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Smelly Succulents John Dengate looked at three unusual succulents. These plants are grown for their novelty value, not for their attractive appearance or sweet smelling flowers. In fact, the members of this trio look peculiar and they each emit a foul odour! While...
Ugly Bottlebrush Bottlebrushes (Callistemon spp.) are wonderful plants for the garden. They are long-lived, require little maintenance and are almost impossible to kill. They make good screens, hedges, feature plants and street trees, and they are attractive to...
Victor Chang Roses Don looked at ‘Sister Bernice’ and ‘Fiona’s Wish’, two outstanding roses that come with an added bonus – $1 from each sale will be donated to support the work of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute....
Winter Flowering Plants Don looked at some of the beautiful native plants that flower in winter. Native hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii) A fast growing, open shrub to about 2m (6′) tall, grown mainly for its mauve, hibiscus-like flowers. It is long flowering, hardy,...
Yellow Camellia Don travelled to Kulnura, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, to meet leading camellia hybridist, Bob Cherry. Don asked Bob about his work on the development of new varieties of yellow-flowering camellias. Background Although camellias are...
Scientists at Kings Park Botanic Garden in Perth have discovered some mysteries about the Australian bush orchids. They’ve had so much success with growing them that they have put together a kit so you can grow your own, and they say it’s as easy as...
There is a bewildering array of glues in any hardware store and deciding which one you need for a particular job can be very confusing. There is no single versatile glue but Burke’s Backyard has assessed the range and concluded that you only need five different...
How often do you wander through antique shops and know you can’t afford to take any home? For a fraction of those prices you can achieve your own antiqued effects with a great product called crackle medium. We purchased a paper-mache rubbish bin (approx. $19.50)...
This is a recipe for a green cleaner that works, because most of them don’t – or not particularly well. The problem with any green (as in environmentally sound) cleaner is finding something that cuts through grease – you know, that horrible gungy...
The Sydney Blue Face brick was popular in the 1920s and 30s and was used in Federation and Californian Bungalow style houses. In many instances it was used only along the face of the house and common brick was used up the side. The unique dark blue/grey colour...