Thursday, September 18, 2025

landscape design

Garden DesignLandscape

In the swim

By Lynne Testoni

This elegant and classically designed garden proved to be an award winner for Inspired Exteriors.

An engaged, design-conscious client is always a plus, as landscape designers Inspired Exteriors found when they were engaged to create this beautiful garden in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.… Continue reading

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Business FileEditorial

Reframing setbacks in business

By John Corban

For many years, whenever something did not go well in my business, I would get annoyed or frustrated. That all began to shift about 18 years ago when I studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and was introduced to a powerful tool called reframing.Continue reading

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Plant PalettePlants

The case for cacao

By Caleb Roberts

Botanical name: Theobroma cacao

Common name: Cacao tree or cocoa tree

Family: Malvaceae

A beautiful red flush of growth on this cacao (Image: Caleb Roberts)
A beautiful red flush of growth on this cacao (Image: Caleb Roberts)

Origin: With a long history in the Amazon basin, cacao was traded as a currency well before chocolate coins hit supermarket shelves.… Continue reading

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EditorialNewsbuds

New research reveals a solution for Australia’s productivity slump

Australia’s GDP could be boosted by up to $50 billion a year if supply chain data standards were improved, according to a new report.

A new research report from the Centre for International Economics and commissioned by GS1 Australia, the body responsible for the common retail barcode, reveals that industry use of supply chain data standards is quietly driving a significant share of Australia’s economic output, contributing up to $27.3 billion annually to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and could play an increasingly important role in reversing the nation’s lagging productivity.… Continue reading

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Australian EuphrasiaEnvironment & Sustainability

Eyebright delight: Euphrasia in horticulture

Alex McLachlan

Many Australian Euphrasia species face declining populations due to significant changes in climate, with rising temperatures in Australia’s alpine regions putting Euphrasia populations at high risk. Botanic gardens are actively working to conserve some of the rarest species, however much work remains before euphrasia can be considered truly safe from extinction.Continue reading

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EditorialNewsbuds

Maxing out chemical-free crop protection with dsRNAmax

A software package developed and validated at The University of Queensland can tailor safe, effective and chemical-free crop protection using RNA interference (RNAi).

The dsRNAmax software designs double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to target pest and pathogen species while excluding off-target species like beneficial insects.… Continue reading

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PlantsPotato

Potatoes by the hundreds!

By Clive Larkman

The Colombian Exchange resulted in many foods from the New World becoming common in European countries, including but not limited to the potato. Like so many Solanaceae, this humble vegetable is indigenous to the plains of the upper Andes and the lower regions of Machu Picchu and surrounds.Continue reading

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EditorialEditors editorial

Farewell message from the Editor

This issue marks exactly seventeen years since Hort Journal Australia began in July 2008. I have been the Editor from the beginning. However, it is now time for me to turn the page to a new chapter in my life. It is difficult to summarise my experience in this small editorial.… Continue reading

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EditorialIndustry Event

Equipment and services benefit landscapers

By John Fitzsimmons

Landscape design, installation, and maintenance involve creativity, materials, equipment, and skill sets provided as a service. As such, its enterprises also need complementary support on the supply side for materials, equipment and business services. This was all present at the annual Landscape Show 2025, presented recently at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne by Landscaping Victoria.Continue reading

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Plant PalettePlants

Plug-and-play plants for neglected sites

By Daniel Fuller

Mass planting beds are favourable from a nursery and plant breeder perspective because less diversity will often equate to larger profit margins, even though they can be risky by having “all your eggs in one basket.” They are also easy for specifiers to use in designs, because it takes less research to source a single variety of plant that tolerates site conditions and can be replicated throughout large beds.… Continue reading

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