The black truffle, Tuber melanosporum (Image: Véronique Pagnier via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
By Caleb Roberts
Botanical name: Tuber melanosporum
Common name(s): Black truffle, Périgord truffle, French black truffle
Family: Tuberaceae
Origin or native range: Found naturally in European forests, the black truffle’s highest producing countries remain Spain, France and Italy.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
Despite there being over 100 species in the Coffea genus, only a few of those are cultivated for human consumption. In my last article, I wrote about how we only really grow Coffea arabica and C. canephora ‘Robusta’, or a hybrid of the two (‘Coffee: A shrub with history!’,… Continue reading
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Council staff and apprentices on site installing the new Sir Grange Zoysia turf on the roundabout at Croome Rd, Shellharbour (Image source: Turfco Australia)
By Nathan Edwards
In the pursuit of sustainable urban landscapes, local councils are increasingly turning to turf solutions that combine visual appeal with long-term efficiency. Shellharbour City Council’s roundabout redevelopments in Oak Flats and Shellharbour, NSW, provide a striking example of how the right turf selection can deliver lasting benefits for both communities and maintenance teams.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
Living in Melbourne means permanent access to great coffee and a culture of having this staple drink with every meal. However, many people seem to have little knowledge of the plant itself. Plants in the Coffea genus provide the source of the world’s most popular morning drink, as well as some very attractive shrubs.… Continue reading
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Banksias and grass trees provide a uniquely Australian beauty to this garden (Image: John Fitzsimmons)
By John Fitzsimmons
If our theme this issue is ‘Ornamentals: Beauty that endures’ then surely, we must start by defining ‘beauty’ and that raises more questions than answers. On such a theme, just where do we start? Beauty is a subjective and multi-faceted quality that evokes pleasure, admiration or deep emotional responses.… Continue reading
Read More![Old man saltbush (Atriplex nummularia) near Hay, New South Wales (Image: Thomas Mesaglio [thebeachcomber] via iNaturalist, CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://hortjournal.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/1.-Atriplex_nummularia_Thomas_Mesaglio_iNat_CC-BY-SA-4.0-800x445.jpg)
Old man saltbush (Atriplex nummularia) near Hay, New South Wales (Image: Thomas Mesaglio [thebeachcomber] via iNaturalist, CC BY-SA 4.0)
By Clive Larkman
In my last article, ‘Saltbushes of the world’, I wrote about halophytes including mangroves, samphires and saltbush (Hort Journal Australia, February 2026). Like mangroves and samphires, saltbush occurs around the globe in a diverse range of climatic conditions.… Continue reading
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The autumn senescence gives a wave of colour to the texture of the ginkgo fan-like leaves (Image: Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery)
By Caleb Roberts
Botanical name: Ginkgo biloba
Common names: Ginkgo, maidenhair tree
Family: Ginkgoaceae
Origin or native range: Ginkgo biloba is the sole surviving species within its entire division, class, order and family. This monotypic ‘living fossil’, so called because fossils nearly identical to the modern tree date back to the Jurassic period (around 170 million years ago), is now found virtually unchanged from its earlier iterations in small, woodland populations in temperate China.… Continue reading
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Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (globe artichoke) (Image: Björn S via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
By Patrick Regnault
During COVID-19, the popularity of growing one’s own food increased dramatically. However, food production to the level of self-sufficiency requires more land and effort than most people are willing to do or capable of making. That said, we can add trees, shrubs and climbers, or even aquatic plants to our plant palettes that will look good and produce food.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
Plants are divided into a series of logical groups based on their botanical characteristics, a result of the work commenced by noted Swedish botanist and physician Carl Linnaeus in the early 18th century. Since that time, the science of classifying plants has developed greatly, and the decisions to move plants into or out of taxonomic categories are made based on increasingly smaller differences, thus becoming more technical.… Continue reading
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The fruit of the blue lilly pilly (Syzygium oleosum) can be eaten raw or may be used to make jams, jellies, sauces, syrups, confectionery and wine (Image: Tucker Bush)
By Jennifer McQueen
During Covid, as isolating households experimented with vegetable seedlings and graduated to fruit trees, Australian native edimentals began to catch the public imagination. ‘Covid shifted the perception of native edimentals from “hippy fringe” to mainstream curious,’ says Mark Tucek, founder of Tucker Bush.… Continue reading
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