By John Fitzsimmons
There are those who love trees simply for their beauty and splendour. There are people who regard trees as being ‘in the way’ of some more immediate perceived want or need, or who dislike living with trees in close proximity for cultural or aesthetic reasons.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
As a child, I remember blackberries, strawberries and occasionally raspberries. As time moved on, we started to get many other berries like boysenberries, mulberries, youngberries and our own local silvan berry. We then became really modern with blueberries, cranberries, and red and black currants to really challenge our taste buds.… Continue reading
Read MorePhotosynthate transfer from an autotrophic orchid to conspecific heterotrophic protocorms through a common mycorrhizal network
Does the ‘wood wide web really exist? Can speculation that parental plants nurture their young be justified? New research by a group including Katie J Fields at the University of Shefield in the UK has shown a definite transfer of carbon in the form of photosynthate essential for protocorm development.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Dale Arvidsson
Conifers are among the oldest and most diverse groups of plants on Earth. They have existed and evolved for more than 300 million years, surviving ice ages, changing climates, and mass extinctions. These plants have adapted to a wide range of habitats, living just above sea level in the tropics to over 3000 metres in altitude and above the timberline of the world’s highest mountain ranges.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Daniel Fuller
Flowers are great, but they’re fleeting. A good landscape design includes plants with eye-catching foliage that will provide aesthetic value month after month, year after year.
Ozbreed has bred several new native cultivars with foliage full of interesting colours, shapes, and textures.… Continue reading
Read MoreClive Larkman
As a child I doubt I ever ate avocado and I don’t think any of my friends did. It was an exotic fruit that you might have seen as a dip at the original Taco Bills but rarely elsewhere.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Daniel Fuller
Plant breeding has made significant strides over the past couple of decades. What once impressed landscape architects no longer suffices, as new cultivars are now more resilient, requiring less maintenance. While nursery businesses know what has sold well in the past, predicting future popular cultivars remains a challenge.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Clive Larkman
Last month we looked at a great garden plant that looks good, is easy to grow and has great use in the kitchen, Tasmannia lanceolata, an attractive large shrub that comes from SE Australia. Another equally attractive plant is the Avocado Tree (Persea americana) which is native to a small area in Central America between Central Mexico and Costa Rica.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Daniel Fuller
Buying in newly-bred plants is always a risk for nursery businesses. Retailers have to gamble on whether consumers will buy their stock, and wholesalers don’t know whether landscape architects are going to specify them.
Ozbreed surveyed both landscape architects and consumers.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Barbara Wheeler
Often seen growing as scrappy carpark plants, badly pruned to keep within the bounds of narrow strips of garden beds and frequently planted in the wrong place, the wonderful indigenous flora of New Zealand has had a history of being overlooked and much maligned in its own country.… Continue reading
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