Don looked at two low maintenance gardens designed by Ted Whitley, of Sacred Grove Gardens in Sydney. Ted has combined native and succulent plant varieties to achieve year-round visual appeal, while minimising the work involved in maintaining them. Paddington...
Don made over the front garden of a Sydney cottage using a dramatic mixture of black and yellow foliage plants. The wonderful thing about foliage plants is that they look good all year round, even when there are no flowers, because they have interesting leaf colours,...
Bob Maher recently sent a letter to Don, and invited him to come and see his garden. When Bob and his family first moved into their Newcastle townhouse 12 months ago, they were confronted with a small backyard (6mx5m) consisting of a bit of grass and a fence. So, with...
Although on a tight budget, Bronwyn and John Chippendale were prepared to spend money on the structure of their garden. They realised that if the bones were right, the rest would fall into place. They called in landscape designer Phillip O’Malley, and asked him...
Don made over a messy courtyard for under $500, with really spectacular results. A gaggle of potted plants was replaced with two smart planter boxes and a bench seat, constructed by Backyard Blitz builder, Scott Cam. The existing bangalow palms, bromeliads and...
Camellias are wonderful plants. Most varieties have attractive, glossy green foliage, and they put on their fabulous flower display in the cooler months of the year when the rest of the garden often looks dull and bare. As well as making excellent specimen plants and...
Cheryl Maddocks has written 34 books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles on gardening. She is the gardening columnist for the Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age), and she is also a member of the horticultural team at Burke’s Backyard. In...
Victor and Cristina Aprozeanu wrote to Burke’s Backyard inviting Don to visit them and see their unique garden. Victor is very enthusiastic about his extensive and fascinating collection, and is proud of his horticultural achievements over the last four years....
Melbourne landscaper, Evan Gaulke, enjoyed the challenge of designing his own garden on a small, steep corner block. Evan loves gardens that are fun, interesting and free flowing, rather than very formal gardens that are difficult to maintain. He also tries to work...