Homes

Autumn is the gentle time in Australia. Spring can suddenly present you with a frost that withers the new shoots and tomatoes, but autumn is mostly blue skies. Autumn rain is usually gentle, the great thunder heads of summer gone. As I write this the persimmons are ripe, big fat orange fruit, and the leaves […]

Once there was a nymph called Daphne… actually the rest of the story about why she was turned into a sweetly scented bush is far too lascivious a story for a family website. But while other ancient Greek nymphs have faded into history, Daphne still blooms in our winter gardens — and her perfume is […]

Our 12-step guide to securing your garden in case of a storm.

“It’s called a ‘winter rose’ or hellebore,” she said. I looked down at the ankle-high plant with dull green leaves and even duller green-white flowers, then at the bright red real rose glory blooming on the fence. Then I looked back at the hellebore. “They call this a rose?” I said. My elderly friend looked […]

Summer is the time for kids in the garden — school holidays, and hopefully fun and fresh air instead of square eyes from watching too much TV. Today’s gardens though often don’t tempt kids outside. They’re neat designer gardens, created to impress onlookers, rather than with spots for cubbies, and trees with handy branches to […]

Year after year I wonder what I’ll put in our front flower bed, and year after year, after tossing up between stocks and delphiniums, or California poppies, or a froth of nemesia or dianthus, I plant the same again — petunias. They’re not always the same petunia. These days I go for the ‘spreading petunias’, […]

Spring is magic. Blossoms, scents, vases crowded with roses, grass green, skies blue … the real challenge of spring is how to most enjoy it. So here are the six top spring essentials. 1. A new gardening hat This isn’t a ‘go to the races hat’ or a celebrity fashion statement, but a good garden […]

Proper vegie gardens are long neat beds, with rows of cabbages or lettuce and obediently staked tomatoes. They can look both ludicrous and productive. There’s a long tradition, in fact, of “potager” gardens, vegies planted with an eye to beauty as well as usefulness, spirals set in stone or pebbles, circles like small vegie fountains […]

Fences keep out next door’s dog and give us privacy, but they can be beautiful too. Gardening expert Jackie French tells you how to make your fence a feature of your backyard. The flower-covered fence: My dream fence is covered in mandevilla, with is shiny green leaves and white flowers with what is possibly the […]

Flowerbeds generally fall into two categories: weed-filled or wonderful. Weeds are always waiting to pounce on flowerbeds. They grow faster than flowers and cope with heat, cold and drought better. So how do you keep your flowerbeds stunning but weed-free? Follow these steps and you’ll have a spectacular garden in no time. 1. Don’t be […]