Episode: # 29 15/12/07
Presenter: Melissa King

Melissa went on a mission to collect more tough beautiful plants for the King families new back yard and she visited Linton’s Garden and Home, what better place to come than a water saver garden centre that has been around so long it’s become an icon on the Mornington Peninsula and a plant lovers paradise.

This is selection of the wonderful plants Melissa selected for the garden.

Blue Statice (Limonium ‘Perezii Blue’)

• Clusters of tiny, deep mauve flowers in autumn.
• Perfect for floral arrangements
• Foliage is large and leathery that offers textural interest all year round.
• This variety requires little water once established.
• Apply a complete fertiliser during the growing season and remove spent blooms after flowering.
• Ideal for use in coastal gardens, rockeries and perennial borders.

Euphorbia ‘Craigieburn’ (Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Craigieburn’)

• Blue green foliage, red new growth and vibrant lime-green flowers in spring.
• Compact, rounded shrub.
• Tolerates very dry conditions
• Little maintenance, generally no pruning required just removing spent flowers and applying slow release fertiliser in spring to encourage new growth.

Protea ‘Little Prince’ (Protea cynaroides ‘Little Prince’)

• New Protea
• Compact and low growing, but still has big beautiful flowers.
• Low maintenance, perfect for low water use gardens.

Melissa also picked up plenty of waterwise herbs, like Thyme, Marjoram and Oregano to spice up the kitchen garden.

Garden centres aren’t just stamped with a water saver badge; they have to go through a whole accreditation process to make sure they are up to date with the latest plants, products and techniques for saving water around the home and garden.

For more information on Water Saver Garden Centres visit
www.ourwater.vic.gov.au