Treat yourself… with Tropicanna!

Garden Gate magazine features Tropicanna® cannas in its article, highlighting their bold texture and striking colors.

Author Jim Childs says “If there’s one reason cannas should be in every garden, it’s for their bold texture.

It’s the first thing you see when you look at them. Of course, the striped foliage of Tropicanna® (‘Phasion’) helps hold your attention too…they make a spectacular show!”

The author’s favorite spot for planting cannas is where the sun can shine through their leaves - so colorful stripes like Tropicanna’s become even more intense; and he adds that, besides their stunning look, cannas are also easy to grow and maintain.

Tropicanna cannas are available in a range of colors, each with its own dramatic effect. Original Tropicanna has brilliant red, pink, orange and green striped foliage, whilst Tropicanna Gold has striking yellow and gold striped leaves, and Tropicanna Black has deep, rich burgundy/black foliage, which gives any garden a gorgeous moody glow.

So advise your customers to treat themselves with Tropicanna® cannas – and they too can make a stunning statement in their garden!

Best regards,
Anthony Tesselaar Plants

Fancy a Festival in your Garden?!

Writer Erle Nickel says that “ornamental grasses have firmly established themselves as key elements in the modern garden, and their ranks keep swelling. That may be because ornamental grasses offer many rewards. They showcase distinctively beautiful foliage; the taller species add motion to your garden as they ripple in the wind; and they provide almost year-round interest.”


Festival Burgundy is a perfect complement for these popular ornamental grasses. Its distinctive burgundy color and cascading form provides a dynamic focal point in the garden or it can be a great accent plant in garden beds and, when planted in a large decorative container, it adds the wow factor to patios, entrances and pool areas.

Tropicanna at a famous landmark

Having made a recent pilgrimage, well pilgrimage for me; I thought I would share the experience – especially since to my surprise I found a previously unknown association between one of our Star Plants and the brightest Star of All

See if you can guess where I was – though it shouldn’t be too hard?

Put on my blue suede shoes

And I boarded the plane

Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues

In the middle of the pouring rain

W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me

Yeah I got a first class ticket

But I'm as blue as a boy can be

Then I'm walking in Memphis

Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale

Walking in Memphis

But do I really feel the way I feel

Saw the ghost of Elvis

On Union Avenue

Followed him up to the gates of Graceland

Then I watched him walk right through

Now security they did not see him

They just hovered 'round his tomb

But there's a pretty little thing

Waiting for the King

Down in the Jungle Room

Excerpt of Lyrics from Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn.

Yes you guessed it – Graceland.

It is not often that I get to do the tourist thing; but during my recent travels I found a spare Saturday ahead of a meeting in Tennessee and thought what better thing to do than tick off one of my bucket list items and visit Graceland.

In fact spend some time at other Memphis must see attractions like Sun Records, Beale St and the Gibson Guitar factory.

If you have never had the chance or inclination to visit Graceland / Memphis then I highly recommend it and plan to spend some late nights listening to some great Blues on Beale St; also eating some great Creole Food.

Check out these bands on You Tube to get a feel on who I saw and what you can expect – Brandon Santini, Jake Lear, and the Ghost Town Blues Band.

Anyway back to the key topic and imagine my surprise and I was “All Shook Up” to be touring Graceland and see Tropicanna alongside the King’s pool - we have always recommended this as one of the best uses for Tropicanna and it can be used in pots or in ground as you see in these images.

Unfortunately the plants were still only young as it was early in the season.

But as you can imagine these will look stunning when fully grown and we know the King loved the Tropical look given his concerts from Hawaii and the famed Jungle room at Graceland so I am sure he would have enjoyed these alongside his pool.

Tropicanna Gold was also included in various plantings and we will now have to make an effort to get the recently released Tropicanna Black to the gardeners at Graceland so that we have the full set on display for the King.

Anyway if you do get the chance to visit Graceland make sure to look out for the Tropicanna and be sure to allow plenty of time to see the home of King and Delta Blues.

In case you were wondering if I have a favourite song – well it is a hard choice but down to 2 final contenders “Burning Love” and Suspicious Minds.

Fairy Magnolia Blush

Fairy Magnolia Blush is a startling free flowering evergreen bush or hedge, laden with fragrant flowers at this time of year.

Reaching mature heights of three to four meters and widths of 1.5 – 2 meters it makes a model hedging shrub for both ornamental and screening purposes and looks stunning presented in a single tub.

With blush lilac/pink flowers from March to May and dark green foliage it is a stunning and robust addition to any garden or conservatory.

Bred in New Zealand by the reputed plant breeder, Mark Jury, the shrub’s evergreen, bushy appearance, winter weather tolerance and general resistance to disease ensures it as a garden staple.

Specifications:

· Flower size - 60mm diameter

· Spacing – 1.5m apart for a loose screen or 1m to create a hedge

· Temperature – trialed to -15°C

· Pests – no major issues

· Special care - performs best with good drainage, though needs moisture when establishing

· Pruning - can be trained to single leader or trimmed as a bush, hedge, topiary or espalier

· Soil – suitable for a range of soil types, but prefers well worked friable soils. Avoid heavily waterlogged conditions

· Water - requires moderate moisture levels over summer, but can handle drier conditions once established. Occasional deep watering recommended.

Available April/May 2012, SRSP: £37.00 per 5 litre pot.

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

Sustainability, Style and Stunning Seasonal Weather.

Once again I am reminded of why we live in Melbourne (voted one of the world's most liveable cities on multiple occasions) as I enjoy fantastic Autumn weather with sunny days and mild temperatures combined with inspiring atmosphere of the world renowned Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (entering its 17th year in 2012 and regarded as the largest and most successful horticultural event in the Southern Hemisphere).

The show is staged within the Grand Dame of Melbourne - the world heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building and beautiful surrounding Carlton Gardens (right in the centre of Melbourne City), the Show is well established in the psyche of Australians as a "must see" event with visitors from far and wide (including international tourists) making the trip to see the show .

Featuring the best landscape and floral talent that Australia has to offer the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show is a celebration of Australian lifestyle and our great outdoors and this year's popular themes have been Sustainability and Style; combining both to inspire even the most novice of gardeners to think about how they can improve their garden at home.

Highlights for me from the show in the attached images are:

· The repurposing of tires, old cans and wheelbarrows to make an interesting and entertaining water feature; plus the use of pallets and discarded beds to create raised vegetable beds.

· Inspirational Floral Design with the conventional interpreted in flowers / fruit and root vegetables – I am not sure about the longevity of a wedding dress made of Garlic but it would certainly protect the bride against cold & flu + keep the vampires away.

· Amazing combinations of Australian stone and plants all demonstrating the possibilities for us to use our gardens as an extension of the house i.e. an outside room that just flows.

· Finally a real treat was seeing one of my favourite plants (and one of our own) Tropicanna included throughout the Carlton Gardens looking resplendent with the sun shining through their amazing foliage.

Once again I return home from the show with a thousand ideas of what improvements can be made in my own garden and then spend the rest of the year trying to decide where the design ideas can be replicated in my own surrounds; and how I can start these multiple projects in between the travel around the world required for our business.

If you have a bucket list and you are a gardener then time to make sure that visiting this show is included as one of the key items to be placing a line through / tick against as apart from the Show this time of year also has Melbourne hosting the month long Comedy Festival (of the same ilk as Edinburgh and Toronto), the food and wine festival and multiple other cultural activities such as the launch of our Australian Football season making it an incredible time to be visiting Melbourne.

IPM Essen in Germany

Well they say better late than never..... apart from a few exceptions like receiving a bill.

In any event another year has passed and as usual the team at Tesselaar faced the usual challenge of dragging ourselves off the beach and overcoming the post Christmas wish that our holidays were longer to make our annual pilgrimage to the mecca of Horticulture - IPM Essen in Germany.

This year’s show, like those in the years preceding it, was a source of inspiration that continues to surprise me each year with the innovation, presentation and sheer beauty of the industry I am lucky enough to work in.

Despite the seasonal challenges (it’s cold and snowy and certainly not the best time to be showing plants), working with perishable items and constant changes in fashion and peoples preferences; each year the displays and the presentation of material continue to motivate us to do that little bit more and continually improve our offerings.

Attached are some images that I couldn’t help pick out of the thousands of pictures I took for their creativity, colour and sometimes fun way of presenting plants and how they can be used to brighten our lives.

A few comments about the images chosen:

Clogs on the wall – the ultimate way to make sure discarded items find a second life / use in beautifying surroundings or brightening someone’s day.

Kombi Classic – who said “Flower Power”, had gone after the 60’s; it was just waiting for its chance to be reborn as retro fashion.

Mother in Laws are not all bad - An old favourite used innovatively and I don’t know what goes into braiding or plaiting succulents; (especially as a father who struggles to do his daughters hair and encourages her to wear caps when Mum is away) but these simple succulents have a wow factor.

Blocks of Colour – this was my personal favourite display from IPM. It was simple, cheap to construct and added so much fun and the ability to block colour and cross merchandise for retailers in a way that had instant pick me up appeal. This is something that would even have me buying horticultural products without an industry discount.

Hedge trimmer’s nightmare – As a gardener who has large hedges surrounding my property andEnglish Box hedge borders throughout, I could not begin to contemplate the amount of work that goes into making the beetle and maintaining it.

Not something for everyone but it certainly has its place and carried the galloping horse qualification e.g. you had to stop and admire it. Well that is it for another year and hope you find the inspiration from the images to get gardening and look at ways to brighten your surrounds for the year ahead.

Well that is it for another year and hope you find the inspiration from the images to get gardening and look at ways to brighten your surrounds for the year ahead.

Planting and care tips for Tropicannas

David Epstein tells you how to plant and take care of both the Tropicanna Canna & the Tropicanna Gold.

Have a watch here for some very useful tips http://food.sustainablelivinginhawaii.com/2692/planting-canna-tropicanna-in-containers/

Alstroemeria Rock & Roll® Scoops Silver at Plantarium

AUSTRALIA has produced many fine rock artists from INXS and AC/DC to Jason and Kylie, but now a new musical sensation from Down Under is topping the charts in the Euro horticultural hit parade.

The Alstroemeria Rock & Roll® took its bow to the European horticultural industry at the renowned Plantarium 2011 show in the Netherlands where it hit all the right notes with the judges.

This striking new plant by Tesselaar International based in Victoria, Australia, scooped a silver medal at the 29th staging of the prestigious international trade show for the tree-nursery industry, which featured more than 300 worldwide exhibitors.

A delighted Anthony Tesselaar said: “It is a fantastic achievement. We have received a really strong response from everyone who saw the plant, with plenty of interest shown from consumers wanting to grow the variety. In particular, there was really strong interest from Dutch consumers who normally don’t like variegated plants, but in this instance they clearly did!
“The overall quality of the Plantarium stands was way up on last year, and I think both our stand and theme created some great comments.
“You know when your stand is getting attention because when we went to pick up our show tickets from the stand office and we mentioned Tesselaar, the lady said ‘love your stand’!”

Those comments were music to the ears of the triumphant Tesselaar International team as visitors recognised how Rock & Roll provides a stunning addition to any garden display.

Its yellow variegation matures to white with a green edge, and combines dramatically with dark red flowers which are produced repeatedly through to autumn, making a long-lasting cut bloom.

Rock & Roll’s growth, which reaches an eventual height and spread of 90cm x 60cm, is compact and clump forming.

With a sensational, eye-catching display of flowers and foliage which stand out in any surrounding, the Rock n Roll sits in horticultural harmony either in a garden, a pot or when used as a cut flower.

Alstroemeria Rock n Roll fact file

· Suggested uses - Mass plant in the home garden or in decorative containers. Ideal as a potted gift in spring / summer

· Growth habit - Compact, bushy and clump forming from underground shoots

· Flower size - 60-70mm

· Mature height - 80-100cm

· Mature width - 50-70cm

· Spacing - 50cm spacing

· Hardiness - Frost tender and deciduous in cold climates

· Flowering period - spring right through until early autumn

· Number of flowers - Masses of stems each with 6-12 individual flowers

· Flower Colour - Dark red

· Fragrance - None

· Foliage - Variegated green and yellow, with the yellow ageing to pure white

· Pruning/Pinching - Pull expended flower stems from ground to refresh foliage and promote new growth and flowers

· Light needs - Full sun to part shade

· Soil needs - Free draining friable soil, will perform best with plenty of organic matter incorporated

· Water needs - Average to moist, not boggy or very dry

· Disease tolerance - No specific diseases

· Pest issues - Susceptible to snails and slugs

· Special care - Protect in very cold and hot climates. Monitor shade levels as sun intensifies

· Botanical name – Alstroemeria

· www.tesselaar.com for more information

Fairy Magnolia Blush featured in NZ Woman’s Weekly

It was great to see the Fairy Magnolia Blush appear in New Zealand’s Woman’s Weekly magazine.

See an extract of the article below.

“Fairy Magnolia Blush is another of Mark Jury’s babies and the first release of a new range of compact-growing cultivars with increased flower colour and size.

If left to its own devices, it will grow to about 4m high x 2m wide. It’s fast growing, making it ideal for screening and hedging.

Being amenable to clipping and training, it’s also suited to topiary and espalier.

Fragrant flowers open from pink buds in spring and appear randomly until late autumn.”

Ohio Short Course show 2011

Another Ohio Short Course show has come to an end and as usual I was surprised by the continued innovation that appears at this show – it must now be one of the major shows on the calendar for most in the Horticultural Industry with attendees from around the globe visiting to see what is new or doing well in the US market.

Imagine my surprise to see a number of our Bonfire series either in mixed arrangements; used in promotional pieces for the Daniels Plant Food company that adorned pillars throughout the show and even in the mixed planters outside of our hotel – the Bonfire series continues to prove to be an extremely versatile product with multiple uses and certainly is the benchmark of all the Boliviensis varieties that suddenly appeared after Bonfire was released.

The merchandising displays this year hit a new level with fierce competition between entrants to show how best to display plants at retail.

Despite continually improving showcases of plants by the various companies exhibiting at the show - my vote for the best display overall was a display that greeted all on entering the show which had the attractive butterfly mix seen in the attached images.

I look forward to next year’s show and hope that the exhibitors continue to put the effort in developing showcases that demonstrate what can be achieved with the great new introductions many of us are releasing into the market.

Getting ready for a HOT selling season!

Check out the start of the new Tropicanna campaign…
http://www.tytyga.com/product/Tropicanna+Canna+Lily+Bulb

(don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom too)

Success at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

Well what can I say to fully describe another successful great year at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show.

This is still ranked in the top five flower shows in the world and continues to excite – it was especially nice to see our fabulous Tropicanna resplendent in the surrounds of Carlton Gardens as part of the normal planting palette.

Tropicanna continues to draw plenty of interest from gardening enthusiasts around the world and I think we sometimes forget how versatile this plant is i.e. it performs with low water conditions right through to boggy wetlands, and can be used in mass plantings in the landscape or as a feature in containers all with dramatic effect.

The images taken of the Tropicanna at the show should by all accounts not be looking their best in the Southern Hemisphere; but as no doubt you will agree they look stunning! The Show will be entering its 17th year in 2012 and is regarded as the largest and most successful horticultural event in the Southern Hemisphere.

Featuring the best landscape and floral talent that Australia has to offer alongside an extensive array of garden products this show is a celebration of Australian lifestyle and our great outdoors and I hope some of you may be inspired to visit next year. If you do, please make sure to look us up.

To see this years winners at MIFGS 2011, click on the link below:

http://www.melbflowershow.com.au/Award_winning_displays

Bonfire® Begonias and Festival™ Burgundy Cordyline Featured in Latest Online How-To Gardening Videos

Visit this link to read the latest news and watch videos, including one which shows you how to arrange a Bonfire Begonia.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/3/prweb8231111.htm

PR Web have picked up on these videos and have written a piece on their site. I'ts well worth a read.

Tropicanna Garden Combinations

Look at these beautiful container garden combinations featuring the original Tropicanna cannas along with the newer Tropicanna Gold and Tropicanna Black.
Tropicanna Black is now widely available to the market after being held back for a few years because of propagation issues.

Tropicanna Gold (top), torenia ‘Catalina Viva Blue; (bottom left) and Heuchera ‘Velvet Night’ (bottom right)

Tropicanna canna (original) at top; zinnias at middle left; lysimachia 'Nummularia Aurea' at bottom

Tropicanna Black (top); salvia farinacea (middle left), dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls’ (bottom)

Tesselaar builds buzz for its brands via social media channels

A year after its entry into the world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and mobile
marketing, Tesselaar Plants has built a large and engaged online
community of followers.

Many of Tesselaar‟s „Your Easy Garden‟ blog posts have been tweeted by
influential garden experts, with exposure to thousands upon thousands of
highly targeted gardening consumers. Just one such post – ways to garden
with children – was tweeted by several people with a total of more than
30,000 followers. Another post, chronicling a trip to Maui that inspired
thoughts about how to use tropical plants in cold-climate gardens, was
noted by About.com (with a monthly audience of more than 60 million!)

On Twitter, Tesselaar has hundreds of followers, with new ones joining daily,
and its company page on Facebook is “liked” by 613 people. Tesselaar has
also joined the mobile marketing movement by listing its products on the
GardenPilot smartphone application. And it has reached hundreds of
thousands of viewers online each year via Dave Epstein‟s how-to gardening
videos (featuring Tesselaar products) on Growing Wisdom.com, YouTube,
5min.com, Metacafe.com and many more web sites with millions of fans.

Recent data does show that social media marketing works. According to
Alterian, an international social media marketing company, social media marketing makes consumers
14 percent more willing to buy, 16 percent more reluctant to switch and 17 percent more likely to
recommend a certain product or patronize a particular company. And remember – social media isn‟t
just for younger audiences – it‟s for that older, target demographic that still accounts for the majority
of American gardeners. According to the Pew Research Center, in fact, it‟s used by roughly half of all
online adults between 50 and 64 years old (a 25-percent increase since 2009!)

If you haven‟t already -- we encourage you to follow Tesselaar on Twitter (@tesselaarplants) and to
“like” Tesselaar‟s Facebook page (just search for “Tesselaar International Plants.”) And don‟t miss the
weekly posts on Tesselaar‟s blog (at www.youreasygarden.com). Your comments are welcome, too!

Some points on the Australian Floods and now coming, a massive cyclone!

Queensland in Australia has faced some of the most dramatic flooding experienced in Australia’s history.

An area of Germany and France combined was under flood.

So much water fell in this most dramatic situation that there was even an inland tsunami as the huge inflow of water came down from the mountains. 30,000 homes were affected, 36 people died and parts of Brisbane were flooded.

Overall $AU30 billion worth of damage.

Rivers are receding with massive cleanups with over 10,000 mums, dads and kids all helping neighbours through this terrible disaster

Northern Victoria also had major flooding, not as dramatic as our northern neighbours, but currently a body of floodwater of over 3,000 square miles is moving through the river systems creating havoc in the river towns and major agricultural crops.

Today we see a MAJOR cyclone “Yasi”, equal to the power of Katrina in the USA, bearing down on northern Queensland town of Cairns 1,000 miles north of Brisbane. with winds expected of over 160 MPH, and of course, these major rain again on top of a major storm surge of 4-6 ft in the lower lying coastal areas is going to be dramatic. There is talk that up to 3 ft of water can be dumped in 24 hours as this cyclone hits the land.

This is a major catastrophe hitting the northern areas where they can receive up to 4-6 cyclones per year, but on top of what they have received with the massive wet weather, it is not going to be nice at all.

Our Journey to IPM Essen - Phillip Townsend

Well it seems like barely 12 months since my last blog about heading off to the Essen Show and you have no doubt seen in the news about the flooding in Australia. There are multiple charities looking for donations to support the victims of the floods, some who only recently had rebuilt their houses after devastating bush fires in Australia.

Anyway it is that time of year again when I have to tear myself away from summer in Australia to visit the cold of the Northern Hemisphere and fortunately this year I have been able to ease into the transition by visiting Miami (to attend the Lowes Perennial Council meetings at Costa Farms) on the way to Europe where I must say the weather is fantastic at this time of year.

They put on a great show and hosted all attendees to a level where none of us wanted to leave – especially those heading to colder climates where they have what I like to call the “white torture” (snow).

As you can imagine no one can visit Miami without going to see the magnificent sights of South Beach and after 34+ hours of travelling I was not disappointed to arrive and find that there was a classic car show (passion of mine) and phenomenal weather that made visiting a delight plus the fantastic art deco buildings that always are a sight to see either during the day or at night when the neon is fantastic

Garden Center Magazine on Black Tulip Magnolia

Look out for a great piece of coverage in this months Garden Centre Magazine.

Page.62 – Includes Black Tulip in a story by Sarah Martinez.

Black Tulip Magnolia is an upright smaller tree, growing to a height of 25 feet.

To read the article for yourself, go to:

http://gardencentermag.texterity.com/gardencenter/201101?sub_id=dE6eDvoVFSSj#pg62

Bushfires and Floods

We have gone from a drought country to a flooded country, nothing really new from our history of the nation.
The Major Flood areas are in Queensland and northern New South Wales. Qld is 1500-3,000 kms away, and Northern NSW is 1200 kms away
The area under flood is equivalent to ALL of Germany and France combined.
One town almost had what looked like an inland Tsunami going through it, at the end the town looked like a tornado had ripped it apart.
Two days ago they had the major flood surge through Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, with the river rising 4.5m – so downtown, water everywhere, and around 12,000 houses flooded in the city suburb areas there too, and 2,500 business under water, and another of the same amount partially flooded.
In Ipswich, a major country town of 155,000 further north, they had a river flood peak at 19m !! Those on higher grounds OK, those that built in the valley, not so good.
Most of this area flooded throughout Qld and NSW is farm lands, however over 27 major country towns are flooded, or evacuated. All this is causing many councils to now start rethinking about allowing buildings on flood or low levels plants. But of course people like to build by the rivers for the scenic views and think the 100 year floods are not going to be in their lifetime.
They are expecting the weather to dry out a little and they need 3-7 days for the water to dissipate to normal very high flood levels in all the river systems. And to think Qld has not had it normal monsoon time yet.
I was going to add some pictures here, but am adding this link. Just giving here a link of one of the many blogs Note that the person wrote this on the 7th January, 4 days Later, Lots of rain later, even Brisbane is now flooded.
http://diane-adventurebeforedementia.blogspot.com/2011/01/queenslands-floods.html

In Victoria we are having a good wet summer, really nice for all the plants after 13 years of drought. Some of the Victorian northern country areas have had some floods through them as we are getting some of the tropical clouds that normally stay in the north being pulled down the cooler Victoria state.. (last night it was still 24 deg at midnight) Even here we are seeing some areas of northern Victoria have had their monthly averages in one day. They are still talking though that Victoria looks like getting some sporadic heavy rainfalls coming from these major shift weather patterns, and so we will also continue to see more flooding in our state in various low lying areas. So we start off with an interesting year.
What was not very nice, some of the people that lost their houses in the bushfires last year, ended up have their new houses inundated from these floods.
Perth in Western Australia , over 1,500 miles to the west of us, on the other hand is now going through a major drought ( yes the weather pattern has changed at the moment) Had huge bushfires there while the floods were in Qld.
Took this photo 2 days ago in our gardens.