Don's Top Six Low Maintenance Plants
Plant selection is very important if you want a low maintenance garden. Some plants are high maintenance nightmares. At the top of the list is lawn, which needs regular mowing, fertilising and edging (paving is a much better low maintenance ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Beautiful Borders
Many gardens in Australia flower for only two months a year and then retire until spring. But at Lambley Nursery near Ballarat in Victoria, David Glenn has a wide variety of perennials that will keep gardens in flower right through summer and ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Dwarf Oleander
There are few plants which grow almost everywhere in Australia. The humble oleander (Nerium oleander), is such a plant and it is also one of the most useful of all garden plants. If pruned correctly the oleander can be a magnificent plant, its ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Chinese Lantern
Chinese lanterns or abutilons (Abutilon x hybridum) are charming evergreen shrubs with attractive maple-like leaves and an open, pendulous habit. They grow to about 2-3 metres (6-10') tall. The lantern-shaped flowers are produced in September to ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow
Brunfelsias are evergreen shrubs from tropical America. There are about 30 species, all with tubular flowers which change colour over successive days. Don's favourite, Brunfelsia bonodora, has masses of violet, lilac and white scented ... [... more]
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Burke's Backyard Best Azaleas
There are many different types of azaleas and most people have had one that looked beautiful but eventually died, usually because it was not a hardy variety. Some azaleas are very difficult to grow and others are easy so it is very important to ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Gymea Lily
Gymea lilies are spectacular Australian native plants with large, compact heads of nectar filled red flowers atop tall, thick stems. Most Australian natives resent being transplanted, but Gymea lilies can be dug up, moved and planted bare rooted. ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Bougainvillea 'Scarlett O'Hara'
Don looked at one of the best of the bougainvilleas, a spectacular red flowering variety called 'Scarlett O'Hara'. This particular plant was growing in a dry, narrow garden bed. Bougainvilleas are very hardy and will survive without much water or ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
English Daisies
English daisies are trouble free and easy to grow, which is why they have been garden favourites since the early 16th century. Long ago they were given the name 'day's eye', because the flowers close at dusk and open again at dawn. 'Day's eye' ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Best Azaleas
Azaleas are among the most popular and best flowering shrubs in the world. They grow well in most areas of Australia, from Brisbane to Perth and south and are a feature of many spring gardens. There are thousands of varieties of azaleas most of ... [... more]
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Agonis 'After Dark'
Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark' costs around $25 for 200mm (8") pots. If your local nursery does not have it in stock, ask them to order one in for you. Recently introduced into cultivation, Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark', is a variety of the West ... [... more]
Burke's Backyard |
Dietes - Plant of the Week
One of the great things about our Plant of the Week is that it is virtually unkillable. A clump-forming, rhizomatous perennial from South Africa. It has dark green, strappy foliage, which grows in fan-like rosettes. In spring it produces white, ... [... more]
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