Nothing can beat the sheer pleasure of sitting out the back of your house under a pergola while enjoying a meal with friends. A wooden pergola with a grape vine over it is the most romantic of all options. Nonetheless, grape vines provide shade but do not protect you...
February is the last month of summer, so it’s your last month to safely plant tropical plants so that they can establish new roots prior to winter. The tropical plants to plant now are: Avocados Bougainvilleas Frangipanis Angels’ trumpets Mandevillas Gardenias Ixoras...
It’s time to plant tropical summer fruit trees like avocados, mangos, guavas and citrus. Yes, CITRUS are tropical fruits originating in tropical southern China through to Malaysia. They love to be planted right now! And don’t forget the Australian native FINGER LIME –...
FAIRY SHOPS Sydney As If By Magic16 Cross Street, Double Bay NSW 2028Phone: (02) 9328 7227 Pamela’s Craft & Fantasy Land Pty Ltd937b Old Northern Road, Dural NSW 2158Phone: (02) 9651 5955 Rainbow Fantasy246 Rocky Point Road, Ramsgate NSW 2217Phone: (02) 9529...
Princess’ Mansion Restaurant‘Yanyi Shanzhai’9 Daqudeng Hutong Dongcheng District, BeijingPhone: +86 10 6407 8001
Markos Dymiotis Recently on Burke’s Backyard we featured the garden of Greek bachelor, Markos Dymiotis. We’ve had a number of letters from ladies who would love to meet Markos. Thank you to all who took the trouble to write – we will forward the...
Brown spots on staghorn An audience member asked Don about brown marks on her staghorn. This fern was situated on the verandah so didn’t get any rain. Don thought the problem was that the fern was drying out. Staghorn (Platycerium superbum) This is an epiphytic...
Pruning wisteria Cheryl asked Don how much she should prune her wisterias, and whether pruning would effect flowering. Don said that although wisteria was a great plant, it really needed controlling. Prune whenever necessary to control growth, but keep in mind that if...
Green Hubbard squash After seeing the segment on the 17 kilo Jap pumpkin, Shirley Peters, from Bellbird in New South Wales, sent in a photo of her husband holding a 14 kilo Green Hubbard squash. If anyone has a Green Hubbard squash bigger than the one Shirley’s...
Tomato Jennifer Hale, from Warrandyte in Victoria, emailed Don to say that last year she grew the Burke’s Backyard Italian Tomato and saved the seeds. Jennifer asked if the seed is likely to be viable. Don said that most things grown in the backyard produce...