• Add a burst of two-tone warm-weather brilliance with a Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’. This gorgeous plant was bred by retired NSW Department of Primary Industries employee John Fisher in his garden in Orange. Quick-growing, it’s at home in most soil types and at its best from spring to autumn.
• Celebrate Australia Day on the 26th of January by planting a bright-as-bright flowering gum. One of the best is the small-growing hybrid pink ‘Summer Beauty’, which is tolerant of our humid conditions in the Eastern States.
• Aerate lawns to ensure water and fertilisers are getting to where they’re needed. You can simply use a pitchfork to create holes in compacted soil, or buy yourself a pair of spike-bottomed aerator sandals that clip onto your regular shoes.
• Plant a few flowers among your vegies to lure pollinating insects. Good for attracting bees are blue, purple and yellow plants such as borage, sage and sunflower.
• Set aside a moment for a summer evening stroll to check what’s looking good in your neighbours’ gardens, and grow them yourself. The best displays will likely involve crepe myrtles, hibiscus and, a little later on, tibouchinas (once called lasiandra).
• Once roses have produced their best blooms, prune them back a little. This causes the plant to bounce back with renewed vigour and also promotes reflowering
• Keep annuals blooming their heads off right to the end of summer by deadheading and fertilising every few weeks. If they start to look straggly, treat them to a trim.
• Divide perennials such as bearded iris and daylilies to increase numbers.
• Increase watering of roses and shallow-rooted plants such as lemon trees and camellias, which are prone to becoming thirsty when conditions are dry.
• Give your potted plants and hanging baskets a break from blazing summer sun by moving them into more shaded spots.
• Regularly check citrus trees for the first signs of scale or leaf miner. An immediate spray of a product such as Eco-Oil or PestOil will do the trick.
• Add sparkle to summer gardens with splashes of crisp white flowers. Good contenders include Volcano phlox, white cosmos and Queen Anne’s lace.
• Cut back wayward climbers and give fuchsias a light prune.