Yuruga
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Every week I find myself replying to E-mails from people seeking advice as to what they should plant in their garden. And I often wonder if someone who writes columns about food is asked for advice as to what meal to cook tonight. Or if fashion writers are asked “What should I wear?”
Palms have definitely lost a lot of their popularity here in north Queensland. And no doubt some people have skipped this article simply because it has the word, “Palm” in it. It’s no surprise either because I’ve spoken to a lot of clients who say they will never plant another palm in their garden again. And that’s a pity because they are actually very attractive and tough plants. In my opinion the demise of palm popularity can be attributed to two main factors.
If you’ve ever contemplated planting banksias in your garden, then I would suggest doing it now, because this is the best time of the year to plant them. The hot sticky weather of the wet-season has come to an end, and the rains are more of a welcome re-hydration for the garden than a flooding nuisance that washes away your mulch. Tropical banksias like a bit of rain, but what they don’t like is having wet feet for weeks on end.
Courtyards are the focal point of outdoor living in the tropics, blending privacy and intimacy with relaxation and socialising.
So, how to plant up that special courtyard?
Every working day I make the hour long journey from my home outside of Mount Molloy to Yuruga Nursery in Walkamin. It’s an easy drive with few curves, basically no traffic and rather monotonous scenery.
Working in a native plant nursery, I’ve heard of some pretty interesting ways people have killed their newly purchased native plants. Sometimes it’s due to not knowing what to do, while most times it’s actually due to kindness.
We all value our privacy when we are in our homes. And when we’re in our backyards we don’t like the fact that the eyes of others may peer over the fence, but we kind of accept it, because building an eight metre high fence wouldn’t be a practical solution. Apart from violating building regulations, the visual impact of living within a giant wooden box would appeal to very few. However there is a very simple, cheap and visually pleasing solution. A privacy screen made of living plants.
You would think there would be nothing simpler than to find a native plant that won’t grow over a metre tall. Well, those of you who have been shopping for small native plants may have discovered that the range available is actually quite limited. If you’re planting a rainforest garden you have a pretty good choice of ferns, and a handful of sedges and a few other small flowering plants. There are also a small number of shrub cultivars that have stunted growth and thus fall into the category of small plants.
Is your garden ready for it?
December is probably one of the most exciting times of the year for gardeners in the tropics as it’s usually the time when we see the strongest signs that the dry season is coming to an end and the real wet is about to start. It’s the time of the year when new plants get planted, and failures get excavated. Everything starts to grow like mad with the onset of warm heavy rains, and you assume you can just sit back and watch your garden grow. Unfortunately the weeds and lawn also go into overdrive and gardening turns into a race between you and everything green. So before you get left behind and your beautiful garden turns into an accidental jungle, there are a few things you should get on top of.
Australia has an amazing variety of native plants to offer the home gardener, however it is a resource that is still undervalued and underutilised. Back in 2005 a study compiled by the Department of the Environment and Heritage found between 19,000 and 21,000 species of native Australian flowering plants, however this number excludes horticultural cultivars, pine trees, ferns, mosses and any other non-flowering plants, so the total number of plants is actually even higher than that figure.
