Royal Robe Tree and Shrub Growers of Australia awarded the 1999 Plant of the Year to Blue Solanum ‘Royal Robe’ which is also a member of the potato family. An ornamental purple flowering shrub that will combine well with today’s flower mixtures of...
One of the greatest trends in Australian gardens in recent years has been towards a more formal style, with clipped hedges, standards and topiary becoming very popular. A problem with that sort of planting scheme is that throughout the entire year most hedging plants...
Kalmia Kalmia latifolia is an unusual shrub which is native to eastern North America. It is a beautiful shrub with interesting flowers that is suitable in the cooler regions of Australia. Plant details Common name: Mountain Laurel, Calico Bush Botanical name: Kalmia...
Kennedia nigricans Plants with black foliage or flowers can be very stylish in particular landscaping situations, for example used as borders in bright areas, with white concrete, or near a white house. Don looked at two plants which might make an interesting...
Lechenaultias in Sydney Every year around this time garden lovers, botanists and horticulturists head to Western Australia to see some of the most spectacular displays of wildflowers in the world. Unfortunately, beautiful wildflowers like blue lechenaultia...
Luculia The luculia was introduced to the west by plant hunter, Ernest ‘Chinese’ Wilson. It occurs naturally on lightly wooded hills in the lower Himalayas to Yunnan, where apparently it grows in large forests. In the home garden it’s hard enough to...
Mt. Cassell Native Nursery Australia is blessed with some of the best flowering plants in the world, and we also have excellent nurseries which stock a wonderful range of those plants. They include Zanthorrea Nursery at Maida Vale in Western Australia, Fairhill Native...
Native Plants in Flower Don looked at some of the spectacular native plants in flower at the moment in the garden. Native Hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii) An open shrub to about 2m (6′) tall, grown mainly for its beautiful, lilac, hibiscus-like flowers. The plant...
New Ornamentals Lots of the new plants appearing in nurseries these days have been developed overseas. They are not evaluated under Australian conditions as part of the breeding process, and a high percentage of them fail. The good news is that the University of...
New Pansies Pansies are annuals (or bedding plants), which were developed last century from English native plants called johnny jump-ups. Also known as heartsease, they have very appealing flowers with happy little ‘faces’, but it’s hard to imagine...