Plants

Companion Planting 1

Companion planting is about wisely using plants to reduce the work of the gardener. These are our favourite garden workers.

Correa 'Canberra Bells'

Two-tone red and cream flowers brighten the garden through autumn and winter, and make the local birds happy too.

Crepe Myrtle

We think the Indian Summer crepe myrtles are simply the world’s best summer-flowering trees. Intense flower colour. Tick. Long flowering season. Tick. Good autumn colour. Tick. Handsome bark and attractive spring foliage. Tick.

Cymbidium orchids

Cymbidium orchids, with their gorgeous flower spikes over a metre tall, look impressive, and are easy to grow in temperate regions, especially in large pots, which can be sheltered during cold winters.

Echium, Pride of Madeira

In full spring bloom, a large Echium will stop passers-by in their tracks. It’s a perennial which produces tall flowering spikes tightly packed with tiny blue-mauve flowers. 

Euphorbia 'Black Bird'

This euphorbia has brilliant burgundy foliage and is extremely tolerant of hot, dry conditions. It’s versatile and looks great in a mixed border, potted garden, or mass planting.

'Eureka' Seedless Lemon

Renowned for its juicy, sharp-tasting fruit, Eureka lemon has been popular with home gardeners for many years. A new variety has all the attributes of the old – except for seeds! The bright yellow fruit mainly appears in winter and spring.

'Fairy Floss' Flowering Gum

This is one of the prettiest of the flowering gums, with big bunches of pale pink flowers with prominent stamens.

Flanders Poppy

Poppies are instantly recognisable for their beautiful, papery blooms held above often-hairy stems. The Flanders Poppy is best known as the poppy worn on Remembrance Day and sown on Anzac Day.

Flower farm: Autumn jobs

Here Linda gives advice and plans for Autumn; planting liliums, gladioli, admiring the buddleia and ordering spring flowering bulbs.

Flower Farm: Spring

Here Linda gives us her advice and plans for the flower garden this Spring. Spring is a great time for choosing shubs, admiring ceanothus and Cherokee Rose, feeding orchids, and of course picking armfulls of Spring flowers.

Flower Farm: Summer jobs

We've dedicated a part of the patch to growing flowers just for picking. And the bonus? Armfuls of flowers for vases and arrangements.

Flowers for hot, dry gardens

Inspired by the cool good looks of Lambley’s hot, dry gardens, here are our pick of the best drought-tolerant perennials for uncompromisingly tough climates.

Fragrant Camellias

Camellias are the shining stars of the sleepy winter garden. We love them for their evergreen foliage, stunning flowers and lack of pest and disease problems. Why not love them for their fragrance too? Here are a few fragrant favourites.

Fragrant White Climbers

Plant a collection of white-flowering fragrant climbers that will follow each other on show, ensuring that you are never without the delicate scent of something to look forwad to.

Frangipani

Once you’ve been seduced by the sweet scent of frangipani you’ll fall in love with their grace, grandeur and simplicity. Linda Ross shares her passion for the world’s most beloved fragrant tree.

Fried Egg Tree, Gordonia

More about the tree that gets its common name from the spectacular autumn show of white petalled, yellow-centred flowers.

Fuchsia heath (Epacris longiflora)

Did you know that this delicate epacris is the floral emblem for Gosford, NSW? Epacris longiflora thrives on the sandstone topography of the Sydney basin and loves growing in coastal areas where you can guarantee wind protection. 

Fuchsias

I have been amazed at the flowering quality of one brave pink fuchsia called ‘Waveny Queen’ in my garden. It has not been without flowers all year; right through winter it held on and then gave an enormous flush in spring.

Garden festival planner: Japan’s floral festivals

Once the cherry blossoms fall, Japan bursts into colour with azaleas, peonies and wisteria creating a crescendo of colour unknown to most international travellers - and not to be missed!

Garden Glossary

Graham Ross explains why learning a little Latin can help you make better choices at the nursery, and open up a world of fascinating horticultural stories.

Garden Road Trip: Tropical North

Head to Cairns and the Daintree rainforest to enjoy the lush verdancy of the tropics and find gardens filled with brilliant bold flowers and delicious new fruit flavours

George Forrest: the plant world's Indiana Jones

When we pick up a few plants at the local garden centre, we rarely give a thought to the brave adventurers who risked their lives to collect the plants from the wild hundreds of years ago.

Giant Bromeliad, Alcantarea

These bossy statement plants soak up the sun and create one of the most eye-catching species in the plant kingdom. 

Grevilleas

Many grevilleas attract birds into the garden as they produce huge quantities of nectar. They are so many different colours, shapes and sizes and they flower for such an extended period of time, there's so many reasons to grow them. Here are our favourites.

Hanging Around

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. 

Happy Wanderer, Hardenbergia

The common name for the native climber Hardenbergia is happy wanderer and that’s an apt title as they flower in mid-winter with sprays of delicate-looking but long-lasting pea-shaped flowers. 

Hedges: out of the box

Got your shears sharpened and ready to go? Here are a few inspirations for hedges that show a straight line is not always the best way to get from A to B in the garden.

Hellebores, the Winter Rose

The winter rose is in a class of its own with shy pendulous bell shaped flowers that peek through dark foliage brightening the coldest days. Flowers can be spotted, speckled, green, plum, white, cream, pink, double, single and every variation between. Let's take a closer look.

Hibiscus

In their heyday, gorgeous, gaudy Hawaiian hibiscus were on every fashionable Australian garden’s must-have list. Their fashion star may since have dimmed but these exuberant flowers are still a slice of summer. Graham Ross asks you to take another look.

Holiday at Home

When summer temperatures soar, I get a little thrill out of heading out to my back yard. That's because I've a gorgeous subtropical garden that boasts cooling foliage, running water and bright colour. Instantly, I'm on holiday – my spirit is refreshed and I'm thinking: why travel abroad when I can have my island paradise at home?

Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Viewed from a distance the tree is a mass of colour throughout winter. Up close, the large flowers resemble orchids or butterflies.

How to plant a bare-rooted rose

It's easy to be seduced by the colour, forms and perfumes of roses, but not as easy to successfully grow them. Here Mez Woodward shows us how to plant your bare-rooted rose.

How to prune roses

Jaws were on the floor at one of our rose pruning demonstrations last year, when

members watched Finbar O’Leary from Swanes Nursery pruning a rose the right way!

How to: arrange flowers

I love the look of flowers picked straight from the garden and casually arranged in a charming jug, jar, urn, vase - even a bucket. But when I pick a posy from my garden and aim for a natural aesthetic with casual grace, my arrangement looks not so much just-picked as just-plonked! So I asked Sonya Gardiner for help and these are her tips - the 5 Fs of Fabulous Flower Arranging.

How to: Attract Beneficial Insects

Help tip the scales in the garden war between the good bugs and the bad guys by planting flowers that attract beneficial insects such as lacewings, hoverflies, parasitic wasps and ladybirds.

How to: care for azaleas

Azaleas bring in spring with a blaze of glory. We love them in hot pinks and bold magentas, in pale pastels and in pure clean white. But in warm subtropical areas these are not set-and-forget plants. To get the most from them gardeners need to pay attention and provide some nurture. Here’s how.

How to: care for deciduous fruit trees

Get ahead of the game by using a variety of strategies to prevent pests and diseases attacking fruit trees, such as apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots and figs. Some work now will mean bounteous harvests later!

How to: Christmas colour

Pots of poinsettia and ixora are a colourful beginning. Masses of other options are blooming at the local nursery: petunias, fuchsia, begonias, coleus.

How to: create a dazzling basket

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.

How to: create an orchid tree

Inspired by a trip to Singapore and the gorgeous Gardens of the Bay, Graham decided to create an orchid tree. 

How to: decorate with water lilies

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.

How to: enjoy peonies

Are these spring’s most romantic flower? The small round buds open to a gorgeous, generous, glamorous semi-double or double flowers. Shades range from white through various pale pink blushes to a rich dark scarlet.

How to: fix geraniums

We recognise that these are properly pelargoniums, but as most gardeners know them and love them as geraniums, that’s fine by us. The most popular type are the zonals, identified by the ‘zones’ or patterns on their leaves. We also love ivy-leafed types for their indestructible nature and perfect hanging basket habit; and the scented geraniums whose foliage exhibits such a wealth of different fragrances. No matter which you choose to grow, keep them in tip-top shape with this handy guide to common problems and remember to refresh your collection every few years with fresh cuttings.

How to: fix the lawn

Most warm-season grasses stop growing when the nights turn cold, allowing weeds to get a foothold while your attention has turned indoors. So now is the time to target terrors like bindii, wintergrass and dandelions and avoid seeding - and many years more weeding - before boosting growth for lush summer lawns.

How to: fix your lemon

If our hotlines here at the Garden Clinic, and on Garden Clinic Radio on 2GB and 2UE are anything to go by, lemons cause gardeners much heartache. We’re here to help! Here are solutions to six common lemon problems.

How to: fix your roses

Many questions from radio callers to Garden Clinic on 2GB on the weekends involve roses. We feel your pain! These are our go-to fixes for six common rose problems.

How to: grow amazing geraniums

The plants I'm talking about here are botanically speaking Pelargonium though commonly called geranium. True Geranium species are delicate-looking perennials, usually with blue flowers.

How to: Grow beautiful roses in subtropical climate

Want to beat black spot on your roses? Especially in high humidity? Sandra shares her secret recipe with Garden Clinic members.  

How to: grow borage

The first question you may be asking is not how to grow borage but why!