Summer has arrived and it is time to get out there in your garden and do some spring planting for a beautiful summer garden! Shake off the cold, get your garden gloves on and enjoy September with its blossoms, blooms and promise of new life.
Greenside Nursery has all the plants you need for spring and just the right tips about what to plant and what to do in your garden this September.
Prepare your soil
Head to Greenside Nursery for organic fertiliser and compost to prepare your garden for planting.
Add generous amounts of organic matter in the form of compost, manure and mulch and dig this in deeply (approximately 800mm) for the best results.
Rake up old plant litter, de-weed, prune and remove any dead vegetation and prepare your beds for your new spring plants.
What to plant in spring
Greenside Nursery has all the plants you need for your spring paradise. We take a look at the top ten plants to add to your September garden:
- Pansies and violas
No garden is a garden without pansies and violas. Brighten up spring gardens immediately with charming pansies and their smaller relatives, violas. Use them to edge shady paths, carpet beds and brighten containers, window boxes and hanging baskets.
Plant them in either a sunny or partially shaded area but keep in mind that violas will perform better than pansies in more shady areas. These pretty little flowers need regular watering.
- Dianthus
Greenside Nursery has a range variety of Dianthus varieties, a most welcoming flower for sunny gardens and free-draining soil. They have delicious sweet fragrant flowers on long stems and contrasting grey-green foliage. Dianthus offer flush after flush of flowers almost year-round. The available colours and variations are numerous. These are low-maintenance plants and can be planted anywhere. Use them for edging, rockeries, pots and hanging baskets.
- Petunias
For instant colour in your spring garden, petunias are a winner. These happy and colourful pants are available in a large variety of colours, and they need full sun to really do well. The lovely petunia is one of the most waterwise colourful bedding plants that you can grow.
They are also well-suited to containers. Remove spent flowers to encourage more blooms.
- Marigold
Marigolds are marvellous because they are one of the most cheerful annuals. They are very enticing for butterflies en they produce flowers throughout their lifespan. Marigolds are upright growers and produce abundant blooms from summer to autumn. Mature plant size varies due to growing conditions and climate.
Plant in full sun and do not overwater. Marigolds do not require fertile oil.
- Gazania
Gazanias will brighten up any garden. These pretty indigenous groundcover plants will provide colour, fill in gaps and provide continuity in your garden. Plant Gazanias in full sun. The opening and closing of the flower is a direct result of light intensity. Add compost to the soil before planting for even showier results. This is a waterwise plant and does not require a lot of water, but will flower more prolifically if watered regularly.
- Bulbine
These showy plants with bunches of yellow to orange flowers on long stalks, grow easily and flower most of the year. It loves sunny areas and is extremely hardy, a perfect plant for dry areas. And a bonus is the medicinal qualities of the plant. Use the juice of the plant’s leaves for burns, rashes, blisters, insect bites, cracked lips, acne, cold sores, mouth ulcers and areas of cracked skin.
- Brunsfelsia – ‘Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow’
Undoubtedly one of the most fragrant and popular shrubs in South African gardens. This showy shrub flowers profusely with masses of flowers varying from purple through lilac to white. It also makes an ideal container plant for the patio. It loves full sun and needs regular watering.
- Lavender
Every garden should have lavender. This beautiful, aromatic and medicinal plant will delight any gardener. Besides its fragrance and beauty, it is also an acknowledged medicinal plant, pest repellent and valuable companion plant. It is used as a culinary flavouring and garnish, and also as a household freshener and cleaning agent. Growing lavender attracts bees and butterflies.
All lavender varieties like full sun and soil that drains well.
- Lemongrass
Lemongrass is a tropical herb packed with a strong and delightful citrus flavour. This grass is popular for use in Asian cooking, as well as in teas, sauces, and soups.
In the garden, lemongrass forms a tall, grassy clump 75 cm tall. It is a perfect plant for growing in the soil, as you would with ornamental grasses, or in containers. Lemongrass likes hot temperatures, so grow it in an area with full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. Water lemongrass regularly.
- Argyranthemum
Argyranthemum is without doubt an all-time classic garden favourite! Their delicate daisy flowers, and the wide variety of colours and variants, will see to a show of colour in the garden. These pretty plants are easy to grow and care for and are much enjoyed by birds, butterflies and bees.
Argyranthemum loves full sun and well-drained soil. Water regularly and remove dead flowers to encourage more blooms. This is one plant no garden should be without.
Greenside Nursery has a wide variety of seedlings, plants, shrubs, trees, groundcovers and much more to adorn your spring garden. Come and visit us for plants, advice, garden accessories and other garden requirements.
Our team is passionate about gardens and will assist you in creating your own green paradise.