TUBEROUS BEGONIAS Large-flowered tuberous begonias come with many flower types, both upright and pendulous, single or double-flowered, and with frilled or plain petals. Tuberous begonias offer a wide colour choice of white, pink, rose, red, orange, and yellow. Flower heads consist of one large male flower in the centre and two smaller female flowers…
SOME FAVOURITE SMALL PLANTS (THAT AREN’T WATER GUZZLERS). by Lyn Edwards Epimedium One of my favourite groups of small plants for shady areas with low water needs over summer is the Epimedium family – the Bishop’s Mitre plant. This is a plant for all seasons, starting in spring the new leaf stems resembling shepherd’s…
OSMANTHUS by Merylyn Condon Commonly known as the Sweet Olive and originating in Asia (Himalayas, China and Japan), osmanthus produces clusters of tiny tubular flowers with a delightful fragrance. Osmanthus is to the Chinese what wattle is to an Aussie and is the focus of many a Chinese festival. In China, it is used to…
MAGNOLIAS By Lyn Edwards The deciduous Magnolias originating mainly from temperate areas of South East Asia and a few from North America create a wonderful spectacle with their late winter-early spring flowering on bare branches on large shrubs and small trees. These are survivors of the dinosaur age with tepals rather than petals and…
LIQUID OR FOLIAR FEEDING By John Woodfield Foliar feeding has become a popular and easy method to help look after our plants. It may help to know how and why this method developed, though you may be interested to know that it’s not new. Research on foliar feeding dates back to the late 1880’s. …
HYDRANGEA BY JOHN LE MESURIER Hydrangea macrophylla A very useful and versatile family of shrubs and a couple of climbers, it is mainly deciduous in this climate. Height can vary from 50 cm in dwarf cultivars to the tall self-clinging climbers which once established can cover several metres. Flowering can take place from late October…
DAPHNE By Merylyn Condon The daphne family (Thymelaeaceae) comprises about 50 species of evergreen and deciduous shrubs originating in Europe and North Africa to temperate and subtropical Asia, though in Australia we don’t see too many of these. Other plants…
DAHLIAS IN CANBERRA Dahlias remain one the most reliable and prolific of the summer and autumn flowers that can be grown in our area. They can be used as a spectacular group planting or inter mingled with other garden plants to give a wonderful overall effect. Dahlias come in many different types, colour,…
Growing Citrus Fruit in Canberra and other cold climates The most commonly planted citrus are lemon trees, especially ‘Meyer’, which is cold-hardy but less acid than ‘Eureka’ or ‘Lisbon’. Eureka and Lisbon are a little more frost-tender than Meyer, but still widely grown in Canberra. Most citrus, including Meyer, will show some signs of cold…
The Macarthur Camellia Legacy A talk by Stephen Utick Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to this talk on the William Macarthur Camellia Legacy. In so doing I acknowledge the elders past and present and the original custodians of the land, and specially acknowledge and thank the present custodians, John and Edwina…