Have you seen the crepe myrtles this year? These are the shrubs with stunning red, pink, white or purple flowers. You often see them along median strips or on roadside plantings. It seems that council landscapers love these plants, but home gardeners seem to be...
Does your garden lack oomph? Does it need something special to add pizzazz? Well, here are some quite spectacular plants to add that certain something: the Gymea lily is a huge plant with a whorl of enormous leaves as well as a flower stem carrying red flowers that...
Most backyard fruit is now getting plump and ripe – tomatoes, stone fruits, mangos, citrus, figs etc. Needless to say, many animals are out for their share of your backyard produce including birds, fruit bats, possums & even rats. What can you do to stop them? You...
Cutting lawn edges can be a real pain! BUT the edges of the lawn are critical if you want the lawn to look good. Cutting the edges also stops the grass from invading gardens areas. You can trim the edges with a line trimmer (whipper snipper or whatever) and this works...
You could argue that the frangipani is the world’s best perfumed flowering tree. You can get flowers that are white, yellow, red, orange or multi coloured. They are dead easy to strike from cuttings. Just cut off a branch end about 30-50cm long (that’s around one foot...
Do you want to save heaps of money? Then why not strike your own plants from cuttings. It’s not too late to try to propagate some cuttings. Try some really easy plants to strike like vireya rhododendrons, herbs like rosemary & thyme, fuchsias, frangipanis and...
By now many rose bushes in gardens are looking tired and scrappy. You can rejuvenate them now by giving them a light pruning all over followed by fertilizing. Prune off about 30cm of growth (i.e. about 1 foot) all over, removing dead flowers etc. Next give your roses...
This summer has been periodically very humid in many areas of Australia. This will virtually guarantee many fungal diseases in many plants. Expect patchy dieback in lawns – especially in shady areas. Maybe try Eco Fungicide to stop its spread – this is only a form of...
Believe it or not, bulbs of plants like daffodils, tulips, hyacinths etc. will arrive at your local nursery or hardware store in February. While it is a bit too soon to plant them, it is a good time to buy the bulbs as the best range of varieties and colours is on...
February is the most important month for citrus and lawn care. For your lawns to grow well, look green and to fight against weed attack, you need to fertilise now with about half the usual dose of lawn food. I really like the slow release lawn foods like Scott’s Lawn...