Clik here to view.
Gardening: Bedding down for winter
AUTUMN is changeover time for annual plants, otherwise known as “bedding plants”. Oasis Pansy “Spreading Violet Wing’… great for ground cover with a spreading range to 60 centimetres.The great display...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: A big show of happiness
A prize-winning garden at the Melbourne Garden Show… large round stepping stones lead the eye to a rather stunning orange coloured leaf sculpture. SPECTACULAR is the only word to describe the Melbourne...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: Beware of the big-tree surprise!
Two large trees, just two metres apart.ANYONE buying a new home that has been landscaped by the builder and/or developer, beware. It would appear that trees are often purchased without the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: March of the deadly beetle
The effects of Elm Leaf Beetle… now the pest has spread to Canberra.TO add to the traumas for gardeners, there is a new insidious insect on the march in Canberra attacking elm trees. Most gardeners are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: The colourful ‘mums of autumn
CHRYSANTHEMUMS are always synonymous with Mother’s Day and autumn colour in the garden. Chrysanthemums… easy to grow and can be divided into dozens of extra plants in late winter/spring for filling...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: Picking the right roses
When it comes to roses, you get what you pay for… consider where you buy them, says Cedric.ROSE-PLANTING time is fast approaching when all the new roses – plus the older, well-known varieties – arrive....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: Behold the brilliant rhododendron
The true magnificence of rhododendron flowers.CAN you imagine the surprise when 19th century plant hunters walking through a hidden valley in the Himalayas saw the brilliant colours of rhododendrons...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening: What to do about possums?
Soft and furry.. a possum mother and baby.I AM receiving an increasing number of inquiries about possums, but I don’t have the answer and have unsuccessfully tried all the proprietary products myself....
View ArticleClik here to view.
From Russia, with leaves
IN 1618 the English gardener, naturalist and collector John Tradescant set out for the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery in Arctic Russia to collect rare plants not known in the western world. Then on to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / Enjoying the fruits of mild weather
AFTER an amazing autumn, we’re now into the second week of winter and the mild weather continues. I am still picking tomatoes growing outside and fuchsias still in flower. Regular falls of rain, not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / For the love of lingering lilies
ONE of florists’ favourite flowers is the lilium (or lily) because they can be delivered in bud and open slowly over one to two weeks. It’s lily planting time… no garden is complete without...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / Coming up roses
UK breeder David Austin has taken the rose world by storm in recent years. Born in 1926 into a farming family in the Shropshire village of Albrighton, he just loved the roses in the garden and, after...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nasty surprise for the fit and confident man
Bowel cancer survivor Cedric Bryant… “I was so very lucky.”TO be diagnosed with bowel cancer, which claims the lives of 77 Australians every week, is a frightening experience. I was fortunate and am a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
gardening / The priority is to get planting
Quince for delicious paste and jellies.AS the second month of a very mild winter begins, there is so much to do in the garden, but where to start? I think the priority is to plant deciduous plants,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / Winter joy of hardy hellebores
Hellebores… totally frost hardy and will multiply over the years or can be dug up and divided in spring.WINTER flowers are always in demand for colour in the garden and none more so than hellebores or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / Fertilisers… how different are they really?
PROMOTING fertilisers is big business with colourful pictures of plants on the packet. Fertilisers… how different are they really?You walk into the garden centre or DIY store and think: “I have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / Starving the urban forest
Elm trees planted by Charles Weston in Weston Park.IN 2000, a committee of three members of the ACT Legislative Assembly examined our urban forest, in other words the trees in our urban parks and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / Happiness is a weeping cherry
It is hard to surpass the beauty of a weeping cherry.IT’S hard to surpass the beauty of a weeping cherry. But despite flowering blossom trees of every variety growing well in Canberra, there are no...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / In praise of lovely lavender
Lavender “Princess”… named as the Plant of the Year in the 2014 Nursery and Garden Industry Awards.WINNERS are the theme this week, starting with one of the world’s favourite plants, lavender – used...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardening / A fortnight to spring fever!
An example of the effect of plants in a group.WITH just two weeks until the official start of spring and planting fever starts in earnest for gardeners. It’s that time when you get excited about that...
View Article