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?

Home grown: Lemons

The plant that gives Garden Clinic gardeners more grief than any other is the lemon. Here’s how to grow gorgeous lemons.

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

In this edited extract from A Tree in the House, self-taught florist Annabelle Hickson shares her key tip for arranging flowers beautifully.

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: create the perfect pergola

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

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 African violets

African violets are treasured, long-lived indoor plants. Make them shine with these tips.

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! 

How to: grow chocolate

Wherever we take travellers in the tropics, from Mexico to Singapore, the Daintree to Cuba, there is one tree that grabs their attention - cacao, the source of our lingering love, chocolate.

How to: grow clematis

One of the great rewards for enduring a cool climate winter is the flowers that bloom in spring, and clematis is one of our favourites. Attention-seeking flowers cover a romantically twining vine that sets off rose gardens and perennial borders beautifully.

How to: grow dahlias

How to: Grow hoya

This shining beauty is undemanding and rewards even the most off-hand gardener with gorgeous globes of scented flowers that last and last.

How to: grow hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are old favourites, yet myths about growing them persist. Sandra clears the air.

How to: grow kirengoshoma

Michael McCoy spills the beans on one of the cool climate, autumn-flowering gems that turn temperate gardeners green with envy.

How to: grow lilies

For wow factor in the summer garden it’s hard to go past lilies, and a new bunch of liliums is now opening bold big blooms across the country. 

How to: grow snowdrops

The true snowdrop is a delicate pearly bell only suited to cool climates. Michael McCoy is a fan.

How to: growing vegetables from seed

Planting punnets of vegetable seedlings is easy, but it is much more cost-effective and more fulfilling - not to mention offering wider choice and better results - to sow seed directly into the garden. The key is to sow plants suited to your climate, at the appropriate time of year.

How to: have garden fun with kids

‘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.

How to: plant a citrus tree

Not only do they look beautiful – with glossy green leaves, gorgeously fragrant spring blossom and winter fruit in warming colours that glow in winter light, but they also taste great.

How to: prune a camellia

Ken Lamb, Australia's master of Japanese pruning techniques, took to a historic, mature camellia at Retford Park as part of a three-day, hands-on workshop on creative pruning, held at the Southern Highlands National Trust property last winter. The camellia, an old japonica with a pendulous habit and flowers in both solid and variegated pink, had only ever been pruned to stop it intruding onto the driveway, and it now formed a solid wall of dark green, shutting off views to the house.

How to: prune climbing roses

The first thing to know about pruning climbing roses is not to do it in winter when you do your other roses. Here Robin Powell shares some of her other climbing rose insites

How to: reflower a moth orchid

One of our most-asked questions to the Garden Clinic helpline and to radio is about caring for moth orchids so they flower again. Here are our top tips.

How to: sow wildflowers

Our bush wildflowers make a stunning display. Now is the time to sow wildflowers for a swathe of colour through your own garden.

How to: Strike a Queen of the Night cutting

For stunning contrast of texture and form, huge repeat flowering and fragrance to die for there is nothing quite like the Queen of the Night orchid cactus, a plant that is as easy to propagate from cuttings as it is to grow.