By Patrick Regnault
Annual plants are underutilised in garden design and garden maintenance. It is often left to the owner to use them or not, often without guidance and little flair. Annual plants bring colour, foliage contrast and seasonal change. They can contribute to increased pollination and insect control.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
The word guava elicits thoughts of the tropics but as a common name it covers a wide range of fruiting trees. One of these is Pineapple Guava which is also known as Brazilian Guava and Guavasteen although it is not a true guava.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Daniel Fuller
As part of my podcast series celebrating National Eucalypt Day, I had the good fortune to interview Professor Ros Gleadow who is a professor at Monash University, President for the Global Plant Society, and a board member of Eucalypt Australia, about the chemistry of eucalypts and it was an enlightening experience.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Digby Growns
All images are supplied by Kings Park and Botanic Gardens
Ground-breaking plant hybridisation research at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens in Perth, Western Australia, has produced a range of novel-coloured kangaroo paws including the first blue cultivar, ‘Masquerade’.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Karen Smith
The interest in indoor plants is still strong with many consumers not settling to buy only one indoor plant. They are keen to get their hands on a whole collection, so it’s a jungle out there!
A recent report, from the Global Garden Retail Conference 2022 by John Stanley, found that since the pandemic began, people have spent more time in the home and their focus has been on home and garden improvements.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Daniel Fuller
Eucalypts have dominated the Australian landscape for millions of years, and so it is with good reason that on the 23rd of March we celebrated National Eucalypt Day in Australia. To further celebrate this iconic tree, I interviewed four guests representing Eucalypt Australia on my podcast, with a separate episode covering a different topic each week throughout March.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
Most of my articles have focused on different varieties of edible and household herbs, and occasionally on industry events or happenings. However, I haven’t touched on the actual botany of the plants I’ve written about, when in fact this is an area of great interest to me, particularly how plants evolved and why they grow where they do.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Patrick Regnault
Buxus evokes images of clipped Renaissance garden hedges, the formality of inner-city courtyards, or perhaps even topiary. This humble plant has a long and distinguished history, as an ornamental plant and its utilisation in wood turning and carving, and traditionally, as a medicinal plant.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
Last month we looked at the foundations of the native food industry. The potential is huge but the reality has seen decades of stops and starts. There is a groundswell of desire for us to have an Australian native food sector.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Sandra Godwin
The bushland surrounding its coastal communities is one of the major attractions of the Noosa area on Queensland’s popular Sunshine Coast. However, after being evacuated with 7000 others as a wall of flames bore down on Peregian Beach in spring 2019, The Retreat operators Dan and Nora Gleeson vowed to take action to better protect the resort against future bushfires.… Continue reading
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