Scotsburn Nurseries ABN 48 693 178 039 300 Perry Road Keysborough,  Vic.,  3173 AUSTRALIA

Tel: (03) 9798 7066 Fax: (03) 9798 3121 Free Fax: 1800 635 849 Email: scotsburn@scotsburn.biz

Plans for Christmas deliveries
Freighting will be a little difficult over the next few weeks, so I have prepared a table of where we will, and won't be on given days.  Hope you find it valuable.  Please follow this link.
Have a safe and happy Christmas.  All the best for a prosperous New Year.
Perhaps above all else, Thank you for your support through a really tough year hopefully we are all pulling through much tougher for the test.

Multicultural Schools Planting Program.
We have been donating vegetable seedlings to schools participating in the Gould Group's Multicultural School Garden program.  While I unfortunately can't claim to have joined in one of these terrific planting days, I have been sent some great photos of the activities.  To get a real understanding follow this link to the Multicultural School Garden web site.

Hortivations at Ball Australia
I'm sure it's hard for anyone in the industry to have missed it but the Hortivations Extravaganza has been on again at Ball Australia, just down the road from us in Keysborough.  Of course we have had a look through, along with colleagues from BPA and we have made some selections for growing next year.  Congratulations to the Hortivations partners: Ball Australia, Norwood, Garden City Plastics and Debco on a job very well done.

Calibrachoa Cabaret Yellow.  Looks great doesn't it!

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It's a Boy!
Many of our regular customers know Michele, our wonder have a go at everything girl.  Well Michele has had a go at having a second baby boy.  Aaron arrived on Friday 26 October.  Mum and baby are safely home with dad and big brother Jamie.
Congratulations to them all

       
Spring Into Gardening.
On a perfect October Sunday thousands of residents of the City of Stonnington flocked to the Victoria Gardens, Prahran for the Spring into Gardening festival.  A great day was had by all including Ben and I.  We ran our children's free potting activity and gave away just on 1000 plants to the kids attending, plus our friend Anne Bishop ran a terrific Plant a Box competition with the local primary schools.  Thanks to Debco and Garden City Plastics for their invaluable support for the day.  Yes Ben is working in behind that crowd, we worked like this for most of the day.

Spring Season Gets a kick along!
We have had a very busy week.  Much busier than I had hoped possible following the tough times of the past 9 months.  I guess this is due mostly to the announcement of continued stage 3a water restrictions which seams to have given gardeners some additional confidence.  Relaxation of restrictions in regional areas to stage 3a hasn't hurt either.  Anyway, where I had thought the season would never really get going it looks like we might get an October and hopefully a November after all.  Certainly The Age's weather page suggests more consistent rain is still to come, let's hope so.

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Water Relief  is Good News for Gardeners
The Victorian minister for water Tim Holding has announced a continuation of Stage 3a water restrictions for metropolitan Melbourne until June 30th 2008 as well as freeing up restrictions in some rural areas.  While the restrictions remain tight this move should give our industry confidence to enjoy the rest of the Spring season.  Follow this link to see the NGIV's water page for more information.  Let's hope we get more consistent rain through October.

Downy Mildew in Impatiens
For those of you impatient to stock or plant Impatiens I am afraid I have bad news.  Last Spring we saw a new disease specific to Impatiens wallerana arrive in Australia and quickly spread through the industry.  We were lucky at Scotsburn and didn't see any signs last year, but we have noticed some symptoms this week.  So we will not be releasing any impatiens until we are confident that our plants are absolutely clean.  I am confident that as the weather warms up Impatiens will be less susceptible to this very contagious fungal disease.  Retailers also need to be aware of the disease and the best control measures, which are generally cultural although there are some chemicals that will help.  Have a look at this summary from NGIV on the best means of preventing infestation and controlling the disease.  
The most important tip I can give you is to do your watering as early as possible in the day and allow your plants to dry out before the cool of the evening.  That's actually a very good tip for looking after any seedlings.

Chelsea Downunder Flower Show

All set up and ready to roll. 
Ben and I spent Sunday 9th September potting with the kids at the Chelsea Downunder flower show.  Perhaps not a great deal of gardening emphasis but it was a great day for the Chelsea and surrounding communities.  We took around 20 trays of seedlings, roughly 1500 plants and none came back.  Did we really pot 1500 plants for 1500 kids?  (Probably not, quite a few took more than one pot home and Ben sold a few punnets for pocket money.  His Great Grandfather Dave will be very proud of him.)    However many we did pot, our day might inspire a few more kids to get involved in gardening.
Here is a link to some of Chelsea's promotion.  They hope to hold the show bi-annually.
 

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Seedling Price Rise.
I prefer to get this message out to our customers personally, but experience tells me that key people are always missed when we do that. So just in case, here is the public announcement that we will increase our seedling prices by about 5% from 1 September 2007. Details of prices for each product range are listed here or we will happily fax out a price sheet if you give us a call on 03 9798 7066.
Prices for our potted colour ranges remain unchanged.

The Gurus get Funky!  THIS Weekend!
Melissa King from the Garden Gurus will be presenting Funky Fresh Kitchen to the World, well at least Victoria on Saturday 15th September.  Thanks to Rob and his team at Warran Glen Nursery a sample of Funky Fresh Kitchen stock was magnificently displayed for the introduction.  Once again please be warned, the uptake on this range has been terrific, please give us a call if you want stock put aside.

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Garden Market Monitor forecasts Growth in Vegetable and Herb Sales

The December 2006 Garden Market Monitor report identified growth in greenlife sales through garden centres through the first part of Spring 2006. "The  bedding plants and colour category recovered from a long period of decline increased by 5.7%.  Sales of vegetables boosted this performance..."  We were promoting this growth with this article published in a number of garden magazines through the spring last year.  So what? you say.  Plan carefully and get ready for this Spring.  Start now by calling and asking for a copy of our Funky Fresh Catalogue.  We have completely rewritten an exclusively vegetable and herbs catalogue for you to use as a reference when asked curly questions and a planning tool.  Call Kaye on 03 9798 7066 or email us your address and we'll post a copy.

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The Royal Horticultural Society of Victoria

Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition

Presented by Scotsburn Nurseries and Debco Pty Ltd

The Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition is the opportunity for amateur gardeners to get involved in Australia’s biggest garden show.  105 gardeners from Warrnambool to Welshpool have entered one hanging basket per club in the 2007 competition.

Our panel of Royal Horticultural Society Show Judges selected the following prize winners:

Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show Great Victorian Hanging Basket
1st Prize                     S.S. McKay Medal and MIFGS Trophy plus $500.00 cash.

Won by Box Hill Horticultural Society

2nd Prize                    MIFGS Trophy plus $300.00 cash
                                    Dibble & Hoe Cottage Gardeners

3rd Prize                    MIFGS Trophy plus $200.00 cash
                                    Leongatha Horticultural Society

The Debco Great Victorian Hanging Basket Best Exhibit Member's Section

1^st Prize          $300.00 cash from Debco P/L                                Bob Yeomans

2^nd Prize         $200.00 cash from Debco P/L                                Lyn Mann

3^rd Prize          $100.00 cash from Debco P/L                                Patricia Insall

The Royal Horticultural Society of Victoria Best Exhibit Children’s Section

1^st Prize                                  Nicole White

2^nd Prize                                 Emma Douglas

3^rd Prize                                  Honey Pedersen

Best use of Colour in a hanging Basket
$400.00 cash prize from Scotsburn Nurseries                  Leongatha Horticultural Society

Best use of Texture in a Hanging Basket
$300.00 cash prize from Nature’s Décor               Dibble & Hoe Cottage Gardeners

Most Innovative Hanging Basket
$200.00 cash prize from Plants Plus Garden Centres                 Pamela Bell

Most Popular Hanging Basket (People’s Choice award)
$200.00 cash prize from Australian Garden Centre Accreditation Scheme will be announced after votes have been collated at the end of the show.

For further details and club contacts please call

Peter Douglas
Scotsburn Nurseries                                                 Tel.      03 9798 7066

Email                                                                          scotsburn@scotsburn.biz
For more information please visit                           www.scotsburn.biz  or www.rhsv.org.au

To download a copy of the results, please click here

Ben Douglas Age 10	Rachael Kertes Age 13	Nicole White Age 9	James Bowes Age 15

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Stage 3A Water Water Restrictions
You Can Water Your Garden!
Please follow this link www.ourwater.vic.gov.au to see the full details of current water saving measures around Victoria.

WHAT'S NEW FOR SPRING 2006?

Over the past five years we have noticed an ever increasing interest by the home gardener in vegetables and herbs. Gardeners are discovering the edible rewards and personal satisfaction of home grown vegetables. Taste and freshness are often victims of mass produced crops. While many of us have fond memories of a parent or grandparent having a passion for their vegie garden it is apparent that there is an ever increasing demand for vegetable and herb seedlings. Today's gardener is more likely to pop in a few tomatoes and lettuces around the garden and grow vegetables in containers, the same goes with herbs, than devote the entire back garden to vegetable production. Not only has the way we grow vegetables changed over the last two generations but the variety of vegetables and herbs has increased dramatically. In an effort to keep abreast with the demand we have significantly increased production and introduced several new vegetable varieties for Spring 2006.

Basil Limelight		Basil Combo

Additions to our vegetable range include two exciting new basils, both released by Bedding Plants of Australia. Basil Combo; offers 3 basils; traditional Sweet Basil , Purple Leaf Basil and Limelight Basil . Not only do these Basil 's look great together but they offer a range of flavours, textures and colours. Limelight Basil is a Premier release for Spring 2006. Limelight Basil is limegreen in colour, its flavour is similar to Sweet Basil but not quite as strong and it has distinctive serrated leaves. Other additions include Carrot Little Fingers, Tomato Tiny Tim, Tomato Yellow Grape and Zucchini Gold Rush. These vegetable additions can be found in our My Vegie Garden Range and or Funky Fresh Vegetables.

Colour is always the go, so the ornamental side of the garden has not been neglected; look out for Cosmos Berries & Cream, Dianthus Corona Cherry magic, Salvia Gemstone Blue, Salvia Sizzler mix, Zinnia Magellan and Zinnia Profusion, in either Bloomer, or seedling ranges.

Zinnia Magellan	Salvia Gemstone Blue

WHAT’S NEW FOR SPRING 2005!

Yes, Spring is just around the corner, and yet again we have been busy fine tuning our seedling ranges, adding new varieties, putting our house in order, ready for what we believe will be a great season. Last year at this time we were all extremely concerned about water restrictions, and our lack of rain.  Permanent water saving measures are now a fact of life and most loyal gardeners have learned to adjust their gardening strategies.  Colourful gardens are part of our culture and heritage; learn to be a water wise gardener and be safe with the knowledge that you can and will succeed.  Our Water Wise gardening flyer is available on the web or simply ring our office and we will post one out to you.

FUNKY FLOWER PACKS.
The Funky Flower Pack has been prepared especially for garden design, landscaping and containers. Advanced seedlings make good sense, considerably reducing the time before the gardener achieves a brilliant display. The very best of Scotsburn’s Special Blend varieties are presented in 100mm Funky Flower Pots as well as the really Funky Flower Pack, ten-cell advanced seedling pack.
Additional Funky Flower Pack varieties for Spring are; Dianthus Corona Cherry Magic, Gypsophila Gypsy Rose, and Petunia Neptune™ (See Bedding Plants Australia section below).

GREAT SCOT HYBRID SEEDLINGS.
Great Scot seedlings are our premium seedling range; we choose only the best hybrid seed on offer, to produce seedlings with the best disease resistance, vigorous growth and high flower production.  Our Scotsburn Special Blends are also selected from the same high quality seed source with emphasis on a broad spectrum of the latest fashion colours.  Additional varieties for Spring 2005 are; Gypsophila Gypsy Rose, Double Petunia Coconut Ice, and Double Petunia Neptune™.

Double Petunia Neptune BPA                                                                      Double Petunia Coconut Ice™

BEDDING PLANTS AUSTRALIA
Petunia Neptune™.  Its here, Australia’s first truly blue, truly Double Petunia! Careful breeding has produced a wonderful deep blue flower that is accentuated by occasional white flecks in the petals.  Petunia Neptune™ is a grandiflora double Petunia, meaning that the plants will have masses of large flowers, each around 10cm in diameter.  Neptune™ will flower up to 4 weeks earlier than other double Petunias, it has a compact growing habit together with good branching and is ideally suited to both bedding displays and containers.  Petunia Neptune™ also comes with a timely reminder that like other Petunias, Neptune™ will thrive with a minimum amount of water.  Flowering annuals don’t need as much water as many people think.  Once established an infrequent heavy drink will keep them flourishing, this may well be less frequently than once per week even in summer.  Remember though to use your discretion, if it’s extremely hot and or windy, more water will be required.  Keep checking the soil to see how much your plants have used.  Scotsburn will be offering Petunia Neptune™ in Funky Flower Packs, Great Scot seedling range and as potted colour in our Funky Flower Pots.

FUNKY FRESH HERBS.
This popular range includes essential culinary herbs that are easy to grow and widely accepted. Additions include; Garlic Chives, Lemongrass, and Rosemary.

OUR NEW LOOK METRIC PUNNET SEEDLING RANGES.
For some time now we have been looking for a clear differentiation between our Premium, Great Scot punnet range and our quality, budget priced metric punnet seedling range.  These products are aimed at different consumers so it is important that their presentation sends the right messages to the appropriate gardeners.

The My Flower Garden™ and My Vegie Patch™ labels and supporting Point of Sale have been designed to clearly tell the gardener that these seedlings are reliable, simple, possibly a little old fashioned and reasonably priced. The labels and point of sale material are deliberately no frills, uncluttered and contain valuable pictures and information.

We hope you and your customers like the new look.  Please make use of our good, better and best ranging to offer all your customers exactly what they want for their garden at prices they can afford to pay.

MY FLOWER GARDEN SEEDLINGS™
Spring 2005 heralds great change in this range, starting with new, snappy labelling.  The My Flower Garden™ seedling range offers all your customer’s favourites, tried and true varieties that they know and trust.  Great value and great quality.  New varieties for Spring are; Geranium Sprite and Vinca Dynasty.

MY VEGIE PATCH SEEDLINGS™
The demand for vegetable seedlings never stops, each year we increase our range and we increase our production, but it is always hard to keep abreast of customer demand.  Watch out for new varieties; Butter Bean, Chilli Hot Stuff mix, Chilli Hungarian  Hot, Silverbeet Rainbow Chard, Squash Yellow Ruffles, Tomato Cherry mix, and Tomato Oxheart.  Sadly we are no longer able to source seed for old favourites, Burnley Sure Crop and KY1.  We are so frustrated at the loss of these classic varieties that we have joined a seed savers cooperative in the hope of maintaining access to open pollinated cultivars.

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