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2020 Diamond Membership

22 January 2020 | Kristi Bortollo

2020 Diamond Membership – a brand new level of membership and let me tell you, it’s the best one yet.

Not as heavy as a traditional brownie, but with a satisfying double-choc hit and bonus health food scores from its secret (almost indetectable) vegetable content, this is a great, year-round treat. In summer serve chilled, straight from the fridge.

How to: create the perfect pergola

21 January 2020 | Arno King

Shade, privacy and a place to show off fabulous plants - who doesn’t want a pergola!

Cucumbers

21 January 2020 | Linda Ross

Cool as a cucumber is the taste of summer.

Old Wesley Dale

21 January 2020 | Robin Powell

Deb and Scott Wilson make garden magic in Tasmania's stunning Meander Valley.

Beating the French at their own game

21 January 2020 | Libby Cameron

Is Tasmania the new Provence when it comes to producing the world's best lavender? Sacrebleu!

Philip Johnson's Garden, Olinda

16 January 2020 | Philip Johnson

Landscape designer Philip Johnson’s passion is to connect people with nature. In this extract from his new book Connected: the sustainable landscapes of Philip Johnson, he explains how that connection is deepened and refined at his home in Olinda, and creates a billabong to die for!

Secret Garden

16 January 2020 | Matthew Cantwell

Secret Gardens is one of Sydney’s most successful garden businesses – designing, constructing and maintaining beautiful gardens across the city. In this extract from a new book featuring 19 of the company’s finest gardens, founder Matt Cantwell explains how a garden can balance privacy with views out - and into - the garden.

How to: grow an Australian lawn

15 January 2020 | Linda Ross

A patch of native grass, or a whole lawn of it, will help preserve our beautiful Christmas beetles. Linda Ross tells how it’s done.

How to: cook with wattleseed

15 January 2020 | Robin Powell

It’s said that there is a wattle in flower somewhere in Australia every day of the year. Not all of the seed of these 1000-odd species are edible, indeed some a slightly toxic, but there is evidence that aborigines ate the seeds from at least 120 of them. Wattleseed has a unique fragrance and flavour – mocha-chocolateyy, smoky and nutty all at once.

Plants I love: Jerilderie Red

15 January 2020 | Tim Pickles

The chance cross between an Illawarra flame tree and a kurrajong is a tree that should be better known and more widely grown.

Meet: Philip Johnson, landscape designer

15 January 2020 | Robin Powell

Sustainable landscape designer Philip Johnson generated rare garden-related headlines when his ‘Trailfinders Australian Garden’ took out the Best in Show award at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013. What happened next?

How to: create a water wonderland

11 December 2019 | Isla Barlow

You don’t need a big space to have your own water feature: a sunny spot on a balcony or in a courtyard will do. You can use any container, as long as it hasn’t had chemicals in it that would kill the fish. Isla made her water feature in a half wine barrel. Here’s how.

How to: make fruit ice-blocks

11 December 2019 | Linda Ross

When it’s sweltering outside and the kids need some cool relief, homemade fruity ice-blocks are the answer. When they’ve been demolished, ask the children to help make a new batch, ready for the next hot afternoon.

How to: have garden fun with kids

11 December 2019 | Kate Neale

‘Be back by dark’ tends not to be a phrase we associate with childhood these days, but given the chance, children still relish an opportunity to play outside. Kate Neale and her co-author, daughter Leelu, have plenty of ideas to help parents, grandparents and carers have summer fun in the garden with kids.

Meet: Brigitte Eckardt, Rose Grower, Green E Roses

11 December 2019 | Linda Ross

Need some advice on roses? Meet a walking rose encyclopedia!

How to: decorate with water lilies

11 December 2019 | Linda Ross

Waterlilies are shy until the mercury hits 30, and then they unfold into beautiful blooms. We grow them in large bowls and pots, and pick them to decorate the table through summer.

Kitchen Garden Summer

11 December 2019 | Linda Ross

Summer brings the vegetable patch’s peak of production. The heat of the sun powers growth, but threatens disaster too. Rise with the birds for early deep watering, and let your mantra be mulch, mulch, mulch.

How to: save your garden when off on holidays

11 December 2019 | Linda Ross

We’re all going on a summer holiday - and the garden is staying behind! But with a little forward planning your garden can be just as lovely when you return as it was before you left.

Dry Spell Garden: Bondi

05 December 2019 | Linda Ross

Bondi is known for its beach, babes and bikinis, and not for its gardens. But this is where I find one of Australia’s most imaginative pocket-sized spaces. Generously spirited and full of dry-spell ideas to bring your garden to life.

In the Subtropical Garden: December

03 December 2019 | Arno King

Hot and steamy with the odd torrential downpour is the order of business for the subtropical garden. Our resident tropical garden expert Arno King has the lowdown on what’s happening this December in the subtropical garden.

Meet Justine Smith, Rhipsalis grower

03 December 2019 | Robin Powell

Justine Smith’s beautifully grown rhipsalis flew off the tables at Collectors’ Plant Fair this year. Don’t worry if you missed out - she’s now supplying Flower Power with these hairy hanging delights under the Jungle Cactus label.

The New Upside of Gardening

03 December 2019 | Kate Neale and Michael Casey

The show gardens at Singapore's first-ever Horticulture Show earlier this year blurred the boundary between the natural and built environment and introduced us to a whole new place to garden - the ceiling!

Garden Trip: Singapore

03 December 2019 | Robin Powell

The Singapore stopover might once have been about shopping, but now it’s about gardens. Add these destinations to your itinerary.

Hanging Around

03 December 2019 | Linda Ross

Cool green curtains dripping delicate leaves from fine stems are mesmerising. Reversing the trend of growing upward to the light, plants that grow down, and hang around are jewels for gardeners.

How to: create a dazzling basket

28 November 2019 | Linda Ross

No one does a hanging basket of summer flowers quite like the English, and, inspired by a recent trip, we’re determined to give it a good shake this summer. We’ve included here some favourite basket-happy plants with the right cascading habit - and some options for really hot spots. The thing is to design an arrangement like a posy, with a mix of textures and colours. Have fun, be bold, try something new, and toss it all at the end of the season.

Know your: balcony flowers

28 November 2019 | Linda Ross

Add some summer dazzle to a sunny balcony with these pot-loving beauties.

In my Kitchen Garden: Bangalow NSW

28 November 2019 | Kate Neale

In the Kitchen Garden series that shares the knowledge and experience of food growers around the country, Kate Neale dishes the dirt on her top summer growing tips and her favourite new harvest.

Agapanthus

27 November 2019 | Linda Ross

The sparkling blue and white flowers of agapanthus cool the summer garden, and new colours are a real thrill.

Robin's Garden

26 November 2019 | Robin Powell

My garden is largely a tropical holiday filled with luxurious foliages and a fruit salad of orange, hot pink, red and gold flowers. A sprinkling of blue grounds that hot colour in a garden bed that sweeps around an oval lake of lawn. In summer the best thing to do is find a seat in the shade and soak it up.

Hydrangea

26 November 2019 | Linda Ross

The soft clouds of hydrangea flowers are a promise of summer. Let’s take a closer look at growing these plants year-round.

How to: cook spinach pie

19 November 2019 | Robin Powell

In Greece local cooks prefer to make their spanokopita (spinach pie) with the mix of wild greens known as horta.

Chelsea: Graham Ross' Survival Tips

19 November 2019 | Graham Ross

Graham Ross shares his best tips to make the most out of the Chelsea flower show in this survival guide.

Star of the season: Agastache

19 November 2019 | Linda Ross

These easy-care, minty-fresh flowery fillers offer reliable and long-lasting summer colour.

Chelsea magic

19 November 2019 | Robin Powell

Chelsea is a magical garden world as full of dreams and emotion as it of of sheer hard work and skill.

Garden festival planner: Chelsea Flower show

19 November 2019 | Robin Powell

Chelsea is the prize bloom of the world's garden shows, and the reputation is well-deserved. Here Robin Powell shares her observations on what has been another breath-taking Chelsea Flower Show.

Great Aussie ideas

14 November 2019 | Robin Powell

One of the great delights of leading tours for Ross Garden Tours around Australia and the world is picking up great ideas. Here are a few from this year's travels.

Potted: Kangaroo Paw

14 November 2019 | LInda Ross

These furry, iconic Australian flowers are a great addition to a potted garden, especially the smaller varieties.

Star of the season: Dwarf Banksia

14 November 2019 | Linda Ross and Mez Woodward

Dwarf Banksias prove that no space doesn’t mean no impact.

Meet Kath Gadd

14 November 2019 | Robin Powell

Kath Gadd’s company is Mallee Design, a garden design business that uses only Australian plants, and does a neat sideline in beautiful, spun copper birdbaths.

A love of colour

07 November 2019 | Jaqui Cameron

Heather Cant is known locally as the Rose Lady. Find out why in this extract from ‘Beyond the Garden Gate: private gardens of the Southern Highlands’.

The new rose garden

07 November 2019 | Robin Powell

Roses mix it up at Wisley, blooming brilliantly with a range of other flowering plants.

Libby’s Armenian Nutmeg Cake

07 November 2019 | Libby Cameron

Simple and delicious, Libby's Armenian Nutmeg cake, with a nice cup of tea, is the perfect treat after a hard spring morning's garden.

We love: A Dollop of Clotted Cream

07 November 2019 | Linda Ross

Opening pale pink then fading to soft coffee cream ‘Cafe au Lait’ is a celebrity-status dahlia. The multi-petalled blooms are up to 25 cm across and there may be 40 on a plant at once, so strong support is essential.

Meet: Anne Ruston, rose garden owner

07 November 2019 | Robin Powell

Anne Ruston is a South Australian senator, but for rose lovers the really important job she holds is as owner of Ruston Roses, a horticultural icon in South Australia, established by her uncle David. Robin Powell walked though the garden with her.

La Vie En Rose

07 November 2019 | Marian Soames

The charms of French country living inspired Marian Somes to create her own version at her beautiful garden Picardy in the Gippsland hills. How did she do it? Here she shares four underlying elements of the French country garden.

Know your: Hedging plants

29 October 2019 | Linda Ross

Inspired to get hedging? Choosing the right plant for your hedging plan is critical. Look for a height range and maintenance regime that suits your needs, as well as plants that will do well given the soil and position you can offer. Here are a handful of the hedging plants we think should be on your shortlist.

A lesson in clipped hedges

29 October 2019 | Graham Ross

A hedge is many things. It can define areas of the garden; shield you from the curiosity of passersby; block ugly intrusions into your view; protect your privacy; offer favourite plants a green backdrop against which to dazzle; or simply give your garden a nestling sense of enclosure and cosy comfort. Here Graham Ross answers the most-asked questions on hedge cultivation and care.

Star of the season: Jacaranda

29 October 2019 | Linda Ross

The purple veil that floats over Sydney in November is an international star – but not one most of us can bring home.

Kitchen Garden: Spring Planting

29 October 2019 | Linda Ross

It’s time to pull out winter crops to make room for summer’s great produce. Here Linda Ross shares her know-how and experience about what to plant now to keep a family of four enjoying delicious home-grown food all through summer.

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