Shahnee Stockigt, Author at Life is a Garden

SANA Marketing News: November 2017

Your one-stop link for news in November 2017!

Click here to read the First Marketing Newsletter for November

Click here to read the Analytics and Publicity Report for November

SANA Marketing News: October 2017

Your one-stop link for news in October 2017!

Click here to read the First Marketing Newsletter for October

Click here to read the Analytics and Publicity Report for October

SANA Marketing News: September 2017

Your one-stop link for news in September 2017!

Click here to read the First Marketing Newsletter for September

Click here to read the Analytics and Publicity Report for September

Bonsai Basics: How to care for your bonsai Watch here!

Watch here!

Top Plants for April

A list of the top plants per region, for April, to order for your garden centre

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Download here!

"Nature-based Solutions for Water "

We all know that water plays an important role in our everyday lives, and that we cannot live without this precious resource. But do you know where our water comes from? What supports and protects it? The answers are found in nature.

The United Nations (UN) has described nature based solutions as actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (IUCN, 2018). These are essential to protecting and conserving our water resources because natural infrastructure such as wetlands, rivers and forests provide ecosystem services which include the purification of water.

Working towards water conservation starts as little as planting a tree, putting your litter in the bin and reporting leaks.

IT ALL STARTS WITH YOU!

World Water Day!
This year's theme is 'Nature-based Solutions for Water'. We are encouraged to value our world water resources by reusing, not polluting, sustaining, retaining, restoring, and managing them.

Click here to visit the Water Wise website or use the QR code below

Water Wise will be celebrating water month in March. As part of this initiative we will be launching our 20 years celebration campaign with the focus being on valuing the importance of water. Watch the space for more on the #waterwise campaign.

What to do about cutworm on your plants

Symptoms

Our “gogga” of the month for March, cutworm, will often leave seedlings or grass looking fine one day, the next day they have wilted or collapsed

What does this mean for me/my plants?

Cutworm attacks the plant’s roots, just below the surface of the soil, which causes the plant to wilt and eventually die

Suggested Action

Use a granular insecticide to prevent damage

Popular Petunias

Surely there’s not a living soul who has not heard of petunias at some time or another in their lives, such has been their popularity since the dawn of time, well almost. The petunias that were first discovered in the mid-1700 to early-1800’s in South America actually looked nothing like the stunners that grace our gardens today. Petunia axillaris and Petunia violacea originally had small white and purple flowers, respectively, which were luckily snatched up by breeders in both Germany and England who began the, eventually successful, search for the large colourful blooms that we can buy from our garden centres today known as Petunia x hybrida.

It’s hard to imagine, when looking at a petunia, that it is actually part of the potato family. It was just short of thirty years ago that a genus name change was strongly suggested to more adequately reflect this connection but luckily the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature decided the damage, commercially, would be too great to make the change. Could you imagine walking into a garden centre and asking where they kept their stimoryne plants?

With the outstanding success that breeders have had over the years, your challenge now lies in the sheer choice you’re faced with not only when choosing colours but also deciding whether you’d like a plant that has fewer but bigger flowers, medium sized but more flowers or small but flowers a plenty. Decisions, decisions. Choosing their home would probably be the easiest way to decide which variety would be most suitable but when all else fails just grab some of each and let them warm up your winter garden en masse.

Petunia grandiflora, as the name suggests, has large flowers requiring regular deadheading to keep the blooms coming and spreads vigorously so would be more suitable for garden beds.

A1 Poster – Benefits of Gardening

A1 poster detailing the “Benefits of Gardening”, for your garden centre

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A1 Edibles Poster – Mar 18: Edibles for Smoothies

A1 Poster for edible gardening in Mar 2018, Edibles for Smoothies, for your garden centre

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Super Smoothies for Autumn

Smoothies are a great way to use your home-grown fruit and veggies, and to get your daily requirement in a quick and tasty meal. Autumn is a great time to start planting those smoothie fruits, veggies and berries, for you to enjoy super smoothies and keep you feeling fresh and healthy during winter.

Here are three of our favourite smoothie recipes, but don’t be dictated to! There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to delectable combinations, so use whatever you’ve got growing in your garden. Experimentation is the name of the game!

Refreshing rhubarb smoothie

Ingredients

1 cup rhubarb stalks

1 whole medium pineapple

1 cup mixed berries (fresh or frozen)

1 litre water

Instructions

Clean the rhubarb stalks. (And throw the leaves on the compost heap!)
Peel and dice the pineapple. You can include the core or discard it, depending on the power of your blender.
Pop all the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth.

Alternatives:

Another great combination that makes use of your rhubarb is rhubarb, watermelon, celery, cucumber (Find out how to grow cucumber here: Cool Cucumber), lime, pear, kiwi and frozen strawberries. This is just the ticket for hot summer days!

For a tropical flavour combine rhubarb, strawberries, coconut water, mangoes and fresh ginger. Add a touch of raw honey to taste, if necessary.

IMPORTANT:

Don’t be tempted to add the rhubarb leaves into your smoothie – they’re toxic! It’s the stalks that are good for you, containing all sorts of vitamins and minerals.

Power peanut butter and banana smoothie

Peanut butter is a powerhouse of energy and nutrients, and its natural flavour ally is the equally nutritious banana.

Ingredients

1 banana, chopped

1 tablespoons peanut butter

1 teaspoon raw honey

¼ cup plain yoghurt

1 teaspoon chia seeds

¼ cup raw rolled oats

1 dash of cinnamon

Milk or almond milk, to make your smoothie as runny as you like it

Combine all the ingredients in your blender.

March in the Garden

It’s not really autumn in the garden yet, March in the garden is simply late summer with a ‘day-old beard growth’ – a lovely time of year when there is much to do and to plant in the garden…

May the forest be with you!

A new trend is called “forest bathing”, and on March 21, (also Human Rights Day in our country), it’s International Day of the Forests too. ‘Forest bathing’ does not entail a tiring hike through a huge plantation, and nor does it mean standing naked under a tree when it is raining, to save shower water… It means a little bit of quiet “me-time” in the company of green giants, to appreciate their huge value to our planet, and our mental health in general – being in the shade and protection of trees does seem to soothe anxiety!

It is therefore important that we do not allow trees to be chopped down right, left, and centre. It’s equally important that we take time to choose the appropriate tree for different situations, (your local GCA garden centre will know!) and to support all tree-planting initiatives in our communities. Trees are the green lungs of our urban areas and planting them is a symbol of love for future generations to come.

Smart planting – “The golden age”

You may have seen that metallic colours like rose gold and copper are still on-trend. Metallic décor and plants with golden foliage or bright variegation is still very ‘in’ – and they create lightness and bright accents in pots or in a garden.

Plant lots of dwarf Coprosma hybrids with their glowing foliage which will start intensifying as soon as it’s a little cooler. The foliage of a star jasmine called ‘Summer Sunset’ is coppery and gold, and the beautiful new cordyline varieties like ‘Electric Pink’ and ‘Electric Star’ are very ‘in’ too.