Gardening Australia episode 5 2022: Costa Georgiadis visits an inner-city extravaganza, Millie Ross propagates plants, Sophie Thomson adds wildlife-friendly plants to her garden, and Jerry Coleby-Williams reveals the subtle signs of autumn in the subtropics.
Inspiring, entertaining and full of practical advice, join Costa Georgiadis and the team as they unearth gardening ideas, meet avid gardeners and look at some of the most inspiring gardens from across the country.
Gardening Australia episode 5 2022
Home Cook-ing
Costa visits floral designer Sean Cook, whose small inner-city home contrasts a colourful interior with a verdant, foliage-filled garden. Sean Cook is known for his flamboyant floral designs and his inner-city home is full of colour. As a contrast, he has focused on foliage and texture in the garden. “I really didn’t want any flowers in the garden – I wanted a green calming garden to offset all the colour in the house,” he says.
The garden was very bare when Sean moved in. His love of gardening started with time spent with his granny in Parkes, who had lots of staghorn and other ferns. They created a retaining wall along the side and planted with a climbing fig up the wall, luxurious lush leafy plants, and rhipsalis hanging from containers. Dracaena trifasciata gives it a vertical element. The staircase to the upper area has been widened to a space with clumping bamboo for privacy, a small pond with water feature for sounds and motion, and a mirror, which makes the space look larger than it is.
Planting Habitat – Gardening Australia episode 5 2022
Sophie adds to her wildlife-friendly driveway by filling gaps with shrubs and trees that are local to the Adelaide Hills. Sophie has been working on her habitat driveway for many years, providing shelter and a refuge for birds, insects and reptiles, as well as making a welcoming entrance to her home. The site is very exposed to strong winds and frost, so planting in autumn is important – it gives plants up to 6 months to settle in before the heat of summer hits.
First, she prunes and tidies up to give new plants a bit of space. It’s important to know the site-specific conditions of a site before planting. There is no water nearby, so Sophie has chosen local native plants that are suited to her soil and climate, surviving on rain alone. She puts larger shrubs at the back with smaller ones at the front where they can be fully appreciated. She uses tubestock, as smaller plants settle in more quickly, adapting to local conditions before they mature, and they’re cheaper to replace if they fail.
Harvesting Sunflower Seed – Gardening Australia episode 5 2022
Tino shows how to harvest sunflower seeds. Sunflowers are big, showy and guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone’s dial. The sunflowers planting at the Patch also act as a windbreak for more vulnerable plants. If you’d like to plant a sunny windbreak, the best and cheapest option is to collect some seed! Harvest the heads when they dry – when the back of the heads begin to yellow. Cut off the head and store it upside-down in a dry, well ventilated spot. When ready, the seeds will be loose in the head. To collect the seed, the easiest method is to knock the flowerhead against the side of a bucket or other container. Prise the rest out with your thumbs. Store the seed in a paper bag – not forgetting to label it! – and store it in a cool, dry spot out of direct sun.
Highrise Revitalise
Josh helps a group of neighbours revitalise the shared food garden in their apartment block. Josh visits an apartment block that has put in a shared garden for residents – it was one of the drawcards for urban designer and researcher Anthony Duckworth to move in to the block. He liked the idea of a central space where he could get to know neighbours. The complex manager Henry Yee also lives here but feels the space wasn’t reaching its full potential; no-one had the skills to work it and people weren’t ‘owning’ it. Anthony and Henry get their neighbours together for a working bee to work on the space, with Josh’s help.
