Plant of the Month - Correa 'Canberra Bells'

Did you know Canberra had an official plant to commemorate our 100th birthday this year? Well, now you do!

Canberra Bells is a beautiful Correa which features two-tone, red and cream bell-shaped flowers that are Autumn flowering. Of course this coincides nicely with Canberra Day each year. The Correa is an Australian native and is indigenous our region. It's dry tolerant and frost hardy so will survive all seasons in the ACT. The Canberra Bells variety was developed specifically to commemorate our centenary by experienced local native plant breeders, Peter and Jennifer Ollerenshaw.

Like Canberra itself, the plant is born out of Federation: one of its parent plants is appropriately called Federation Belle, while the other is Correa Mannii. The common name Canberra Bells was the most popular choice among more than 250 suggestions received from Canberrans and gardening enthusiasts across Australia. Canberra Bells can already be found growing in excellent company, with plants set to thrive at Government House, the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the National Arboretum.

So why not plant a little piece of the Centenary in your own garden!

Perfect for Pots - Sago Palm

The Sago Palm (Cycas Revoluta) is native to Japan and is not a palm at all but a cycad. It's a very striking plant with it's symmetrical circle growth and lush dark green leaves and certainly looks great in a pot. It doesn't need a lot of water or fertilizer just a large pot or deep soil with good mulching.

Maintenance is quick and easy as it only needs the lower yellowing leaves removed. They are largely pest resistant if kept outside but if kept inside they are prone to mealy bugs and spider mite.

The good news for us Canberrans though is that they are tolerant of frosts up to -10c (there's a Cycad planted at Bliss which gets the full frost, come and see it!).

Plant of the Month - Cymbidium Orchids

Cymbidium Orchids are winter flowering plants that can be kept indoors for stunning and cheerful display over the colder months

Since they are native to Asia (eg. northern India, China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Borneo), they will cope with very cold conditions over winter but can also handle monsoon type conditions easily in the Summer. 

They generally have a reputation for being difficult to look after but are actually very easy. A local grower gave me some very simple tips for getting them to flower every year.

• After flowering, place them outside where they get lots of sun although preferably not the harsh western sun
• Give them regular watering, maybe even place them where a watering system comes on regularly
• Place slow release fertilizer on top of the soil during summer
• Bring inside in June when the buds appear
• Give small amounts of water 2-3 times a week, making sure they don’t dry out
• Feast your eyes on their beautiful flowering display all winter long

And yes, I have tried this and it worked!

We have plenty of Cymbidiums in stock right now at Bliss, they have been our bestsellers over the last month with gorgeous pinks and yellows the pick of the bunch this week.