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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....
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...
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...
The arrival on bare branches of the elegantly sculpted, waxy flowers of Magnolia x soulangeana always lets us know that spring is edging closer. Amazingly, magnolia flowers have been harbingers of spring from time immemorial. Magnolias are among the most ancient of...
In 1999, Hugh and Karen Anderson invited landscape stone artist Neal Plummer and his partner, Natalie Hocking, to create a design in their Melbourne garden featuring Neal’s stone artistry. It took Neal and Natalie around two years to complete the work....
Don showed how to create some high-rise garden style using tillandsias, glue and an old terracotta pipe. How it was done 1. Don used an old glazed terracotta pipe, but a wooden pole or even a tree branch will work well. Light wooden poles may be hung, providing an...
Reusing garden leftovers Paul Pascoe emailed Don to suggest that Burke’s Backyard run a weekly item on how to use up landscape gardening leftovers for projects around the home. As an example, Paul and his son, Alex, discovered that some leftover plastic garden...
Water-wise gardens are becoming more and more important as the drought bites hard and water restrictions are in place in many part of the country. Don showed a garden that will grow and survive in the driest areas of Australia, because it has mostly been planted with...
It is very important to mulch your garden. Mulch helps to stabilise soil temperatures in the root zone, it suppress weed growth and it assists with water retention in the soil. The garden in our story was not mulched and some of the plants were struggling to survive...
If you want a plant that’ll laugh at the drought, consider the humble gazania. Plant details Common name: Gazania Botanic name: Gazania hybrids Description: Low growing perennials from South Africa. Their silvery-green leaves are usually long and narrow, and are...