Gardens spring to life with wildflowers and edibles

By Esther Han
Updated September 15 2014 - 1:08pm, first published 12:16pm
Zara Alcock, 6, and her brother Henry, 3, in their garden. Photo: Michele Mossop
Zara Alcock, 6, and her brother Henry, 3, in their garden. Photo: Michele Mossop

 

Sydney's gardens will be flowery and colourful affairs this spring, trending away from green-on-green designs and a laissez-faire approach, green-thumbed experts say.

And those with vegetable patches should start thinking about planting tomatoes, with a host of juicy varieties on sale for the first time.

Horticulturist Matthew Carroll said now was the time to introduce bold colours into the garden.

"It got a bit bland for a while there with people trying to have hands-off gardens, but we're getting back amongst it. The focus is introducing lots of colours back."

"The osteospermum (African daisy) was bit of a daggy plant, but all these cultivars are much more appealing and much prettier," he said. "We'll be using not just one or two plants, but a broad palette. It's nice to see the return of diversity."

Another way to jazz up a backyard was to add wildflower patches, said Talei Kenyon from the Diggers Club, a large mail-order seed company based in Victoria.

The club has not only been buoyed by the solid growth of its year-on-year membership figures, but the surge in sales of its 'summer meadow' wildflower packets: a mix of sunflower,  California poppy, cornflower, cosmos, flax and zinnia seeds.

"They are becoming very popular," said Ms Kenyon, referring to the multiplying wildflower patches in New York and London.

In Sydney, the Royal Botanic Gardens has, for the first time, dramatised its Spring Walk tulip display with native wildflowers, including rhodanthe in magenta, fuchsia, soft pink and white, and the yellow paper daisy.

Edible gardens continue to be all the rage. New to the Diggers Club's enviable range of seed products is the pink bumble bee tomato, which is "the next big thing in open-pollinated tomatoes", Ms Kenyon said.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Get the latest Taree news in your inbox

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy.