cedrus ‘Feelin’ Blue’ Cedar

This is a very interesting, grafted miniature cedar that will need training. It has lovely blue weeping foliage and is kind of like a collector’s item. Feelin’ Blue loves the sun and doesn’t need much water once it has been established. You can grow it in a pot.

Sequoiadendron ‘Giant Sequoia Tree’

The Giant Sequoia Tree is considered one of the biggest trees in the world, so if you are to plant it in your little suburban backyard, it will kidnap your children. But on a big property they’ll make an excellent feature. Once they get going, they grow surprisingly quick. They have a thick trunk with lovely red bark.

In Conclusion

So there’s a taste of some of the incredible types of Conifers, now it isn’t the full range we sell in the nursery, or even what is available in general. But we wanted to keep it to the best types for different applications.

Conifers are incredibly versatile, from a small to a gigantic feature, avenues to ground covers, screens to hedging, your options are endless. They’re fast. They’re tough. They’re beautiful.

Just make sure you choose the right Conifer, so you don’t get conned.

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Pink camellia flowers in full bloom with green leaves, seen on a lush bush in a winter garden.

Harness the Versatility of Camellias

Written by coldev on 11/06/2024. Posted in Garden Ideas, Plant Sales & Plant Specials, Plants.

Are you a fan of tea?

Well, all green and black tea is made from the foliage of Camellias, from a particular variety called Camellia sinensis ‘Tea Plant’. So you can actually grow your own Tea Plant and have an unending supply of tea. Heaven.

Now we know Camellias are an all-time classic – for years they’ve been a beloved plant in many gardens. But most people don’t know just how versatile the Camellia truly is.

Let’s change that.

We’re going to be talking about:

The Benefits of Camellias
The Different Applications of Camellias
The Different Types of Camellias
How to Take Care of your Camellias

Here are the DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAMELLIAS that we’ve picked out for you, some of our favourites. Jump straight to them from here if you wish:

Camellia sasanqua:
‘Setsugekka’
‘Pure Silk’
‘Shell Pink’
‘Hiryu’
‘Avalanche’
Camellia sinensis ‘Tea Plant’

Camellia japonica:
‘Volunteer’
‘Pope John XXIII’
‘Black Tie’

The Benefits of Camellias

So why should you want to plant a Camellia at all?

First up, they are so easy to grow. For very little effort you are getting this gorgeous, lush, flowering plant.

Next, they are very long living. Unlike perennials, they’re not going to be a sudden flash of beauty that dies quickly thereafter. You will get year after year of wonderful blossoms.

Finally, which is the whole point of this article, is the fact that they are so versatile.

The Different Applications of Camellias

From the apartment balcony to the deep shade of suburban backyards, Camellias are kind of like that one size fits all leggings – but in this case it’s actually true.

HEDGES & BORDERS

First of all, Camellias are very popular for hedges and borders. We’ve seen hedges that are over a hundred metres long, and a couple of metres tall. Simply spectacular.

POT PLANTS

The next use is as a pot plant. A lot of us live in apartments nowadays, which can make you feel like you don’t get to share in the joy of having your own garden. But just because you don’t have a backyard, doesn’t mean you can’t have an exciting, lush garden.

Pots let you put your plants wherever you want, free of the constrictions of soil. We actually stock our own range of pots, so you can easily get everything you need in one place. But what’s fantastic about Camellias is how well they grow in a pot.

So get creative with where you put them – whether it is that apartment balcony or just the patio. You can trim and shape them in this pot to however you like. Make sure you fertilize and water them to keep your Camellias lush and green.

SPECIMEN IN THE GARDEN

Next thing is growing them as a specimen in the garden. Depending on what variety you choose, you can grow them in the shade with other shade lover plants like Helleborus or Azaleas. Or you can put them in the hot sun with other sun loving plants like Daises or Lavender.

If you are lucky enough to have your own backyard, you might come up against a different problem – the absence of sun. This can come from your neighbour’s house, it could be from other big trees in your yard, whatever the case, shade can be a limiting factor to what plants you use. But certain types of Camellias thrive in the shade, giving you colour and lushness where you most need it.

STANDARD (BALL ON STICK)

Then you can have them as a standard, which is a ball on a stick style plant. You’ll find that most standards don’t flower, but a Camellia standard will give you gorgeous blooms and evergreen foliage. The standard we sell uses a Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’ which has stunning hot pink/red flowers and is a slow grower. You can plant a row of standards in your garden or have it in a pot with some flowers planted underneath.

ESPALIER (USING TRELLIS)

The next application is a bit trickier, but so worth the effort. Get some trellis and use Camellia as an espalier. The best type to plant for this is Sasanqua. Espalier Camellia is perfect for a tight situation up against the wall. For the whole year you will have lovely evergreen foliage and then in autumn and winter you get this gorgeous show of flowers.

SCULPTURE

The last application is even more unusual, but perfect for those who are wanting to do something a bit more different in their gardens. If you are intentional with the trimming, you can shape your Camellia like it was a sculpture, and have it as an exquisite centrepiece in the garden.

One of Chris’ first jobs was to do just this, here is a story from him:

“When I was seven, I went and got myself a gardening job and I used to work every Saturday morning for an elderly lady. Anything that was a bit tricky like climbing the ladder or lifting heavy things, I used to do for her. She planted a sasanqua Camellia that was cut into a perfect cylinder shape with a flat top. I was the one trimming it. It would take me hours, she would direct each snip and I would trim it little by little. But it was a beautiful thing.”

You’re practically spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding how to plant a Camellia in your garden.

The Different Types of Camellias

There are MANY sorts of Camellias, each with their own unique characteristics and strengths.

We bet you’re dying to hear more about that tea producing Camellia, so let’s jump straight into that one first.

Camellia sinensis ‘Tea Plant’

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These are grown all over the world for tea plantation, from Australia, to China, to India. The flowers themselves smell like green tea, but really, it’s the new growth you’re looking at to make that delicious cup of tea. Also yes, you can make green OR black tea, from the same plant. It’s all in the way you harvest the leaves that make the difference.

You have to wait until summer for the new shoots, pick a few grams and dry it in the microwave or oven. Then chuck on the kettle and make yourself a cuppa. This is going to be like no tea you’ve ever had before, that old stuff at the grocery store can’t measure up to freshly plucked and brewed tea.

But of course, the Cammellia Sinensis is so much more than just a tea producer, it’s also a very attractive feature in the garden. You can plant them in a pot, have them as a specimen in the garden, or create a hedge out of them. The flowers are gorgeous, delicate white petals with a golden/yellow centre.

Camellia sasanqua

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We get it, not everyone is a tea fanatic, so here is a Camellia that is purely for show. It’s actually our most popular Camellia in the nursery.

Sasanqua Camellias have smaller flowers and finer leaves than most Camellias. But they also have greater versatility in that they can grow in hot full sun, but also deep shade.

As we mentioned before, a lot of gardens have those spots where the sun never quite reaches, and it can be tricky to find a plant that will work there. But you’re also not limited to the shade, if you have a big kitchen window or an ugly fence you want to cover and it’s in full sun, this is no problem for the Camellia sasanqua. Just make sure you’re watering it more if it is in a sunny spot.

Beyond this, they are also nifty in a tight area because they don’t need a lot of root space as long as you use really good soil. They’ll grow up and then with a bit of a trim you can keep them nice and narrow.

You can grow them under verandas or pergolas, or they make beautiful pot plants. They flower from autumn to mid-winter.

THERE ARE A LOT OF DIFFERENT COLOUR CHOICES, SO THESE ARE SOME OF OUR FAVOURITES:

‘Setsugekka’

Setsugekka is great for hedging and has beautiful dark green foliage with lots of white flowers. They are the perfect option for a green and white garden style.

‘Pure Silk’

Pure Silk have gorgeous white flowers with hints of pink in the petals and fresh buds. People are drawn to Pure Silk because of the lack of a big yellow centre that most other Camellias have.

‘Shell Pink’

Shell Pink is a very strong and rapid grower with massive pink flowers. They are perfect as a dense hedge or specimen in the garden.

‘Hiryu’

Hiryu has vivid pink-purple flowers and is the strongest grower of all the Camellias. It’s great as a hedge and an excellent option for those who are wanting a brighter pop of colour.

‘Avalanche’

Avalanche is a new type on the market that is very handy for lots of people. It is a dense and bushy column that is quite tall and skinny. You can have it as an individual specimen or plant it as a hedge.

Camellia japonica

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Japonica has a wider leaf and tend to grow bushier and fatter than the Sasanqua. They grow quite tall and will live for many, many years. But keep them out of the hot afternoon sun or you’ll get brown patches in the middle of the leaves.

They flower from late winter into spring, so will have blossoms at different times than the Sasanqua. If you plant both species then you can have flowers for five or six months of the year.

JAPONICA ALSO COMES IN DIFFERENT COLOURS, HERE ARE SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE PICKS:

‘Volunteer’

Volunteer has the most amazing flowers, it is an eruption of red-pink flowers into white tips. It is the only Japonica that flourishes in the hot sun (provided there is adequate watering), as well as the deep shade. Volunteer is a good strong grower, nice and bushy, and what’s interesting is that the flowers become richer in colour the more you progress through the season.

‘Pope John XXIII’

Pope John XXIII is a classic white with semi-formal double flowers and really nice foliage. They are another great selection for that green and white garden style.

‘Black Tie’

Black Tie is a more formal double flower in a brilliant shade of red with large leaves. It’s another strong grower that is going to form a dense rounded shape.

How to Take Care of your Camellias

Okay so you’ve decided what type and where you’re going to use it, now you need to know how to take care of it.

Camellias like loose well-drained soil that is acidic. If you don’t have quite the right soil, then dig a big hole and mix in some fine composted pine bark or acidic potting mix. They love lots and lots of fertiliser.

If you’re Camellia is looking a bit crook, what’s likely happened is that you’ve started taking your old Camellia for granted and not watered it enough. So make sure you give it plenty of water. Another solution is to mulch it with fine pine bark or Osmocote. If it was really crook, try the Osmocote liquid fertiliser for acid loving plants, this will almost bring it back from the dead.

In general, your Camellia needs regular feeding – water it and give it Osmocote, and Camellias will absolutely flourish. The best time to prune is immediately after the flowering is finished. The reason for this is that pruning them halfway through the season inhibits next year’s growths.

Although Camellias flower in winter, you won’t get much foliage growth. But being evergreen means that you will still have gorgeous green leaves all year.

In Conclusion

Camellias are a stunning plant with so many applications, from a thick hedge to a pot plant, you have so much freedom with where you want to put it in your garden.

There is a huge range of colour choices so you can go bold or stay subtle.

And if you love tea as much as we do, then chances are you’re gunning for the Camellia sinensis ‘Tea Plant’.

So pour yourself a cuppa and get to thinking about how you want to harness the versatility of Camellias.

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A cluster of purple flowers with green leaves grows in a garden bed, reminiscent of one of the top indoor plants. The background includes a concrete wall and scattered dry leaves.

Inject Colour into your Winter Garden

Written by coldev on 01/06/2024. Posted in Garden Ideas, Plant Sales & Plant Specials, Plants.

Take a peek out the window or have a think about your garden. Is it looking a bit grey and bare? Have all the leaves fallen off those once gorgeous autumn-coloured trees? Is there even a single blossom left?

You may be suffering from winter-itis. A very real and not made-up disease where one believes that winter is the ugliest time of the year for the garden. If you drive through Melbourne right now, at the end of May, you’ll see there is a bit of an epidemic of this.

Now a lacklustre garden in winter is not inevitable, but rather a lack of forethought and knowledge on what plants will keep your garden looking lush and colourful, including this list of plants that flower in winter:

Nandina ‘Moon Bay
Heuchera
Loropetalum
Cordylines
Coprosmas
Ajuga
Camellia Sasanqua
Erica ‘Ruby Shepherd’ Winter Heath
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Oakleaf

In this article we will cover:

Your Current Garden Check Up
Have an Holistic Approach to Gardening
Plants that are Colourful in the Winter

Now the first part of winter is the most difficult. Many plants have stopped flowering such as summer Perennials, Roses and Magnolias. Deciduous trees have lost their leaves, and their bare branches can be quite a stark sight.

Late winter you’ll see things start to pick up again, plants like your Quince, Plum, Magnolia or Peaches will start flowering. The further you move along, the more exciting gardens get.

But we’re here to talk about how to get your garden looking incredible ALL winter.

Your Current Garden Check Up

First things first, let’s run some diagnostics on your current garden.

Can you find any spots of colour or lushness? Is anything still flowering? Are your trees deciduous or evergreen?

Now don’t freak out if you step outside and see a barren landscape. Even Chris, our master horticulturist, didn’t always have a perfect garden as he explains here:

“I remember when I built my first home, and I carefully chose all my plants. This would be my first ever garden I was designing myself. I was nowhere near as experienced as I am now, but I still had a good sense of gardening.

“I loved deciduous trees, especially maples. So I planted pretty much just deciduous trees, and all kinds of different perennials. It was late spring, and I had the most beautiful garden all through spring and summer.”

Then winter came. The perennials shrivelled up and lost their flowers. The maples all dropped their leaves. Suddenly I had the saddest, most barren looking garden you’ve ever seen. But I learned a lesson from that, and that lesson was balance.

But how do you create balance in your garden?

Having an Holistic Approach to Gardening

What everybody wants is a garden that is going to look great all year. Not just in the spring. Not just in the winter.
All year.

But that means being clever with your selection of plants, and for most of us with no horticulture background, it can be incredibly difficult. But this is why we are writing this article today and why we offer services like the free Garden Design with Chris and here’s what he says about them:

“I’m very careful in my garden designs. When someone comes in with a list of plants they want and they’re all deciduous, I make them aware of the problems they could have in wintertime.

I would never tell someone what they can and cannot plant. But I suggest bringing in some more evergreens. For example, they could have all their favourite deciduous trees, but plant some larger evergreen shrubs.”

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Let’s take this lesson and apply it your own garden:

PLANT A HEALTHY MIX OF EVERGREENS AND DECIDUOUS
Having evergreens in your garden will help eliminate that bleakness. Consider Magnolias, Camellias, Pittosporums, Olive Trees, the list goes on. Browse our entire category of evergreen trees here. Also don’t forget about other evergreens like Shrubs or Grasses.

USE INTERESTING DECIDUOUS TREES
Not all deciduous trees look terrible as soon as they drop their leaves. For some, their beauty actually increases. Consider the popular Senkaki Japanese Maple. The trunk and branches are a bright, bold red. It practically looks more sculpture than tree. But this isn’t the only tree with interesting bark. There’s the classic Silver Birches with their lovely white and speckled black trunk. If you want to be adventurous, look at trees such as Acer ‘Winter Gold’ Japanese Maple and Betula ‘Wades Golden’ Birch, that have yellow/gold coloured bark.

BE TACTICAL WITH TYPES OF SPECIES
We’re going to use the example of Lavenders to explain this, but you can apply this to a lot of flowering plants. By being clever with what type of Lavender you plant, you can have your Lavenders flowering 365 days of the year. A good plan of attack would look like this:

Deep Purple for the winter. Avonview for spring into early summer. Hidcote for the full summer. French Lavender for autumn. Then back to the start with Deep Purple.

Plants that are Colourful in the Winter

There’s two ways a plant can give you colour – foliage or flowers. Both have their advantages. Plants with colourful foliage give you colour all year round. Flowering plants give you extra interest and excitement. We’re going to first talk about foliage.

Nandina ‘Moon Bay’

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With fiery red foliage and an economical price, Moon Bay is an excellent way to keep those winter blues away. We’re not going to get into them too much here, as we have an article coming out soon about Adding Warmth to Your Winter Garden Using Nandinas. But they’re a very versatile plant that is incredibly low maintenance – so many commercial gardens chuck them in and never think about them again.

Heuchera

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Aren’t these just the cutest looking plant? You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to colour, from the amber hues of Marmalade to the vibrant fuchsia of Wild Rose.

Because they’re so petite, they are perfect for a tiny garden bed. Or pop them in some pots on a deck and have fun with the different colour combinations.

For a dark dramatic look, take Obsidian and pair it with our Urban Style Olive Pot Matt Black. Or keep it light and sweet with Peach Flambe and our Limecrete Egg Pot Antique Rust.

Be gentle with Heuchera and place them in a sheltered spot, with dappled shade.

Loropetalum

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Rising in popularity is the Loropetalum. We love them so much we wrote an entire article about how to Add Excitement to Your Garden with Loropetalum. They have great versatility – trim them into any shape or let them sprawl artfully.

Cut on top and have them as a tall groundcover/low spreading bush. Trim them into a hedge to create privacy from your neighbours. There is a huge selection to choose from, with each type having its own strengths and suitability. So it’s important to read up about them so you know which type will work the best for you.

Cordylines

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If you bought Cordylines a while back, you may have found that some of them discoloured badly in the winter. But with the genius of our plant breeders, this has actually been bred out of them. Nowadays, you have a huge variety of different shades, from pink to purple to brown.

They are very tough growing, tolerating almost any soil type, and love an open sunny spot. One we love in particular is Pocahontas – a rich burgundy intermixed with vibrant purple-pink hues.

It grows up like a palm tree and adds a tropical look to your garden, making you feel like you’re on island getaway and not, well ah, stuck in miserable Melbourne. There are also clumping Cordylines that don’t grow trunks and have a bushier look, such as Electric Flash.

Coprosmas

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Okay we harp on a lot about Coprosmas but it’s because they’re just such damn good plants. They’re tougher than cactuses and have fabulous colours. The colder it gets, the more intense the colours become.

For those living in apartments and have either a rooftop or balcony garden, these are an excellent choice. Wind, heat, salt spray, frost, sun – Coprosma can take anything. They are a great pot plant. Flex your creativity and experiment with different pairings. Use Ignite with our Seafoam Bronte Planter Copper. Pair Pacific Sunrise with our GardenLite Trough Black. Try different shapes, colours and sizes.

Or plant them in the garden, shape them into a round ball, cut them into a square box hedge. Stick with one colour or alternate between different colour combinations. The world is your oyster.

Ajuga

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These are great placed next to plants that look bleak in the wintertime, such as most Hydrangeas or the Arthropodium ‘NZ Rock Lily’. We don’t want to discourage you from buying the plants you love because they don’t look so great in the winter.

Rather, we want to encourage you to include other plants that are a supporting act to your fabulous summer plants. Then in the summer you can enjoy all those Perennials and Hydrangeas and come winter your garden still looks great.
In particular we love the Burgundy Glow with its medley of pink, green, purple and burgundy hues. They’re great as a border in the garden or can be planted in a hanging basket on the patio.

Okay so there’s plenty of colourful foliage options, but let’s chat about some of the plants that flower during winter.

Camellia Sasanqua

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This is one of your best sources of flowers in the winter. What’s really interesting is that in the summertime, the white Camellias sell like crazy, but come winter, no one wants to buy the white. This is because the white shade is quite cold and doesn’t do much to uplift the rest of the garden during winter.

We’re finding that a lot of people right now are buying the soft pink shade because it just looks warmer and friendlier. You can even take it a step further and plant hot pink Camellias. So a little hint: when looking at flowering plants, don’t just look at your whites. Camellias are also just a great, reliable plant that are super easy to grow.

Erica ‘Ruby Shepherd’ Winter Heath

Originating from Africa, these are incredibly tough and very popular. The flowers are an exquisite purple/pink shade and stick around all throughout autumn and winter.

They’re unbothered by the cold wet weather, whereas other flowers can struggle in a particularly miserable spell. They’re going to grow about a metre tall and are great for mass plantings.

Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Oakleaf’

If you are really wanting Hydrangeas, but the horror-quality they take on in the wintertime scares you, then Oakleaf is perfect.

Instead of shedding its leaves, they turn a gorgeous purple shade for all of winter. Then in springtime, new bright green leaves push through, for a time giving you a mix of purple and green leaves.

Curing Winter-itis

If any of your friends or loved ones are suffering from winter-itis, please be sure to share this article with them. We want to help as many people as we can bring colour and lushness into their lives. If you’re hungry for more options, go check out our YouTube playlist How to Have a Colourful Garden During Winter.

Let’s bring beauty into all Australian gardens during winter.

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A vibrant bush with numerous small, bright pink flowers and dark green foliage grows in front of a plain, grey concrete wall, resembling one of the top indoor plants for adding a burst of color to any space.

Add Excitement to Your Garden with Loropetalum

Written by coldev on 19/05/2024. Posted in Plant Sales & Plant Specials, Plants.

Loropetalums are one of the easiest and most dynamic ways to add excitement to your garden year-round. Their colourful foliage means they won’t be looking drab come winter, but in the spring, you get a special touch from those gorgeous blossoms.

With such a huge range of Loropetalums, you get to choose what colour or purpose it serves in your garden. Each type of Loropetalum can be mass planted, used as a topiary, or planted in a pot.

In this article we will cover:

Applications of Loropetalums
The Best Loropetalums
How to Take Care of Them
Some of Our Garden Designs Using Loropetalums

Applications of Loropetalums

Front yard of a house with a white picket fence and a variety of plants including purple and green bushes in a well-maintained garden bed. A tree is visible beside a window, offering inspiration for cultivating top indoor plants. Loropetalum

One of Loropetalum’s strengths is their versatility in the garden.

They do beautifully in pots, and what’s fun about this is that you get an extra feature to play with and add intrigue to your garden. For example, you could pick out a dark pot that intensifies the drama of Loropetalums, such as our Seafoam Bronte Planter Dark Grey.

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Or you could provide a stark contrast with a white pot like our GardenLite SquatCongo that’s really going to set off the deep purple tones of a Loropetalum like Plum Gorgeous.

You could even pick a complimentary colour shade with our Glazed Squat Egg Blue pot that is a rich deep blue and would blend beautifully with the pink-purple foliage of Loropetalums.

Loropetalums make for excellent topiaries – run them up a stake, trim them into a ball on a stick or turn them into a nice cone. Just let you imagination run wild with what shapes to make them because they love a good trim. Place them at the entrance of your home for maximum impact.

They are fantastic for mass planting. When I do a garden design, I’ll often plant three to five of them together for a good splash of colour.

The next thing you could do is plant them as a border. They make for beautiful colourful borders, but there are some types that are better suited to this. We’ll get into this in a sec.

The Best Loropetalums

When we talk about the best Loropetalums, what we really mean is the best Loropetalum for YOU. Everyone has different needs and preferences.

So for each type of Loropetalum, we’re going to describe their applications and characteristics so you can decide what is best for you (and your exciting garden).

Bobz Pink, White and Red

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For simplicity I’m going to put all of these together. They each have their own distinct colourway, but when it comes to most suitable applications, they are the same.

So if you’re after a low groundcover or border, these are the best options out of our Loropetalums. They don’t grow up too high, like some other Loropetalums do.

Now the foliage on Bobs Pink and Bobz Red might look very similar, but come spring, they’ll be distinct in their colour of flowers. Bobz Red, of course, has bold red/fuchsia pink flowers. Bobz Pink has bright pink/purple flowers. These flowers are small and spidery, but absolutely cover the bush.

If you have a dark brick house or fence, Bobz White is a very refreshing addition, with bright green foliage and beautiful white flowers. Bobz White is great in modern or green and white gardens.

Purple Prince

A very interesting and upright Loropetalum, Purple Prince is great for a tall narrow hedge.

Being such a fast grower you don’t have to wait long for it to be a decent size. It will reach a maximum height of about three metres, but you can keep it smaller with trimming.

It has deep purple foliage developing into burgundy in the spring and pink, fuchsia flowers.

Purple Prince is great also great for mass planting as they mound quite nicely.

Plum Gorgeous

The most striking colour of all the Loropetalums, Plum Gorgeous has deep purple foliage and bright pink flowers. It is a good strong grower and if you trim it, Plum Gorgeous will grow very wide. It is one of the largest Loropetalums.

Plum Gorgeous is great for shady areas because their foliage is so intense. With some Loropetalums you can notice the foliage lightening in spots that don’t get much sunlight.

They are great to underplant trees, cover beds or as an informal border around walls.

China Pink

China Pink is the cheapest Loropetalum. Not because of a lack of quality, but because other Loropetalums are patented and have royalties that need to be paid.

The candy pink flowers contrast nicely with the dark reddish-purple foliage.

Clip it into a purple hedge for something a bit different from the usual English Box hedge.

How to Take Care of Them

Loropetalums like nice loose soil. If you have hard clay soil, then you need to dig it up and combine it with potting mix so that it becomes light and airy. They also need plenty of water.

But if you get these two conditions right, soil and water, then you’ll find they can take quite hot, difficult conditions.

You also can’t go astray with some osmocote and fertiliser.

They can grow in full sun or deep shade but be aware that less sunlight means less intensity in the foliage. They need about three to four hours of sunlight to get that real brightness of colour. So although they’re great for some colour in the shade, they’re going to do better in sunny spots.

Some of Our Garden Designs Using Loropetalums

We’re going to give you a sneak peek into some of Chris’ Garden Designs to give you insight into how you can build a captivating garden using Loropetalums.

This is a great example of a Japanese style garden:

Often when I do a Japanese style garden, I’ll plant a purple weeping Japanese Maple like an Atropurpureum, with a Loropetalum at its base.

Then in another part of the garden I’ll place a Loropetalum ‘Plum Gorgeous’, Abelia ‘Kaleidoscope’ and Helichrysum ‘Licorice’. All of these together make for a captivating interplay of colours and textures.

The Loropetalum provides deep purple hues, the Kaleidoscope has fine golden-green leaves, and the Licorice has bright silver foliage. They grow to be around the same size and have similar textures, but the excitement comes from the contrasting colours.

I make sure to tell my customers to clip these into balls for the maximum effect.

Here is a great solution for small shady spots:

A lot of people have a skinny garden bed up the side of their house with a big window looking out on it. You’ll also find that with these areas they don’t tend to get a lot of sunlight.

Yes, Loropetalums aren’t going to be as vividly colourful here, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still provide an excellent source of colour in shady spots.

So what I’ll do first is plant a Camellia sasanqua as a screening option to give some privacy. They have dark green foliage and produce stunning flowers in autumn or summer.

Then also up against the fence, I’ll plant a Loropetalum between each Camelia sasanqua.
In front of these line of Loropetalums and Camelias, I’ll use the Liriope ‘Stripey White’. The foliage is green with bright silver stripes and grows to about 40cm.

All of these plants go together really nicely, and they’re providing you with colour and excitement even in a narrow sunless spot.

For a layered look you can’t go past these options:

I’ll use Purple Prince to grow a hedge of about 1.2 -1.6 metres in height. Because it’s fast growing and tall you’ll get this in no time. Then in front of it I’ll plant a silver hedge, such as the Helichrysum ‘Licorice’ and trim it to be shorted than the Loropetalum hedge. The purple and silver look so good together, and you’re still getting an elevated design from the neatness of the hedges.

Or another great pairing is a low hedge of Bobz Red with a golden hedge behind, such as your Ligustrum ‘Golden Privet’. The Golden Privet is bright and fresh looking, and contrasts incredibly with the purple-red hues of Bobz Red. Once again, classy but colourful.

I love doing a border of Bobz Red with a row of Convolvulus ‘Silver Bush’ in front of it. The deep burgundy of Boz Red peeks out over the top of the Silver Bush. That bright silver foliage really makes Bobz Red pop, with the white trumpet shaped flowers providing a nice contrast to the red spidery flowers.

Also don’t feel limited to hedging, remember that Loropetalums are also fantastic as topiaries so you could shape these into balls and plant them next to one another.

In Closing

We love green and white gardens just as much as the next person, but if you’re looking for something more dynamic in colour, then Loropetalums are the way to go. Their versatility and wide range make it so easy to add excitement to your garden. With all the different applications and plant pairings, get creative with the ways you use Loropetalums.
So try something a bit different from your neighbour.