Although it is not really summer yet, we have already been able to transplant a large part of the stratified seedlings. In the greenhouse, the temperature is generally slightly warmer than outside and most of it is therefore well received. They are now carroting and it is expected that they will be ready for sale by the end of June.
In December we have already started pre-treating most species for the new season. In short, this means that the seeds receive cold treatment. The reason for this is that we are basically mimicking nature and eliminating the ‘weak’ least promising seeds. In general, this is done by mixing the seeds with sand and storing them outdoors or in the refrigerator. Depending on the species, this period lasts from 4 to 8 weeks. In the photo you can see what that looks like.
After a relatively mild winter where there was only a somewhat cold period in December, we are already eagerly looking forward to the start of the new season. Although the plants are still in winter mode and are largely still in the greenhouse, this will soon change. In mid-March when no more cold is expected, we will start bringing the plants outside. We always start with the largest and least sensitive specimens until slowly everything is outside again. The experience is that plants grow best outside in full sun.
Last year, among other things, the harvesting of bamboo freed up a lot of space in the garden, which made it possible to plant a large number of young trees and thus expand the range considerably.
The following species are planted in numbers of 2 or three.
In addition, in other places in the garden there is E. rubida, E. camaldulensis, E. nitens and E. pauciflora ssp. “mount buller” planted.
Autumn is largely over in the country.
Most plants go into rest and the work at the nursery is mainly about cleaning up and getting everything ready for the winter. The eucalyptuses stay outside as long as possible and in a mild winter they do not have to go inside at all.
Until 1 March we deviate from the regular opening hours and the nursery can only be visited by appointment. You can make an appointment for this at 0641156392.
Since a few weeks we are harvesting the seeds that will be used to make seedlings for the coming season. A large part of the species in the range comes from seed from Dutch trees that have proven their winter hardiness in the past 15 years.
The seeds we harvest are much more germinating than the seeds we previously imported from Australia and therefore proven hardy because the mother tree has become accustomed to ‘our’ climate.