By Lynne Testoni
A busy school with extensive grounds provides an award-winning maintenance team with many challenges, but even more rewards.
School grounds are a challenge for landscapers. Balancing education and hardiness, maintenance teams need to look after spaces that face demanding conditions and busy, energetic clients.… Continue reading
Read More
By Denis Crawford
With European honeybee populations under pressure from varroa mite it is time to take another look at alternative pollinators.
The need for pollinators that are complementary to, or an alternative to, European honeybees has never been more critical.… Continue reading
Read More
By Dan Austin
It might come as a surprise if you’ve been out of the education system for some time but gaining a formal qualification in horticulture is easier than it’s ever been.
While no mandatory training is required to work as a horticulturist, formal qualifications make you all the more appealing to employers.… Continue reading
Read More
By Daniel Fuller
Over the last two issues I have written about ten different pathways you can follow in amenity horticulture. However, there are a lot more pathways you can take. Here are a few more for you to consider when planning your career in this beautiful industry of ours.… Continue reading
Read More
By Patrick Regnault
There is a demand and a necessity to upskill your employees – it helps retain them and offers them a path forward in their career and in the industry. The benefits are many and well understood. Unless the employer is short-sighted, employers and managers should encourage and organise training programs for their employees.… Continue reading
Read More
By Clive Larkman
The world is a very different place from what it was one hundred or even fifty years ago. Fashion, technology, health and travel are some of the obvious sectors with immense change but there are less apparent ones that have major effects on our way of life.… Continue reading
Read More
By Felicity Skoberne
Urban greening through planting trees in public spaces can often be challenging and draw a wide range of responses from the community. Wollongong City Council recently refreshed their urban greening approaches by engaging with the community to construct rapid growth forests.… Continue reading
Read More
Collecting stories this month exposed the very technical area of landscaping and rehabilitating degraded and contaminated industrial sites. The range of problems is immense when you consider that industrial sites may vary from a paved warehouse, disused power station or an oil terminal to a huge mine site covering thousands of hectares.… Continue reading
Read More
By Michael Casey
Is the adoption of dense and diverse urban planting on the rise, or is it simply misunderstood?
Urban density and growth is on the rise, and currently the increased numbers are on an upward trajectory and is happening faster than we have ever experienced in human history, with an additional two billion people expected in urban areas by 2050.… Continue reading
Read More
By Karen Smith
The Landscape Association recently hosted its inaugural TLA Landscape Expo in Ryde in New South Wales and was held at TAFE NSW, Ryde Campus. Attendance exceeded expectations with over 800 people enjoying the large, trade-focused event.
Landscape professionals across the full spectrum of the industry – maintenance, construction, and design, enjoyed the 50 trade exhibits, product demonstrations and speaker program, as well as the buzz of catching up with industry colleagues and friends.… Continue reading
Read More
By Gabrielle Stannus
How to select native cultivars for use in a suburban garden in Sunbury, Melbourne, close to an environmentally sensitive landscape? I spoke with ‘fellow’ Tasmanian and well-known plant breeder, Angus Stewart, for his advice.
Entering a client’s front garden recently, I may have been forgiven for thinking that I had arrived in South Africa.… Continue reading
Read More
By Karen Smith
Delprat Garden, a phytoremediation garden overlooking the site that was once Newcastle’s steel works, was awarded a gold accolade in the architectural design category at the 2023 Australia Good Design Awards and is providing a model for large scale restoration of degraded industrial sites.… Continue reading
Read More
Summary: The red imported fire ant eradication program has been tackling Queensland’s fire ant infestation since 2001, but recent reports show infestation areas have grown from 40,000 hectares to more than 750,000 hectares over the past 22 years.
Of Australia’s invasive ant species, fire ants pose the most serious threat to our biosecurity status because they move and colonise quickly, and have significant environmental, social and economic impacts.… Continue reading
Immerse yourself in the beauty of Australia’s native flora with the Aussie Flat Bush™ Rhagodia spinescens, a low-growing, compact shrub with fine blue foliage.
Found throughout mainland Australia, Aussie Flat Bush™ Rhagodia has adapted to both inland and coastal situations, demonstrating its versatility.… Continue reading
Read More
Presenting the marvel of Blue Horizon™ Eremophila glabra prostrate, a game-changer in the world of gardening and landscaping. This plant isn’t just a pretty face; it’s a hardy, adaptable ground cover that transforms ordinary landscapes into extraordinary vistas.
Blue Horizon™ Eremophila, with its denser ground cover form and fewer gaps, offers a lush carpet of blue-grey foliage that adds a touch of serene beauty to gardens.… Continue reading
Read More
A 50-year old find at an abandoned allotment sees Coventry University researchers create a community tree nursery. The unexpected discovery in Coventry, England, has led to a project looking to preserve the city’s trees.
Coventry University researchers Liz Trenchard and Sam Green came across apple trees growing at the abandoned allotment site while walking around Charterhouse Park.… Continue reading
Read More
A small plant species listed as extinct in Victoria has been re-discovered by botanists assessing recently flooded river land in Victoria’s north-west.
Cyperus squarrosus also known as Bearded Flat Sedge had been listed as extinct in Victoria for more than 60-years, with its last verified sighting in 1953.… Continue reading
Read More
A recent investigation of collections of fungi Pseudobaeospora in Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria’s National Herbarium of Victoria has resulted in characterisation of the new species, Pseudobaeospora taluna.
Pseudobaeospora is a rarely encountered mushroom genus. There are no veils and so the whole sporing body is of rather simple construction.… Continue reading
Read More
By Denis Crawford
Most people are familiar with mammals and birds that use tools, but they may not be aware that some insects also use tools.
I first became aware of animals using tools through the work of Jane Goodall in Africa during the 1960s.… Continue reading
Read More
By Dan Austin
In Australia, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to the plants available for our gardens. Garden centres offer up a myriad of options for just about any purpose, but the popularity of a handful of favourites still leads to some species being overused and causing a sense of horticultural déjà vu when travelling around the country.… Continue reading
Read More