My lawn mower man – the lovely Mark Galligan – has a socialogical impact on every street he visits. Not only does he make the garden a nice place to hang out but he also injects a community reminder to the surrounding home owners to mow their lawn. According to Mark he will frequently [...]
Jane buys a big basil plant (she thinks). I tell her she has not bought a big basil plant but loads of little ones all planted together to look like a big plant. A common trick employed by the garden centres. Problem. Each little plant is competing. I think she would be much better off dividing [...]
Is it OK to separate the different parts of plant and say take the foliage but leave the flowers? Geraniums are such a blast of psychedelic leaf colour and texture but i find the candy coloured flowers too much. I plan to love my 30 odd geraniums that I purchased today but I will not allow one to display its showy flower [...]
Like most garden art traditions the ‘hedging concept’ is imported to Australia from the northern hemisphere. An Australian native hedge tends to be more unruly or woodier when compared to the neat clipped hedges of the boxes found in the Royal Palaces of England. Of course there are a few aust. native species that will produce [...]
I now know that high levels of copper can adversely affect plant growth. However I did not know that when I was 25. By the time I was 26 I began to suspect the old copper washing-pot-cum-planter was leaching something into the soil as most plants that were grown into this container had a quick [...]
Some variegated leaves seem like a total over the top major design triumph for mother nature. A tad gawdy but I love them. These variegated Begonia leaves spin me out – how can all that colour and shape happen on one leaf? All these leaves have since died. I purchased two of these plants for a [...]
Australians Many Victorians in Australia love a good mulch. Mulch in all its various guises are essential in harsh climates. Mulch can not be viewed as mere garden accessories to be added at a later date. Water is so scarce that any successful planting bed without mulch is almost socially unacceptable. Water evaporation is just [...]
Various garden trade magazines have been reporting that products which promote Grow your Own Vegetables are doing very well for garden centres at the moment. This is great of course – everyone is getting back to basics and learning how to grow a turnip or two. Meanwhile I am reading other articles that are reporting [...]
Buy plants as small as you can – not only will you save money but your plant is more likely to survive in the long term. Plants that are supplied to Garden Centres are treated like royalty – they have to look great to sell so they are given optimal growing conditions. Unless you treat [...]
