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Chinese lanterns or abutilons (Abutilon x hybridum) are charming evergreen shrubs with attractive maple-like leaves and an open, pendulous habit. They grow to about 2-3 metres (6-10′) tall. The lantern-shaped flowers are produced in September to December, but...
Chinese Lanterns Abutilons are closely related to hibiscus, and most of the hundred or so species have pendulous, hibiscus-like flowers. Cultivars produced by hybridising some of the South American abutilons have all been placed in one group known as Abutilon x...
Cosmos ‘Bright Eyes’ Yates has just released a beautiful new summer annual in their packet seed range called Cosmos ‘Bright Eyes’. The seeds can be started in trays of seed raising mix or sown directly into the garden. The semi-double flowers...
Cranebrook Native Nursery Australian native plants are undergoing a tremendous wave of popularity with gardeners at the moment, mainly due to the release of so many new and improved varieties. A question we’re often asked is “Where do you get...
Many plants have flowers, seed capsules or fruit which look surprisingly like animals or birds. For example, the flowers of heliconias look like the claws of a lobster, while the beautiful blue and orange flowers of the bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) look just...
Most gardeners think of cyclamen as delicate indoor plants. However they can be grown outside, and in fact occur naturally in harsh, rocky areas in the Mediterranean and Europe. The miniature wild Italian cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium), will thrive and multiply in a...
Dwarf Diosma Coleonema pulchrum and its various forms are very popular garden shrubs, with their aromatic foliage and starry flowers. The old fashioned green dwarf form ‘Compactum’ is often overlooked these days in favour of its sport ‘Sunset...
One of the best things about bulbs is that they’re a great investment! They’re practically guaranteed to perform, at least in the first year, because each bulb comes complete with everything it needs to flower, stored inside. You may only buy, say twenty,...
Don showed how to make a garden that would be highly bird attracting. The garden selected to be made over backed onto bushland and was roughly twenty metres by two metres in size. Before he started the property was a sorry sight. Not only were some of the plants...
Autumn is bulb-planting time and bulbs are perfect for containers. Don showed how to combine them with annuals in a hanging basket. He chose black and white pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) and white jonquils (Narcissus