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If you like Australian native plants, and particularly if you like attracting native birds to your backyard, then she oaks are plants well worth considering for your garden. She oaks come in a variety of sizes – from ground cover, through to shrub, small and...
Don’s Best Indoor Figs Indoor plants can add enormous beauty to your home, as well as giving it a natural, relaxed feel. One of the most fashionable plants in Australia at the moment is Ficus benjamina, the weeping fig. Although it is a rainforest giant in its...
Plants for Wet and Boggy Areas Some gardens have heavy clay soil and areas which are waterlogged, especially after rain. If that sounds like your backyard and you’re wondering what to do, don’t worry, quite a few plants actually thrive in those conditions....
Roses Don looked at a fantastic display of Iceberg and Flower Carpet roses outside the Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital in Melbourne. This year roses are looking particularly good, especially in the areas of Australia with a Mediterranean climate, that is around Perth,...
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...
Torenia ‘Blue Magic’ If the back of your house looks a bit lacklustre, think about adding some colour and cheer with hanging baskets. You can attach them to a pergola or up under the eaves, being careful to choose a position where people won’t...
Tibouchinas Tibouchinas, also known by their old name lasiandras, are native to south-east Brazil, where people use the massed purple blooms to decorate churches at Easter time. Here in Australia tibouchinas also make quite a statement in autumn, with their riot of...