Gardens are often restful places where people can relax, take a break from the stresses of everyday life and be at one with nature. However, when Don visited the Melbourne home of Joanne and Mark Hosie, he found that the peace and quiet was disrupted by a little 'friendly' horticultural rivalry. The front garden is Joanne's domain, and is filled with roses, annuals and cottage plants. The backyard is a tropical-style garden, where Joanne's annuals and roses are definitely not appreciated!

Mark's gone troppo

Mark has always wanted to live in Queensland so he decided to make his part of the garden as tropical as possible. He is a keen Burke's Backyard viewer, and was inspired by one of our stories on palms for cold climates. After installing a pool he began planting palms.

His collection includes Chinese fan palm (Livistona chinensis), pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii), lady palm (Rhapis excelsa), kentia palm (Howea sp.), wedding palm (Lytocaryum weddellianum), bangalow palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) and Chamaedorea sp. Mark says he is a very tolerant person, but we did catch him on film chopping up a rose bush!

Joanne's cottage garden

Joanne loves colour so she plants lots of annuals, particularly petunias in summer and pansies in winter. She describes her garden as "a little unruly", but says she loves it that way. Iceberg roses are a feature of this beautiful cottage garden. Joanne finds Mark's tropical garden drab and colourless. Wherever possible she slips in a few annuals to brighten it up.

Copyright CTC Productions 2002