Bulleen Art & Garden -

Flowering Gums (Corymbia ficifolia)

Tagged with: Australian Natives, Colourful Plants, Habitat Gardening, Trees

Oct 152017

This is a fairly generic term, but commonly refers to Corymbia ficifolia and all the various grafted cultivars of this genus.

The original species Corymbia ficifolia is a sturdy tree from W.A., with thick green leaves and very variable height, from as low as 2m to as tall as 12-15m. When flowering it is an absolute mass of brilliant red to orange blossom. These are followed by large woody gum nuts. They cope very well with dry windy conditions, but don’t tolerate hard frosts, waterlogging or humidity. Native birds absolutely love these trees, especially lorikeets.
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Growing Grevilleas

Tagged with: Grevilleas

Oct 052017

Grevilleas are ever flowering, ever popular and there is an ever-increasing number of new cultivars released each season. This genus ranges from groundcovers to trees and can have some widely different requirements and tolerances, so check the individual labels. But for an overview of how to have success with Grevilleas read on.
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October in your garden

Tagged with: This month in your garden

Sep 282017

The soil is warming, and plants are loving it. Enjoy the spring with its delightful blossoms and go out and get your hands dirty! The nursery is now fully stocked with plants for every situation, and as far as months go, they don’t come much more ideal than October for getting into the garden.

New Gallery Exhibition – “Two Spirits”

Tagged with: Gallery

Sep 252017

Photo © Bulleen Art & Garden

Mandi Thorpe and Margaret Christianson
29th September to 22nd October
Exhibition Opening Sunday 1st October at 4pm

Mandi Thorpe and Margaret Christianson have been friends since they were teenagers in Bulleen, with aspirations and dreams of teaching and running an art practice. Now in their sixties they have fully embraced their creative spirits and return to Bulleen to celabrate this union. In this exhibition Margaret’s focus will be on her hand-held plasma-cut, corten garden sculptures & drawings . The lyrical and evocative works of convey a contemporary sensibility, playfulness and a desire to express serenity. Mandi’s focus will be on her ceramics, drawings & paintings “When the clay is between my hands l am at one with the world. I need to create, it is this creativity and focus that gives me great joy, happiness and peace of mind.”

Find out more about this exhibition at http://gallery.baag.com.au/?p=3514

Callistemons (Bottlebrushes)

Tagged with: Australian Natives, Colourful Plants, Habitat Gardening

Sep 072017

One of the most profuse flowering of all our native plants, the bottlebrush is both beautiful and tough. Coping with waterlogging and drought, it is an easy plant to grow in your garden, providing colour and habitat for wildlife. Callistemons vary from small shrubs to small trees and everything in between. Colours range from white and cream through to pale pinks, brilliant reds and purples. There are over 40 species and an ever-increasing number of cultivars and hybrids to choose from. Callistemons generally bloom spring to early summer and the flowers hang around for quite some time.
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September in your garden

Tagged with: This month in your garden

Aug 312017

September is a magnificent month to be out in the garden. You can smell spring in the air and the soil is starting to warm up, just like us. Spring is the turning point for planting options… the variety of plants that are happy to hit the soil in spring is huge, no matter what type of garden you like. After a cold winter there is nothing better than waking up to a sunny Saturday, throwing on a T-shirt and getting stuck into some gardening. We all have loads of jobs that have been neglected all winter, get started today!

Growing Produce From Seed

Tagged with: Companion Plants, Edible Gardening Info, Fruit General Information, Herbs and Spices, Sustainable Living, Vegies

Aug 212017

Growing your own herbs, fruit and vegies from seed is fun, easy and will save you loads of money. Not everything is easy to grow from seed, but you will be surprised how many things are. We have been working hard over the past couple of years to really beef up our seed range, so if you decide to give growing from seed a go you will be pleasantly surprised at the wide variety you will be able to choose from.

Fifty years of Bulleen Art & Garden!

Tagged with: Your Community

Aug 212017

Bulleen Nursery was established on this site way back in 1967, and we have dug up a bunch of old photographs to share with everyone. We will be adding new pics to this post regularly for the rest of the year… stay tuned.

Everyone has to go through a beige phase at some stage. Beige BAAG mid-1990s. Mmmm, safe and cozy beige. At least we never went for mission brown.

Blueberries

Tagged with: Berries, Fruiting Vines & Shrubs, Hedging & Screening Plants

Aug 162017

These long lived deciduous or evergreen shrubs can be grown purely for their ornamental value. With their lovely pink brushed white bell shaped flowers and brilliant yellow, orange and red autumn foliage on a 1 to 2.4m high thornless shrub, they add value to any garden.
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Recycle your Plastic Pots

Tagged with: Sustainable Living

Aug 092017

Recycle your Plastic Pots at BAAG

Don’t throw your old plastic pots out, bring them back to us and we will recycle them for you. You’ll find our Pot Recycling Bin at the end of the driveway, on the corner just before you turn into the Landscape Supplies Yard. Any plastic pots the carry the recycling logo with the number 5 can be placed in here. (Please don’t drop terracotta or other types of pots off as these can’t be recycled).

Anyone who can re-use these pots please help yourselves to as many of them as you like. We suggest that you give them a good wash in hot, soapy water before re-planting anything into them.

August in your garden

Tagged with: This month in your garden

Aug 012017

Well, the last weeks of winter are finally here, with the scent of Wattle signalling the promise of spring just around the corner. The first Magnolias are in flower and the gold and purple of Acacias and Hardenbergias create a dramatic floral display. The cold, frosty mornings are a prelude to the burst of new growth that heralds the coming new season of life. We have already had our fair share of frosty mornings and more are likely, so continue on with those frost damage prevention measures for a few more weeks yet.
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Buxus turning orange / bronze in winter

Jul 172017

English, Korean, Japanese and Dutch Box can all turn an annoying orangey bronze colour in winter. This bronzing is a natural response of this genus to cold and bright winter sun (cold winds don’t help either). It is not uncommon after a series of frosts (cold nights, sunny days) to get calls to the nursery from distressed gardeners about their bronzy box. This is more common in younger plants, but can also happen in mature plants. The plants are still healthy and will put fresh new green foliage on in spring. However, if your aim is to prevent this happening in the first place:

• In autumn, sweeten the soil with dolomite lime and feed well with all purpose fertiliser.
• Try to shield young Box plants from severe winds and strong winter sun, a temporary wind break is helpful.

If despite your best efforts your young box hedge goes bronze – don’t despair. Feed well in early spring and good new growth will soon emerge and your box will once again be a brilliant green. As they mature, the problem is less likely to occur.

July in your garden

Tagged with: This month in your garden

Jun 282017

Winter can be a challenge, but it sure puts a rosy hue in your cheeks when you rug up, brave the elements and go about doing some of those winter gardening tasks which have been beckoning from outside. Enjoy a warm drink – and the satisfaction – when you come inside.

Duo or Multi Fruit Tree Planting

Tagged with: Edible Gardening Info, Fruit General Information, Fruit Trees, Garden Design, Pruning Grafting & Planting

Jun 132017

Duo or multi planting is our preferred option (rather than double or multi grafting) when two or more trees are wanted in a small space. The resulting multi trunked, single canopy tree, is easy to manage and prune. You can radically increase the number and variety of fruit trees in your back-yard orchard with duo or multi planting. This allows you to enjoy a wider range of fruit over a much longer period.
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Acer – Japanese Maple

Tagged with: Shade Plants, Trees

Jun 072017

Acer palmatum and Acer japonicum

Of all the ornamental trees, the Japanese Maples are easily my personal favourites. Light, airy, layered.

The Acer palmatum is generally seed grown, so there is some degree of variability within trees, but generally speaking this is a delightful small airy vase shaped tree with a 5 lobed leaf, bright green in spring, mid green over summer, turning orange, crimson and yellow over autumn. Roughly 3-8m x 4m. It is from this species that the vast majority of the cultivars are derived.

Acer japonicum is sometimes called the Full Moon Japanese Maple. The rounded leaves have 9 – 13 lobes and give a wonderful light and airy effect. It leafs up early in spring with lovely lime green leaves, deepening to green over summer and then autumn sees stunning, almost iridescent, oranges and deep crimson reds. The larger leaf surface gives an amazing autumn display. Slightly taller at 4m to 8+m in height, you will need to allow room for it to spread.
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