There are a number of different plants throughout the world that are referred to under the name of lotus (family Nelumbonaceae) but in Australia there are principally two varieties available. They are the American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) and the sacred lotus (Nelumbo...
Water Lilies: In a dry country like Australia there’s something wonderful about water gardens, they’re relaxing and they just feel fabulous to be in & there’s so many wonderful, plants that you can grow. The obvious one is water lilies, which are available in...
Don looked at Yellow Buttons, an Australian native plant that thrives on neglect. Plant details Common name: Yellow buttons Botanic name: Chrysocephalum apiculatum (sold as Helichrysum ramosissimum) Description: A variable species, but usually seen as a small,...
If you’d like a funky, ‘land of the giants’ plant for indoors but you don’t want to spend much time on maintenance, think about the fiddle leaf fig. Its foliage is spectacular. Each glossy, violin-shaped leaf grows to around 38cm (15″) long. The good news is...
The vanilla plant is a perennial vine from Mexico and Central America, which climbs to around 15 metres and supports itself by means of aerial roots. It has fleshy, bright green leaves varying in length from eight to 25cm. Large, fragrant yellow-green flowers are...
One of the best ways to save money with plants is to go out into the garden and dig them up! There are free plants in virtually every garden in Australia. Clumping plants such as aspidistras can easily be chopped up and used elsewhere in the garden, potted up and...
Don showed how classy creeping figs can look when used in a formal garden design. The figs were trained to fill recesses in a masonry wall, so that they formed perfect green rectangular shapes. The fig rectangles provided a wonderful backdrop for clipped box hedges...
As well as producing brightly coloured, cheerful flowers, nasturtiums are ideal plants for a child’s first garden. The seeds are large and easily handled by little fingers, and the plants are easy to grow. Toddlers who tire of admiring the flowers and decide to...
A tough indoor plant commonly found sitting unobtrusively in the corners of living rooms across Australia is Philodendron bipinnatifidum (sold as P. selloum). No-one would suspect the complexity of its sex life and the unusual activities undertaken by commercial...
For a great Aussie look in the backyard, why not use an old hollow log as a planter? You might have a tree in the garden that has died and fallen over, or if you live on a bush block there may already be some hollow logs lying around on the property. Rustic planters...