Growing for success | Cottage colour

By Riverside Gardens

Oct 5, 2023

Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.

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Wow. What a soaking our gardens received this week, and the sudden shock of cold days again sent everyone scurrying back inside, making us a little bit lonely out here.

But hey, it is spring, and this is very typical spring weather as long as Mother Nature remembers to give us a break and brings back those beautiful warm sunny days so we can all get back out into the garden again.

With all this rain, though, it brings you back to this time last year with the devastating floods we experienced and the damage that was done.

Quite a crown: The Queen. Photo: Shaun McKenna Photo by Shaun McKenna © http//shaunmckenna.com

As part of the recovery process for our region, renowned gardening expert Sophie Thomas from Gardening Australia is running a workshop, “Gardening after the Floods”, to help Goulburn Valley gardeners re-establish their gardens after being inundated.

This is to be held on October 19 at The Connection 7287 Midland Hwy, Shepparton, from 9.30am to 2.30 pm.

There is a limited capacity, so interested gardeners should register early. For further information call 5832 2542.

For those of you who were lucky enough not to be affected by the floods, this week we are looking at a bit of cottage colour that you might consider for your garden.

Lavinnova lavenders: this range of lavenders have been bred in Australia and is the culmination more than 25 years of work in the field.

These lavenders have been created to give gardeners a more compact, reliable plant that shows off their supersized flower bracts in a mass of flowers and a growing range of colours.

We have been stocking this range of lavenders in the garden centre for a number of years now and have trailed them in our own gardens with great results.

Pretty as a picture: Purple Reign. Photo by PLANTS MANAGENT AUSTRALIA

With their large flower bracts or wings, Lavinnova Lavenders create a rich and stunning hit of colour that adds great impact to outdoor pots and garden beds.

Peak flowering is in early spring, with spot flowering throughout the warmer months, and, unlike other lavenders, the flowers are born close to the plant, which has a tight and compact mounded habit.

Currently, in stock from the Lavinnova range, we have Purple Reign with deep purple bracts.

The Prince lavender is purple in colour and one of the strongest colours in the range, The Princess, with its vibrant hot pink bracts above deep pink flowers.

The Queen has deep burgundy flower heads crowned with lilac bracts, a huge volume of flowers, and Vanillaberry Ruffles with pastel cream bracts..

This is only a very small part of the Lavinnova range and it can change from week to week, so drop in and check out what we have.

We hope to see you in the garden centre soon.