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It’s often difficult to keep the front lawn looking good, particularly now that there are water restrictions in many areas of Australia. Evan Gaulke of Ochre Landscapes thinks that front lawns are a waste of space if they aren’t maintained to a high...
Tibouchinas (Tibouchina sp.) should be pruned after flowering or whenever necessary to promote dense, bushy growth. The plant shown in our segment was looking spindly and ugly, so Don pruned it back severely. He started by removing all the dead and dying wood. He then...
Don regards our Plant of the Week as a serious contender for the title of ‘World’s Best Perfumed Plant’. Brown boronias have wonderful, lemon-scented flowers, which is not surprising when you consider that they belong to the same plant family as...
A tough indoor plant commonly found sitting unobtrusively in the corners of living rooms across Australia is Philodendron bipinnatifidum (sold as P. selloum). No-one would suspect the complexity of its sex life and the unusual activities undertaken by commercial...
Don visited a cutting edge garden belonging to Gitta and Gunther Rembel. The garden is situated in bushland, and takes elements from the natural landscape as well as borrowing sparky ideas from other countries. The Mogul gardens of northern India and Pakistan,...
Plant selection is very important if you want a low maintenance garden. Some plants are high maintenance nightmares. At the top of the list is lawn, which needs regular mowing, fertilising and edging (paving is a much better low maintenance choice). Azaleas need...
Wherever you live in Australia, it pays to shop around and make sure you buy your plants at prices to suit your budget. There are a growing number of nurseries that sell plants at very competitive prices, and many offer discounts if you buy in bulk. Here is a list of...
This member of the flax family comes from the foothills of the Himalayas. It is a particularly useful plant because it produces stunning, clear butter yellow flowers in the middle of winter, bringing some much-needed cheer when the rest of the garden is bare. Plant...
Backyards and gardens have changed a lot in recent years. Modern gardens do not start at the back door. Instead, they are often cheery, spacious extensions of indoor living areas. In our segment, Don looked at a futuristic warehouse garden in inner city Melbourne....
There is a free packet of Yates Italian herb mix seeds attached to the August issue of the Burke’s Backyard Magazine. Inside the packet, you’ll find seeds of flat-leaf parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum), rocket (Eruca sativa) and basil...