Mayfield Garden, near Oberon is coming up to its autumn best.
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Sunshine, rain and cool nights are combining to produce memorable leaf colour making this a magic time to visit this large cool climate garden.
We were too early last week for the Autumn Festival, which includes the Hawkins family's private garden but the water garden looked amazing, providing an enticing glimpse of what's in store during April when the entire 65 x hectare garden is open.
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Visiting a beautiful garden is a great incentive to look at my own through more critical eyes. March is the best month to move evergreen shrubs.
I decided three needed new homes: Chinese pittosporum (P. tobira), laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) and evergreen mock orange, Philadelphus mexicanus.
The pittosporum was in a large pot so presented few difficulties, but the other two were both in the ground so some root damage was inevitable.
I pruned them after digging them up to compensate for the root loss but as evergreens continually lose moisture through their leaves, I'll need to water them regularly for the next few weeks and if necessary remove more foliage - never mind, it will soon grow back.
I could have made life far easier for myself if I'd root pruned the lot six months ago, sigh.
This process, known as wrenching, involves digging straight down through a plant's roots with a sharp spade around the edge of the root ball.
New feeder roots grow from the root ball and the shrub is also easier to lift.
I wrenched an evergreen ceanothus last year and it worked like a dream: the plant came straight out of the ground and settled into its new home in no time.
Several of my laurustinuses are suffering from red spider mite, a sap sucking insect that attacks foliage, giving it an unsightly appearance, and needs treating before it does too much damage.
Eco-Organic Garden Eco-Neem Concentrate solves the problem nicely: by suppressing the mites' appetite it starves them to death.
It doesn't affect beneficial insects but should not be used on edible plants. (rrp $23 per100ml.).
The garden being so overgrown thanks to rain, I'm having a lovely time pruning. Numerous honeysuckles are currently in my sights - I can see berries translating into a gazillion seedlings as I write.
I recently treated myself to a new pair of Fiskars secateurs, not before time, and have nothing but praise for them.
They are razor sharp so an absolute pleasure to use, and being orange, are less likely than my old, green, supermarket el cheapos to end up lurking at the bottom of my wheelbarrow. rrp $33 and worth every cent.
A recent dry spell brought down the first autumn leaves, just in time to top up my compost and cover it before winter.
Mayfield Garden, www. mayfieldgarden.com.au/ Autumn Festival runs from April 2 to 25, 9am-5pm, adult $35, concession $30, school age $15, infants free. Allow at least three hours for your visit. (I can recommend the café).
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