By

Tim Blake
Salvias are wonderful garden plants. They belong to the mint family, and there are nearly 1000 species, including annuals and perennials and evergreen shrubs. They are drought tolerant, thrive in the heat, grow quickly, and flower profusely for months on end. They often have interesting foliage, which may be smooth and shiny or soft and...
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Cucurbits include cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, squash, watermelon and rockmelon. These all share traits and enjoy similar growing conditions. All are easy to grow and highly productive in the home garden. Pumpkin and watermelon vines require room to grow but can trained over or structures. Cucumbers and rockmelons require less space and can be grown vertically...
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Tomatoes are a favourite to grow and every region seems to have a local show day, race day or community event that is the green light to plant out your tomato plants. Tomatoes love the warmth and grow best in southern areas of Australia from mid spring into the summer. In warmer areas, they can...
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Some flowers just make me smile, and the humble daisy is one of those. It’s almost impossible to resist these happy bushes, absolutely smothered in masses of blooms for such a long period from late winter into spring. They flower again in autumn, and sporadically throughout the year. All this with no pests or diseases...
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It’s hard to beat home-grown tomatoes, and now’s the time to plant them. There are hundreds of different varieties, so you can try a few different types and see which ones work best for you. Cherry tomatoes are really easy to grow, and are a great favorite with kids and those of us who like...
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There are some really lovely plants that are very easy and rewarding to grow, and yet are not very well known. One of these is the Abutilon, commonly known as ‘Chinese Lanterns’, thanks to the brightly coloured flowers that hang from the branches. They must be close to the perfect shrub – not too big...
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Callistemons or Bottlebrushes are one of the hardiest Australian native plants. The bright bottlebrush shaped flowers a very impressive part of the spring landscape and are a delight for native birds and bees. The original Callistemons available to gardeners were all bold red but flower colours now range from red to pink, mauve, cream and...
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Azaleas maybe aren’t as popular as they used to be 10 or 20 years ago. I’m not sure why this is, because there’s lots to like about these lovely flowering shrubs. They don’t get too big, and they flower profusely over a long period, often a couple of times a year. They are at their...
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As the days begin to lengthen and the temperatures begin to lift, we discover the changes of spring happening all around us. Trees that were bare branches are coming to life. The dullness of winter is being replaced with renewed life, fresh growth and brilliant colours. Life in the garden is very exciting as spring...
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When we think about growing fruit in warmer parts of the country, we usually think of citrus trees and the classic tropical fruits such as mangoes, avocados, lychees, macadamias, pawpaws, and passionfruit. But many of the varieties we think of as cool climate fruits, like peaches and nectarines, can also be grown here. They are...
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