Zhoosh up your garden for the festive season
To get your garden ready and looking at its best for a family Christmas, a birthday party or simply for a special gathering with friends or family over the holidays, follow these handy hints and tips.
Design backwards:
Calculate backwards from your event date to work out how much time you need to get your garden looking at its best.
Go for instant colour!:
Plant flowering annuals like Petunias, for quicker results – but only in strategic places (as they do require more regular watering than your other water wise plants).
If you prefer having more drought tolerant colour, opt for Gazania, Marigold, or Vygie.
Don’t wait too long to plant them, as they will still be very immature if planted too close to your event date.
Emphasise:
To unify the general look, define the theme colours of Christmas or a birthday party in important areas as accents, eg. red Petunias and white Allysum for festive Christmas colour.
Lighting:
Adequate lighting is important if you are planning an evening event. For the best impact, concentrate all your plant and garden decor detail in illuminated areas.
Lawn care
Don’t forget about the lawn! For quick results, feed your lawn to make it more lush and greener with a dose of a fertiliser high in nitrogen - like 7;1:3. Remember to water well!
Replace ugly looking lawn:
If there’s no hope for your lawn, you can remove it and replace it with one of these more water wise options: artificial lawn, stones, pavers or a tough ground cover such as Dymondia.
Create a focal point:
Most of the time, you don’t need massive plantings of flowers or other plants to create a beautiful focal point by using garden furniture, a bird bath or a fountain in the garden. By placing this items in a strategic spot in the garden, you can have an instant feature – creating special interest in your outdoor space and giving your garden that “wow” effect.
Green centrepiece:
Instead of having cut flowers on your festive table, rather go for plants – do a pretty arrangement on your table and afterwards plant it in your garden.
