Protect Your Trees

08 September, 2023  |  Tammy Huynh

Trees are often managed reactively. It’s essential to seek expert advice to keep your trees healthy and safe. The Tree Contractor’s Association highlights the importance of sound tree management and why you should seek the advice of arborist if you are concerned about your trees.

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Cuttings from the Garden World

07 September, 2023  |  Tammy Huynh The Art and Craft of Garden Making. Read More

Spirit of the Garden

21 October, 2021  |  Book written by Trisha Dixon This book, commissioned by The National Library of Australia, and beautifully written by Trisha Dixon, will really set you thinking; reimagining the spaces where you live. Read More

​Sunday’s garden: Growing Heide

18 March, 2021  |  Lesley Harding & Kendrah Morgan

A new book tells the story of one of Australia’s most culturally significant gardens – that at Heide, the home, for fifty years, of John and Sunday Reed.

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Bellavista

18 March, 2021  |  Holly Kerr Forsyth

Holly Kerr Forsyth celebrates the landscape and people of country Australia in her new book ‘Country Gardens, Country Hospitality’. In this extract she introduces us to the garden of Anna and Don Carrazza, local food legends on the Murray.

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Better balcony gardens

18 March, 2021  |  Paul Bangay

In this extract from his new book ‘Small Garden Design’, Paul Bangay shares his tips for that most difficult small garden - the balcony.

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Blooms and Brushstrokes

18 March, 2021  |  Penelope Curtin

In their floral history of Australian art, mother and daughter team Peneloep and Tansy Curtin uncover the stories behind some of our favourite floral artworks.

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Book review: ​Correas: Australian Plants for Waterwise Gardens

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

Correas are not well-known by most Australian gardeners. Maria Hitchcock’s book could change all that as correas offer everything from small trees to small groundcovers as well as guaranteed birdlife, which flocks to the nectar produced by the little bell or star-shaped flowers.

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Book review: ​Yates Garden Guide 43 edition

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

The new edition of this historic garden guide gives a potted history of our lives in the garden as well as the usual invaluble and practical advice about how to grow a healthy garden.

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Book review: Capturing Flora

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

The West Australian beauty exploding from the cover of Capturing Flora is Eucalyptus macrocarpa. The illustration is by Walter Fitch for a 1947 edition of Curtis' Botanical Magazine. Fitch used as his model a plant that had been grown from seed by the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, William Hooker.

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Book review: Creating an Australia Garden

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

There are thousands of native plants we’d do well to get to know, and broadcaster, plant breeder and Ross Garden tour leader Angus Stewart is just the man to make the introductions.

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Book review: Paul Bangay's Guide to Plants

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

This eye-catching companion to Paul Bangay’s Garden Design Handbook showcases Paul’s favourite flowers and foliage. 

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Book Review: The Garden of Ideas

18 March, 2021  |  Libby Cameron

This enthralling book is a complete history of Australian garden design, detailing all the events and trends that have influenced gardens here since Europeans arrived. 

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Garden blogs we love

18 March, 2021  |  Sandra Ross

I love to snuggle up with a book, but I’m also enjoying some great garden reading online. Have a look at these:

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Green Escape

18 March, 2021  |  Jason Busch

Michael Bates reckons that while a plumber might live with leaky taps, and a painter with chipped walls, a gardener never lives in weeds. To prove it he introduces his own garden in this extract from his new book, The New Australian Garden.

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How to: arrange flowers

18 March, 2021  |  Annabelle Hickson

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

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Hummelo

18 March, 2021  |  Words and pictures: Claire Takacs

Claire Takacs is one of the world’s leading garden photographers. Piet Oudolf is the world's most famous garden designer. Here’s what happened when Claire visited Piet’s garden, Hummelo.

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Meet Georgina Reid, storyteller and gardener

18 March, 2021  |  Robin Powell

Georgina Reid is a landscape designer, gardener and writer who four years ago launched the online magazine The Planthunter to explore the connections between people and plants. Her new book, ‘The Planthunter’, continues the conversation.

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Meet Tahnee Carroll, Stylist and plant-lover

18 March, 2021  |  Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan

Tahnee Carroll has never seen a room that can’t be made more appealing with a plant or two, as she explains in this extract from a new book on indoor plants, ‘Leaf Supply’.

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Meet: Dr Alistair Hay, brugmansia expert

18 March, 2021  |  Robin Powell

The huge scented flowers of the brugmansia are show-stoppers. For Dr Alistair Hay, formerly a senior research scientist and director of public programs at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, they have also been life-changers. He tells Robin Powell how it happened.

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Meet: Indira Naidoo, passionate balcony gardener

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

Former ABC and SBS newsreader Indira Naidoo followed her passion for food all the way to a balcony garden - and a book, ‘The Edible Balcony’. We spoke with her about the value of gardening skills, and how she hopes to inspire visitors to the Australian Garden Show Sydney to turn their gardens into places for play.

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Meet: Penny Olsen, researcher and writer

18 March, 2021  |  Robin Powell

Penny Olsen spends most of her working life surrounded by the treasures of the National Library of Australia. It was there she came across a note that led to the beautiful ‘Collecting Ladies: Ferdinand Von Mueller and Women Botanical Artists’. We lured her out of the library for a chat.

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Meet: Saskia Havekes, florist

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

Saskia Havekes is the owner of Grandiflora. Her recent book, Grandiflora Celebrations is a behind-the-scenes look at 60 themed events, from weddings to fashion shows.

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Monty Don's 'Great Gardens of Italy'

18 March, 2021  |  Sandra Ross

There is a pile of gardening books on my bedside table that entices me to crawl into bed after a bath and a cool day in the garden. On top is my garden diary where I make notes of ideas, planting schemes and interesting quotes. 

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Philip Johnson's Garden, Olinda

18 March, 2021  |  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!

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Relaxed style

18 March, 2021  |  Chris Pearson

Sydney-based designer Marcia Hosking gave a holiday vibe to this compact garden.

 

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Secret Garden

18 March, 2021  |  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.

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Secrets of Bougainvillea

18 March, 2021  |  Matthew Biggs

Jeanne Baret disguised herself as a boy to join her naturalist lover on Louis de Bougainville’s great expedition. A fine botanist in her own right, Jeanne is now thought to have collected the first specimens of bougainvillea in the jungles of Brazil.

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What’s new: Summer 20

18 March, 2021  |  Linda Ross

We're all white for summer

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What's New This Summer: Plants to love and books to read

18 March, 2021  |  Elizabeth Swane

Waves of colour is the promise of the new spreading petunias from Floriana. ‘Wave Pink Passion’, ‘Wave Yellow’ and ‘Wave Silver’ make flower-filled, heat-tolerant mounding ground covers. Spreading up to 1m wide they’re also terrific in pots and hanging baskets. A sunny spot and well-drained soil are essential. Liquid feed fortnightly to enhance new growth.

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