Newsletter April 2025
Chairperson’s Report
AUTUMN SPECTACULAR
Our annual Autumn Spectacular takes place on Saturday 12th April 2025.
Time: 9a.m. to 3 p.m.
Attractions!!! Market stalls, sweet treats, jacket potatoes, sausage sizzle, beverage outlets.
Entertainment!!! Jazz, pipes, brass bands, garden fairies and children’s activities.
Come along and enjoy the Autumn colours and a fun filled day with your family and friends. There is something for everybody!
WINTER WARMERS
From 4 June and every Wednesday in Winter we are re-introducing our winter warmers, as promoted on the Tasmanian Tourism Website.
Every Wednesday during this period, come up to the Garden and enjoy a cosy dining experience with a beautiful view, treating yourself to a wholesome warm meal and delicious dessert. Fresh Tasmanian sourced ingredients and a glass of quality Tasmanian wine included.
Ant Dry
Chairperson & Acting General Manager
AROUND THE GARDEN
Welcome to the best time of the year—well its my favourite time in the garden anyway. With the very dry summer that we have had, Autumn colour has already started to show throughout the garden and the leaves are slowly turning.
Gardening in autumn is a fantastic opportunity to prepare for the cooler months while still enjoying some reasonable weather. Here are some useful Autumn time gardening tips that you may or may not have thought about.
1. Planting and Harvesting:
Vegetables: Autumn is a great time to plant cool-season vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, broad beans, spinach, garlic and carrots. You can also sow radishes and turnips, as they grow quickly in cooler weather and are great for tasty soup!
Herbs: Plant hardy herbs such as parsley, thyme, rosemary, and mint, which thrive in the cooler season.
Fruit Trees: Autumn is a good time to plant bare-rooted fruit trees like apples, pears, plums, and cherries. If you have fruit trees, it's time to pick the last of your summer fruits like apples and pears before the weather cools too much or those pesky possums have a feed on the last of your crop!
Remember to come and stock up on some rhododendrons from Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden now! Take them home and plant them out straight away, no need to have them sitting around in pots when now is the perfect time to be planting out. Reminder that all members receive a 10% discount on plant purchases.
2. Soil Care:
Composting: Autumn leaves and plant material are great for composting. Add them to your compost bin along with kitchen scraps, and ensure your soil gets the organic matter it needs to thrive.
Mulching: Apply a layer of mulch around your plants to help retain moisture, suppress weeds, and protect plant roots from the colder weather.
Soil Improvement: Use autumn to work in compost or well-rotted manure to improve soil structure and nutrient levels before winter.
Courtesy of our friendly Horticulturist, Juanita
Rhododendron cyanocarpum
R. cyanocarpum is yet another species from the rhododendron rich province of Yunnan in China.
The name means “with blue fruits”. It forms a very neat upright shrub in our garden, with lovely shaped leaves showing that it is related to R thomsonii. In fact it was once known as R thomsonii var. cyanocarpum.
The branches are very stiff and the leaves have a bluish green tinge, which are quite a feature. The flowers are a delicate pale pink with a distinctive bright pink stigma – very attractive. In the wild the flowers could vary from white, creamy white, pink to rose pink, flushed rose to purplish rose. The calyx is cup-shaped, smooth and greenish. The capsule has a bluish-glaucous bloom and the leaves have a yellowish green mid rib on both surfaces.
Introduced by Forrest in 1910 and few times more in 1922, it was first discovered by that well-known plant hunter Abbe Delavay, growing on Tsang chan, Western Yunnan. To find it growing at Emu Valley, look on the left side of the road to the Chinese pavilion, just before the large camellia relative Schima argentea (look it up on google or our March ’20 newsletter).
Maurie
