Landscaping the future

07/05/2025 Karen Smith 151 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

Speaking with designers and installers at the recent Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) made me think about some of the challenges and issues they need to address when designing landscapes. The landscape philosophy is constantly evolving.

From climate change and urbanisation to social equity and technological innovation, landscape architects and designers are now focusing on creating spaces that not only look aesthetically pleasing but also regenerate ecosystems, promote well-being, and promote environmental resilience.… Continue reading

The Stones – a garden with heart (Image Patrick Regnault)

Landscape Landscape event

Exploring excellence: Visiting gardens of the Macedon region

07/05/2025 Patrick Regnault 123 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

By Patrick Regnault

Before the Australian Landscape Conference 2025 was held in Melbourne recently, Outlandish Ventures organised a tour of various gardens in the Mount Macedon region and the surrounding district. We visited five very different gardens, and each garden provided food for thought.… Continue reading

Dahlia x hybrida 'Sincerity Rose Bicolour' (Image: Syngenta flowers)

Landscape Plant of the Year 2025

2025 Plant of the Year winners

07/05/2025 Gabrielle Stannus 146 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees

By Gabrielle Stannus

Nursery and Garden Industry Victoria (NGIV) launched its inaugural Plant of the Year awards late last year, with the winners announced during the annual Australian Horticultural Trials Week in December. I spoke with the breeders and growers behind these plants at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, where their award-winning cultivars were receiving much attention from those in attendance, to find out their landscape uses.… Continue reading

The ‘ǝ’skāp’ Show Garden at MIFGS 2025 (Image: Ludovic Vilbert, Inwardout Studio)

Landscape Landscape Design

Early planning planted the seeds of ǝ’skāp’s MIFGS win, part one

07/05/2025 Gabrielle Stannus 108 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

By Gabrielle Stannus

Designed by Rob Cooper from Distinctive Gardens in Adelaide and constructed by Yergan Landscape and Desert Flower Landscaping, show garden ‘ǝ’skāp’ took out the City of Melbourne Award of Excellence for Best in Show, as well as a Gold medal, at the recent Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS).… Continue reading

Plant Palette Plants

Hackable groundcovers – the ultimate rejuvenators

07/05/2025 Daniel Fuller 92 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

By Daniel Fuller

At Ozbreed, we believe we’re only just now starting to bring out the best traits of our native Australian plants. Recently, we’ve had a renewed focus on providing the industry with plants that can be hacked back reliably for ease of maintenance.… Continue reading

Natallie Back’s 'The Sustainable Sanctuary' was built from the grant awarded to her from Open Gardens Victoria (images supplied by Karen Smith)

Editorial Industry Event

Design, Inspiration and Colour

07/05/2025 Karen Smith 104 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

Melbourne celebrates horticultural ingenuity

By Karen Smith

What draws over 115,000 visitors to Melbourne’s Carlton Gardens each year for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show? The reasons are many and varied – from stunning floral displays to world-class Show Gardens.… Continue reading

Trees create a serene and calm environment as they cradle this design by Christian Jenkins design (Image: Karen Smith)

Business File Editorial

Cost-Plus quoting and how it works

07/05/2025 John Corban 98 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

By John Corban

How a Cost-Plus Estimate works, whether it can work for you, and how to effectively sell it.

Over the past few years, I have been increasingly asked about Cost-Plus estimating, how it works and whether the enquiring contractors should utilise it.… Continue reading

A Baw-Baw Berry (Wittsteinia vacciniacea) plant vegetatively propagated testing conservation horticulture methods and now established in the Gondwana Garden, as an ex-situ Living Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria – Cranbourne. (Image: S. Levy)

Conservation Environment & Sustainability

The high preservation value of conservation horticulture

07/05/2025 admin 123 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

By Dr. Megan Hirst and Holden Sayers

Conservation Horticulture is an important discipline driven by botanic gardens working towards global strategies to address plant conservation, with an emphasis on ex-situ living plant collections of high preservation value. The role brings together the ecology of a species with horticultural techniques to successfully propagate and provide plant material for ex-situ living collections, reintroduction, or more broadly, cultivation.… Continue reading

Various types of spinach are popular ingredients in many dishes (Image: Bernadette Wurzinger, Pixabay)

Plant Palette Plants

Another spinach!

07/05/2025 Clive Larkman 78 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

By Clive Larkman

Spinach has to be one of those vegetables that many people have a love/hate relationship with in the western world. Kids hate it because it is green and often served as a pile of mush. When cooked fresh it isn’t too bad, but when cooked from canned or frozen it is really not a pleasant side dish.… Continue reading

The impact of plastic on marine life (Image: cloud_purple, Pixabay)

Editorial Newsbuds

New developments with biodegradable plastics

07/05/2025 admin 69 Views 0 Comments #Tree, Botanic gardens, Garden Design, gardening, horticultural, horticultural industry, landscape, landscape design, Ornamental trees, Shade Trees

With the ongoing concerns of plastic waste and pollution it is heartening to hear that Japanese researchers have recently developed innovative biodegradable plastics that decompose rapidly in marine environments.

A team, led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Eindhoven University of Technology, has created a durable plastic that fully dissolves in seawater.… Continue reading

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