In Gardening Australia episode 11 2019: Jerry Coleby-Williams meets a champion hibiscus grower, Costa Georgiadis starts his backyard pool to pond conversion, Jane Edmanson shows us how to propagate indoor plants and we explore the wonderful world of fungi.
Gardening Australia has always provided practical, trustworthy and credible gardening advice to inspire and entertain. Join Costa Georgiadis and the team as they traverse the country unearthing the best gardens.
Gardening Australia episode 11 2019:
Heavenly Hibiscus
Jerry meets a champion hibiscus grower to learn all about cultivating these flamboyant flowers. He meets with Ida Dagan in Brisbane, a passionate collector, breeder and fan of the most tropical of flowers – the heavenly Hibiscus.
Queensland is a world centre for hibiscus diversity, and Ida’s suburban garden is no exception. She started her collection with just one plant, and it has now grown to a living catalogue of around 300 different varieties. So enamoured with these plants was Ida that she began to experiment with breeding differing varieties to create stunning colour combinations and flower formations. All of the hibiscus in Ida’s garden are grafted onto the rootstock of the “Ruth Wilcox” variety, an older, stronger-rooted hibiscus than many others.
FAQs – Rhubarb stems | Chill factor | Seed depth
Gardening Australia presenters answer commonly asked gardening questions
Prop ‘Til You Drop
Jane shows us how to get bang for your buck by propagating your indoor plants! Indoor plants are a great way to bring a little bit of the outdoors ‘in’ but collecting houseplants can quickly turn into an expensive pastime. Jane is here to show you that it IS easy being green by demonstrating four easy ways to propagate your own plants and build up an “Insta-worthy” collection.
Pool to Pond
Costa dives in and starts the conversion of his backyard swimming pool into what will be a biodiverse pond. Once well-used by family and friends, Costa is ready to trade his bathers for biodiversity and convert his old chlorinated pool into a pond.
The process actually started for Costa many months ago, when he disconnected the power to the pool pump and filter, stopped adding any pool chemicals and put away the leaf scoop! Costa explains “and then you just wait – nature does its thing, the chlorine dissipates, rainwater enters the pool and then you’re away”.
It’s a Soul Thing
Hannah visits a couple using their land and their daily life to cultivate almost everything they need.
Another Brick in the Wall
Tino shows us the tricks of the trade for how to build a gabion wall. Tino builds a gabion wall as a mini retaining wall that he can also use as a seat. This option also provides lots of habitat for lizards and insects, which is a real bonus for your garden’s biodiversity and health.
Tino has built a large Gabion wall already, and essentially, they’re basically stiff wire cages filled with stones (or something heavy) to create a wall or hold the soil behind in place. Because they’re porous, they allow water draining down the hill to pass through – an essential feature of any retaining wall, otherwise the water pressure can cause the wall to collapse.
Revive and Survive
Millie shares tips on how to give plants on their way out, a new lease on life. Millie knows how to sniff out a bargain at the nursery, and she shares a couple of tips to help you make the most of the bargain bench.
Bulb Lasagne
Sophie makes a ‘bulb lasagne’ by planting a plethora of spring bulbs in a pot. Sophie is going to demonstrates a bulb planting method known as ‘bulb lasagne’ where you combine different bulbs layered in a pot to ensure that one flower follows another.
Ripper Idea – Elkhorn Fern
Josh shows how to mount an Elkhorn fern.
My Garden Path – Alison Pouliot
We meet Alison Pouliot – an ecologist and fungi fanatic who is determined to change the way we understand the fungi Kingdom and our relationships to it.
