Much to love about winter
Stepping out into the crisp, cool air during the winter months is not just good for your circulation, it’s great for your mental well-being too. Tending to those mid-year garden jobs gives us a sense of purpose and there’s nothing quite like huddling around a fire pit with family and friends. As well as getting physical and connecting with your community, there are lots of great reasons to be outside and enjoy the cooler conditions. Photo credit: Made By Tait
Read about how your garden can restore your well-being
Time to declutter
Everything looks a little grey in winter, and this makes it easier to see what you can do without! It’s not uncommon to find pots, tools and sickly plants congesting our sheds and balconies. Decluttering and cleaning up your garden and outdoor spaces will enable you to be more productive and get on with seasonal jobs like soil improvement and composting.
I spoke to horticulturists Adam Woodhams and Jenny Dillon at Better Homes and Gardens about the joys of “Winter Blooms and Backyard Tidy-ups”.
Click here to listen to the podcast
Gardens for the future
Here at Pepo, we are proud to support The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney’s digitisation project – the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. By placing high resolution images of preserved plant specimens online, the Botanic Gardens hopes to unlock clues into critical issues such as species conservation, climate change and invasive plant eradication. In doing so, the team will also preserve this priceless collection for the world to see.
Click here to read more about this amazing project and donate
How do science, maths and art relate to gardening?
Inspired garden design relies on a unique blend of skills. Achieving a balance between technical aspects, (such as the weight of structures and geology), and the aesthetics, (like plant choices and sculptural elements), requires detailed planning. A landscape architect is trained to skillfully weave these different elements together to create thoughtful and inspired spaces. Meet Pepo’s Landscape Architect Josh Arkey and read more about the skills required to master this craft.
Introducing our plant of the season
This soft Plectranthus argentatus, with beautiful silver felt leaves, loves shady conditions and grows well around the base of trees. The mounding shrub is more commonly known as Silver Shield and grows up to a metre high and wide.
Its shimmering colours provide a beautiful contrast to greener plants and it suits both Mediterranean and tropical gardens. It’s a good plant to consider in these dry times and once established, it is considerably drought tolerant. Silver Shield can be trained as an accent plant or a tall-growing groundcover. Image credit: Dawson’s Garden World
Until then, happy gardening.
Nicola Cameron
Director and Founder of Pepo Botanic Design
‘Designed gardens that inspire, connect and restore’