In the Garden

The sweet scented jonquil is the most indestructible and easy to grow of all garden bulbs, often surviving in abandoned gardens. In China the jonquil is a New Year good luck symbol. The Chinese grow them in a dish filled with water and create extraordinary figures,...

Gerberas are becoming fashionable again, particularly as cut flowers. Gone are the narrow petals and insipid pale orange and salmon flowers. Available now are gerberas in vibrant new hues with broad petals in double and semi-double forms. As well as improving flowers,...

If you want to add colour to your winter garden, consider Euryops, a yellow daisy, which is a member of the Daisy family native to Southern and Central Africa. This hardy plant flowers through winter which gives the garden colour through those drab months of the year....

Many new plants have come onto the market in the last year. However, they usually need testing over a few years to know if they perform well in the garden. Polygala ‘Fairy Lights’ is a new and unproven variety, which looks very interesting. Plant Details...

Three ground cover roses with high disease resistance have been released in Australia in the past six years. These are called the Flower Carpet series. The first, launched in 1992 has small bright pink flowers. It is called Flower Carpet ‘Pink’. The...

A new rose has come on to the market to mark the life and work of the late Fred Hollows, the Australian eye surgeon who worked to eradicate cataract blindness. Les Stratford of Stratford’s Wholesale Nursery at Oakville in New South Wales found this rose in 1994...

Fuchsias are among the most popular garden plants in the world. They are extremely versatile and can be grown in shaded gardens or in hanging baskets and pots. Fuchsias can also be trained as hoops or standards but the modern hybrid fuchsias are really for people with...

Gaura ‘Siskiyou Pink’ One of the most fashionable plants to have in your garden at the moment is gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) also called White Butterfly Bush. Although commonly pronounced gow-ra, it is more correctly called gore-ra. It is particularly...

Dwarf Oleander There are few plants which grow almost everywhere in Australia. The humble oleander (Nerium oleander), is such a plant and it is also one of the most useful of all garden plants. If pruned correctly the oleander can be a magnificent plant, its dense...

Early Spring Flowering Plants The Burke’s Backyard Spring Special features the following plants. Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ Rhododendrons are one of the world’s most beautiful cold climate flowering plants. There are between 800 and 900...