Now Clarence, our viewers always have questions are you ready to answer a few?
I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
Okay, here goes.
The question is: these rock lilies have got severely scorched by the hot summer sun, can I fix them?
Yes of course you can.
The thing is that they are dry shade lovers and there's not enough shade in this garden at this minute.
Leave the burnt crackly leaves on until the end of summer they're protecting the lower growth and then you can prune them off.
On a really hot day, over 35 degrees get a shade cloth or umbrella and just give them some summer sun protection.
They'll come up Trumps.
What's a tough perennial that can grow in a really sunny spot.
Well the Agapanthus comes to mind. I'm not in favour of the Agapanthus praesox, that's the ordinary homegrown Agapanthus that people grow.
And really it's an environmental weed.
It'll seed everywhere and it just is a not a nice plant.
These are cultivars of the Agapanthus.
See how the cluster of blue flowers is much bigger and it's a brighter deeper sort of blue.
Still the same Agapanthus strap like leaves, but this is not an environmental weed, because it's bred to be sterile.
Have a look out for.
Why is some hydrangeas pink and others blue?
Well basically that's related to the pH of the soil.
Pink hydrangeas occur naturally in alkaline soils, and blue hydrangeas occur naturally in acidic soils.
So if you're trying to grow hydrangeas, in alkaline soils such as Adelaide, they're naturally going to be pink.
If you want to make them go blue, you need to treat the soil with something to make it more acidic,
which is called hydrangea bluing mix.
And if you're in an area with acid soils, such as a Dandenogns and you want to have pink hydrangeas, you need to make the soil more alkaline and treat it with a hydrangea pinking mix.
When should you feed a perennial border?
Well here at the botanical gardens, they feed it in mid winter with an organic fertilizer.
That's because it takes a while for organic fertilizers to break down.
And that way, the plant will have plenty of nutrients in the ground, ready for its growth in spring and summer.
I also like to fade a little bit of fertilizer in autumn.
That's because a lot of these perennials are herbaceous, meaning that they'll go into dormancy over the winter period.
And by giving them a bit of food now they can take it up, store it ready for that explosion of growth come spring.
How much room do you need to allow to grow Magnolia?
Well, ultimately, it depends on the variety.
Some are large multi stem shrubs, while others become single trunk huge trees.
There are so many varieties to choose from.
You can choose the flower color you like and you can also decide whether you want to see joyous or evergreen.
But it's far better to choose a variety that's just right for you.
Rather than trying to fit a large tree into a small space.
Will my tulips was flower year after year.
Well it depends if you live in a cold area or not.
So if you live in the southern parts of Australia where you get a good, cold winter,
they'll probably keep flowering.
But if you're in a warmer area, it might pay to lift your bulbs over summer when they're dormant,
pop them in the crisper the fridge for six weeks and that will ensure they flower next year.
What's a good plant for a hot sunny spot?
Well in my garden this plants been incredible.
It's Asteriscus maritimus, sometimes known as ... gold coin.
It's a plant that comes from the Mediterranean.
And here in summer the temperatures on the pavors can get to 50 degrees.
Yet this plant doesn't skip a beat.
It virtually flowers all year round.
And if I want to the only maintenance it doesn't mind is me picking off dead flowers.
So a great plant for a hot sunny spot.
What happens if I don't prune my roses?
Well, if you're growing modern repeat flowering roses.
The reason we prune them is to encourage new growth.
And that new growth is what flowers so if you don't prune them, the plants likely to get leggy and not flower as well.
However there is some roses that are actually better not being pruned, like mutabilis behind me, which is one of my favorite roses.
It resents being pruned, and if I was to prune it, like a normal rose, I could even kill it.
What do I do if my frangipani gets frosted?
Well, I've had five frost's in my garden.
Unfortunately, none of them have affected my frangipani but it can be quite serious because once the frost kills the growing tip
these plants are so juicy, that secondary fungi can attack the plant and cause the decay to go right back to the main stems.
So the most important thing to do is to cut well back below the point where the decay is occurring.
In clean wood and use some powdered sulfur, put that on the wound and that will stop any further decay.
I love pansy time they are just gorgeous, lots of different colors, lots of little faces on them.
They are really one of the joys of this time of the year.
Now when a pansy flower has finished that beautiful open look and it goes like that sort of whiltered a bit.
It means the flower has finished and it's going to set seed now you really don't want it to set seed because you want it to form new buds all up and down the stems.
So what you need to do is take that spent flower off, nip it off with your fingers, throw that away
If you do that religiously, you'll find that that'll flower for another six to seven months.