This was my favourite photo of the garden show in Melbourne 2006, which was taken from peering over a fence.
These hanging baskets were looking amazing in the garden show in Melbourne 2006. Baskets organised by Scotsburn nursery.
Welcome to seedlings.com.au
Welcome to seedlings.com.au!
This is your no.1 resource for all things seedlings! Everything that you want to know about seedlings, from varieties, to planting & more, you’ll be able to find useful information all on this very site.
Googling a few peas turns up Gregor Mendel.
As I was on google today, I noticed their logo had been turned into some pea pods. Closer investigation shows it is a man called Gregor Mendel’s 189th birthday. A bit more googling, and I realised what a significant man he was.
Mendel, this Czech-German guy did some amazing experiments on peas and then bees – what a nerd! He even created some hybridised bees that were so viscious they had to be destroyed. Later he cut down on the research to concentrate on priesthood and other religious duties. You don’t see many CVs like this one.
Although he is referred to as the “father of modern genetics” while he was alive, no-one really agreed with or accepted his work. They were in fact the underlying principles in hereditry.
Peas would have been good to experiment because they grow very quickly and have both male and female reproductive organs and can either self pollinate themselves or cross pollinate with another plant. However, from 1856 he grew 29000 pea plants in 7 years! – And no believed what he found out until the 1930s, 36 years after his death in 1884. Its like being a famous artist.
He cross pollinated peas and came up with 7 traits:
| 1. | flower color is purple or white | 5. | seed color is yellow or green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | flower position is axil or terminal | 6. | pod shape is inflated or constricted |
| 3. | stem length is long or short | 7. | pod color is yellow or green |
| 4. | seed shape is round or wrinkled |
Flower colours were nothing in between – only purple or white and not a blend. But do not let me try to explain it. If you are really interested, there is an excelent website with some great diagrams at :
Excellent info about Mendel’s pea experiments.
Also wikipedia has some good general info about the man at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel
More to the lupin plant than meets the eye.
If you have ever seen a garden bed of Russell Lupins in full flower they are nothing short of spectacular. They make a perfect background plant and while not flowering, also have very interesting foliage.
Now I can remember when the nursery industry sold lots of lupin seedlings. They were even available in single colours. Suddenly, a ban was put on the importation or Russell lupin seed. As growers, we were told that the seed may harbour the fungal disease anthracnose. This is a disease that causes bending and twisting of stems. The branches eventually collapse.
At first I was a bit disappointed until someone pointed out to me that the commecial lupin industry in Australia was perhaps worth $20 milllion, and so why should they tolerate a few home gardeners causing potential damage. Fair point. Now the seed for the nurseries is produced in Australia and the risk is therefore minimised.
Commercial lupins are mainly grown in Western Australia where they are grown to conditon the soil including generating nitrogen. It is also used for livestock feed, and as it turns out, these cows must have very low cholesterol and a minimised risk of heart attack. This is because some scientists have just got together and done some trials which include using lupin beans in flour. The results have been extremely postive in benefits to the body, that should reduce heart diease – in humans !
There is an excellent story on this at a website called Fresh Science. The link to their story is here.
Photo courtesy of Oasis.
Melbourne 2011 Flower Show after thoughts.
In the aftermath of the show, it has given me time to think about my involvement and the efforts of others. This year was particularly relevent to me as we are looking at building a new garden and some retaining walls at home. You suddenly see things in a different light when they are plausible ideas you can utilise yourself.
got these plants the week before from a growers excess stock – lucky !
I used to be involved with the flower show (MIFGS) many years ago as a seedling and potted colour grower. The task was to grow the plants and have them flowering just on time. It was someone elses
Giant Pumpkin in Rowville.
This article in yesterdays Herald Sun show a ripper pumpkin grown by a family in Rowville. In what has been a mild summer in Melbourne, this has been a great effort. My guess is that this variety is the Atlantic Giant. We will try and get some seeds down at Gardenworld before the next growing season this coming spring. Meanwhile anyone with a few pumpkins on the shelf will be looking forward to winter warming pumpkin soup. 
Purple vegies take off – Weekly Times Now
RICH in anti-oxidants, purple vegies are set to colour our supermarket shelves, ANDREW MOLE writes
Article on purple carrots and potatoes. Also info on echalion – a cross between and onion and a shallot, also known as a banana shallot.
RHS Hanging Basket Competition 2011
The Royal Horticultural Society are a group of people that really love their horticulture. Each year at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, they hold a hanging basket competiton and this year there are over 250 baskets entered. The members involved put in hours of work to make this a success. Here are just a few of the baskets entered. If you would like to enter next year, you would be most welcomed. Beware, the competition is fierce !
Hortivations for 2010 – colour !
This is an annual industry event held at Ball Australia in Keysborough. The theme for this year was colour and I think after a few years of pointy and grassy plants, their is a definite trend towards smoother, rounded and colourful flowering groundcovers and bushy plants. These days of course it’s not just about the plants but also the peripherals like furniture and pots and the importance also of their style and colour.
The picture above is of a new dianthus from Touch Of Class, a company usually related to hardy cordylines and native shrubs. They can see the trend towards colour and have found a dianthus series that is long flowering and disease resistant.
