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Witch Hazel The genus Hamamelis contains five species from North America and the Orient. They are highly prized for their fragrant flowers, which are borne on bare stems from mid winter to early spring, and also for their excellent yellow and orange autumn colour....
Yuccas Members of the Agave family, yuccas are native to southern USA and Mexico. There are around thirty species, and most have stout woody trunks, rosettes of spiky leaves and big clusters of creamy white flowers. In the wild these fascinating plants have a mutually...
It’s hard to have just one favourite camellia. Not only are there hundreds of excellent cultivars already available, but exciting new ones are being released all the time. There are also many collectors’ camellias around, and although some of these obscure...
Jacarandas and Other Monsoonal Deciduous Trees This is a wonderful time of year because there are so many trees in full flower and looking absolutely spectacular. Burke’s Backyard visited the town of Grafton in northern New South Wales at the peak of jacaranda...
Japanese Apricot Prunus mume has several confusing common names, including Japanese apricot and flowering plum. Actually it is a native of China and it is an apricot, not a plum. This delicate plant has entered into the culture of China in a way that no plant has...
The word Acmena actually comes from the Greek, and it means bountiful or buxom, referring to the flowers and fruit produced by members of the genus. Commonly known as lillypillys, they are handsome rainforest trees native to Australia and south-east Asia. Acmena...
Royal Robe Tree and Shrub Growers of Australia awarded the 1999 Plant of the Year to Blue Solanum ‘Royal Robe’ which is also a member of the potato family. An ornamental purple flowering shrub that will combine well with today’s flower mixtures of...
One of the greatest trends in Australian gardens in recent years has been towards a more formal style, with clipped hedges, standards and topiary becoming very popular. A problem with that sort of planting scheme is that throughout the entire year most hedging plants...
Shady Garden Makeover Growing plants in shady, moist situations can be really difficult, in fact shady spots are classic problem areas in many gardens. The traditional solution has been to plant clivias (Clivia miniata). They have bright orange flowers, and there are...
Sweet Pea The early history of sweet peas is shrouded in mystery, they may have originated in Italy, or perhaps Malta where they still grow in the wild. In any case, those first sweet peas were insignificant plants, with small, weak stemmed flowers which were poor in...