Design the Perfect Backyard How do you create a backyard that works really well and also looks good? The Burke’s Backyard Lanscaping Kit shows you how to fully plan your backyard even if you have no idea of garden design. The kit makes it really easy to create...
Sick Rosemary Plants like rosemary and lavender are Mediterranean natives. They are perfectly adapted to wet winters, hot dry summers and well-drained soils. It’s been a very wet year in many parts of Australia, particularly along the east coast, and gardeners...
Don’s Rubble Garden Australian native plants are excellent in the garden especially the new varieties of grevilleas, grafted darwinias, banksias, compact and prostrate wattles. An excellent base for a native garden is sandstone rubble. Sometimes this is produced...
Spraying a Fertiliser One of the easiest and best ways to give your garden a quick boost of fertiliser is to use an applicator that clicks straight onto the hose. Don recommends filling the applicator with a mixture of half Seasol for root development, and half...
Ed’s Tree Root Tips Several months ago we showed a story about storm water pipes that had been completely clogged by liquidambar roots. The owners of the tree actually removed an amazing 30 metres (100′) of root from their terracotta pipes! In response to...
Spring Rose Care Roses are among the best flowering plants in the world – for outstanding colour, perfume and cut flowers they’re hard to beat. However, roses do have special needs. If they don’t receive the right care and attention they won’t...
Espalier Espaliering means training a tree or shrub to grow against a flat surface. It’s a technique which has been used in France for centuries, particularly with pear and apple trees, and it makes a lot of sense because it means you can grow what is normally a...
Spring tips Spring has come early in many parts of Australia with plants like rhododendrons flowering up to a month early, and others finishing flowering much earlier than usual. Spring is always a busy time in the garden, but the early flowering and persistent heavy...
Don looked at some bushland infested with lantana (Lantana camara). He pointed out that the weeds did well in this area because it was very moist and rich in nutrients. Simply removing the lantana would be a complete waste of time, because birds would deposit more...
Don noticed a group of Rainbow Lorikeets feeding in a Port Jackson fig tree (Ficus rubiginosa). All the native evergreen figs, including the Port Jackson and Morton Bay figs, produce genuine fig fruit. Fig fruit forms from an enlarged, hollow stem base or