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Sculpture Garden Seven years ago Ann and Tony Emmett moved from Queensland to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. They are keen gardeners, and had always wanted to live in a cool area and grow cold climate plants. When they bought the 1.4ha (3.5 acre) property...
Snow Pear Garden Guy and Jeanette Cooper asked garden designer Peter Fudge to create an instant garden that was low maintenance, and in keeping with the style of their newly renovated house. Peter’s stunning design takes its influence from the formal...
Tom Thumb Makeover A dwarf evergreen magnolia (Magnolia ‘Little Gem’) was planted on each side of the entrance to a building with stark, white walls. ‘Little Gem’ reaches about 4-8m in height. It has a dense growth habit, glossy leaves...
Caroline and Jack Linschoten are passionate about Bali, where they’ve had many wonderful holidays over the past ten years. They’ve brought back everything from woodcarvings and candlestick holders through to masks, handmade furniture and stone statues....
For the last five years or so, weekends have been very special for Fairfield businessman Aldo Pecora. Every Sunday he rises at the crack of dawn, goes outside and begins work on his hobby. Aldo is an expert topiarist, and spends hours carefully trimming and pruning...
Olives Many Australians picture the beautiful olive groves throughout Mediterranean areas such as Spain, Italy and Greece, and dream of planting olives and making a fortune. Australia does have the potential to develop a successful olive industry, but there are some...
Kitchen Vegie Garden The son of a female convict, William Charles Wentworth was born in New South Wales in 1790. He became famous in 1813 when, along with Gregory Blaxland and Lieutenant William Lawson, he found a way across the Blue Mountains. This discovery gave the...
There’s something about pruning that seems to bring out aggression in people, especially men. However, pruning doesn’t have to be like a shoot-out at high noon. You don’t need to take out all your frustrations on your plants, nor should you be...
Although grasses are fashionable in gardening circles at the moment, many of them really don’t perform very well. A notable exception is a gorgeous new blue coloured Australian native grass. It is called Mingo, which is claimed to be the aboriginal name for...
Robinia Problems Don looked at a street tree planting of golden robinias (Robinia pseudocacia ‘Frisia’). This was a vogue tree in Australian gardens and landscapes during the 1980s and it is still tremendously popular today. However, before you plant a...