Gardening with Neil Fisher
Winter is not coming, it is here but do not despair as here in Central Queensland so many of our gardens become brighter.
Floral displays can be seen in just about every community.
Some of these plants species are well known Winter performers and others are just having a very good season.
Heliconias one of nature’s wonders and are a large-leafed, tropical plant with vibrant lobster-claw flowers, being closely related to Gingers, Bananas and the Bird of Paradise.
Heliconias are native mainly to tropical America, although their increasing popularity in the horticultural and the flower industries mean that these plants are now grown in nearly all tropical and many sub-tropical regions of the world.
It is not known how many different forms of Heliconias exist, with more than 450 proposed botanical names for species, varieties and hybrids, and over 200 cultivars and common names in use in the commercial trade.
Two varieties to start with should include Heliconia Fireflash and Golden Torch.
Heliconia Fireflash is a very compact plant with orange with red tips flowers.
Heliconia Golden Torch is a vigorous grower to 1.5m that is good for landscaping and cut flowers.
That produces Yellow flowers for much of the year.
One of the brightest of all flowering plants so far this winter would have to the Bougainvillea.
Whether it is Alpha, Childers or Winton gardens are alive with for bright splashes of colour.
Bougainvilleas are virtually pest and disease free with only severe frosts impacting on the growth of the plant.
There is an endless variety of colour with this plant but the flower of the Bougainvillea is only quite small and insignificant, and it is the bracts that enclose the flower which gives the plants their array of colour.
In the last twenty years, the greatest amount of development in Bougainvillea hybridisation has been to provide prolific flowering, miniature growing shrubs with virtually no thorns, a task that seems quite impossible.
However, with the release of Bambino Bougainvilleas, these goals are being realised.
There are literally dozens of varieties of these Bougainvilleas available to home gardeners in nurseries throughout regional Queensland at the moment.
This series of hybrids will grow to around 1.5m high if left untrimmed, and can be pruned to an even more compact plant.
A groundcover that should be grown more often for a colour display is the Evolvulus pilosus or Blue Eyes.
It became a popular species for roadside and other landscaping because of its toughness.
Evolvulus pilosus was one of the only flowering groundcovers planted in Quay Street.
It produces prolific quantities of blue flowers, and there is also a white-flowering form.
It needs to be cut well back from time to time so as to keep it looking fresh, compact and healthy.
A plant species that I was surprised to see making a floral display at the moment is the Callistemon Little John.
This dwarf hybrid of Callistemon viminalis is a picture in the centre medians of the Rockhampton CBD.
Callistemon Little John grows around 1m high, is ideal for low hedge planting. The flowers are dark red in colour with gold tips.
Callistemon Little John is relatively slow growing at first but worth waiting for.
The Arctotis or African daisy is one plant that can make a beautiful display.
There are many spectacular flowering colours in Arctotis in colours of pink, red, white and yellow.
This is ideal as ground covers, boarders or even as a colourful cover for sloping gardens or embankments.
These hardy, sun-loving plants, they can handle just about any type of environment, though being well mulched may be required in certain well-drained soils.
The almost bullet proof Crown-of-Thorns or Euphorbia milii should be added to this.
It is a low-growing plant with thick stems clothed with masses of stout spines.
It bears tiny yellowish flowers amidst bright colourful bracts of pink, red of yellow.
This plant will flower for much of the year, most particularly in spring.
Crown of Thorns will grow in most parts of Central Queensland and would be one of the water-wise plants grown.
This small spreading succulent plant comes from Madagascar and has been used in Australian gardens for many years.
It is slow growing in most soils and will not torrent to buggy positions and frost.