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Surprisingly, this beautiful Australian rainforest native is not as popular as it deserves to be. It is a member of the family Proteaceae, which includes grevilleas, banksias and waratahs. The tree is fairly slow growing and may not flower for seven or eight years,...
A sterile, uninteresting entrance to a home gives visitors a poor first impression. Don gave a boring entrance some style and class with strategically placed containers filled with grassy plants. First, some tall, squarish terracotta pots were spray-painted silver, to...
In keeping with the ‘weird’ theme of this week’s program, Don looked at some very curious and unusual plants. String of pearls (Senecio rowleyanus) This is a type of succulent that actually looks like beads on a string. It is native to South Western Africa. String of...
Lack of privacy or the need to block an unsightly view are familiar problems to many home owners, but often there’s not enough space to construct garden beds and plant shrubs and trees. Don looked at a very good screen of star jasmine growing on a steel frame....
Don visited Gabriel Rosati, who has a very curious water feature in her backyard. The sloping block was too small for a lap pool or a swimming pool, so Gabriel came up with the idea of a stream instead. But this is no ordinary stream. It bubbles and gurgles alongside...
In spring this small native tree is almost smothered in creamy yellow, frangipani-like flowers with a strong heady fragrance. Plant details Common name: Native frangipani Botanical name: Hymenosporum flavum Description: Evergreen tree to about 10m (30′) tall in...
To many people a garden is an oasis, a place where they can escape the stress of busy lives, and just relax. If there’s one plant in particular which evokes memories of holidays, tropical beaches, and gives that calm, peaceful, rainforest sort of feel to the...
Spanish Shawl Something that covers the ground and gives you a bit of colour and stops the weeds is welcome in any garden. Spanish shawl (Heterocentron elegans) is a colourful ground cover native to Central America, that will brighten up a sunny spot in the garden....
According to Garden Designer Phillip O’Malley, this modern Gold Coast house is fairly typical of waterfront properties – very large homes built on small blocks. The site was fully landscaped and the existing floral garden was very pretty, but it just did...
Succulents In Australia cacti and succulents are often grown as novelty plants for kids, and although they can be a bit garish and over the top they’ve given many children enormous joy for years. However, there is much more to cacti and succulents than meets the...