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Gardening Australia (2010) Season 36 Episode 34 Spring Lush Rainforest Garden & Growing Hops .
Gardening Australia (2010) Season 36 Episode 34
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Gardening Australia (2010) Season 36 Episode 34
#GardeningAustralia
#RealityInsightHub
🎞 Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free, as soon as possible. ❤️Reality Insight Hub❤️
👉 Official Channel: https://www.dailymotion.com/TrailerBolt
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FunTranscript
00:00.
00:06Hey!
00:07Hi!
00:21Hey, buddy.
00:22Hey!
00:24Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:36Spring is in full flight and so are we.
00:40We've got everything you need to get motivated, inspired and ready to get stuck into the garden.
00:47Here's what's coming up.
00:48I'm going to introduce you to a crafty crop that you'll be surprised to see thriving in the subtropics.
00:57I've got a creative technique to enable you to cultivate even more plants, like epiphytes, that grow without soil.
01:04I'm meeting a couple with a passion for plants that has quite literally been handed down through the generations.
01:11And we meet an artist crafting her own personal sanctuary.
01:18I'm on Dharawal country in Grays Point, a small suburb about 30 kilometres south of Sydney.
01:32It's bordered by the Hacking River and the Royal National Park.
01:37It's an area of outstanding beauty, covering diverse ecosystems from open grasslands to coastal heathlands to temperate rainforests.
01:48Today, I'm on the northern edge of what was the first declared national park in Australia.
01:54And I'm here to visit a garden cultivated to echo its temperate rainforest surrounds.
02:01Jim, this is absolutely spectacular.
02:09I love this landscape.
02:11It's a beautiful spot.
02:12The day we decided to get married, we got in the car and aimlessly drove south and actually ended up here.
02:17And we finally bought here and stayed.
02:19We love it.
02:20I can see why.
02:22The Angofras, my favourite tree, they just frame it perfectly.
02:28Yep. Well, as I said, one of the ideas I have about the garden is to sort of have a series of rooms and corridors and windows.
02:33So as you look out, you can see through various windows where the view is, you know, the river and the forest.
02:38And that just gives it a, you know, an extra feel, I think.
02:41So what was it like when you first came here?
02:44Well, it was very different, Costa. And why don't we go have a look?
02:47Yeah, I'd love to.
02:50When Jim and his wife Vicki moved to this 750 square metre property 32 years ago, the garden was unkempt and the sloping backyard was covered in one of the worst weeds of national significance.
03:05Thriving under the canopy of existing Sydney red gums.
03:09The whole area here was thickly covered with lantana, you know, eight, ten metres high in places.
03:17And I decided it obviously had to go. I mean, we didn't know where the property entered for starters.
03:22So with an axe in one hand, a machete in the other and a saw in my third hand, I dived down off the cliff and I progressively cut it all away.
03:30And despite the doomsday predictions, it didn't come back.
03:34Good job.
03:35Yeah.
03:36So after we'd cleared the lantana, some of the first plants to come back were what I thought were odd little ferns.
03:43And we didn't really get to see exactly what they were because the local deer population would mow them down.
03:49We eventually kept the deer out by putting a fence up and the ferns turned out not to be little, but these things.
03:55So the big Siathia cooperi tree ferns, and of course, some of them are, you know, 10 metres high.
04:00They are huge.
04:01Yeah. This one here must be 20 metres.
04:04Yeah, absolutely. They're gorgeous.
04:05The canopy is spectacular.
04:10When you look at the pattern of the tree fern fronds, it has that repetition, that fractal of nature.
04:18And it's really relaxing to see that.
04:21I'm happy you noticed that costume because it fits in with my T-shirt with the great, great Mandelbrot,
04:26who was important in developing the idea of fractal mathematics.
04:28So mathematics is everywhere, but it's certainly up there in the tree canopy, isn't it?
04:32It's amazing.
04:33I mean, they're crucial for making the, you know, the microclimate down here.
04:36And it's changing as they get bigger and taller and, you know, denser, the whole climate is changing.
04:43What were some of the other things you found as you cleared the land?
04:47One was a series of rock falls, like the rocks behind us.
04:50So the whole area is literally several layers of sandstone.
04:54So that gave us a way of sort of surveying it.
04:57And I was able to work out where the paths would go.
04:59The only tree, literally, that was here now, that was here when I moved the lantana, was the New
05:06South Wales Christmas porch just behind us there.
05:08How have you managed to keep the weeds down to establish the garden?
05:14I always have this thing, what lands on the forest floor stays on the forest floor.
05:19We don't go buying packs of mulch, we get our own.
05:22But I guess a combination of the natural shading of the trees as they grew and the natural mulching
05:28keeps the weeds down. It behaves like a forest should behave.
05:33Mulch also keeps moisture in the soil, reducing the need to water.
05:38But Jim has installed misting jet sprays in parts of the garden
05:42to keep the more tender rainforest plants happy.
05:46So what trees have you added along the way?
05:48There's a big banksia integrifolia. That's the third generation of a tree
05:52that was in my dear mum's place where she still lived.
05:55I brought that down in a little pot, but that's now, goodness knows, 20 metres high.
05:59It's huge, always in flower. There's some acacias I put in.
06:03But not too many. The odd tea tree I put in.
06:06But mostly what's here has grown on its own.
06:09You know, the native palms, the native ferns, even the sandpaper fig over there,
06:13which is the dominant tree now in the area.
06:15It was all not my doing, quite frankly, but very appreciated also.
06:23So, Jim, how long have you been a gardener?
06:25Costa, I think it goes back forever. I think I probably came out of the womb with a plant in my hand.
06:31But certainly there are photos of me in my very young childhood standing next to a little gardening plot
06:37that my parents gave me and very proudly with my few little petunias and things, and I remember it fondly.
06:43Jim's a professor of medicine at Wollongong University and a renal physician based at Wollongong Hospital.
06:51I'm a big fan of science. I mean, you know, what do I do in my spare time? I'm a doctor.
06:55I look after patients with kidney disease, which I love doing.
06:58But I am a very big fan of nature. I'm a fan of science and chemistry.
07:02And if you really want a chemistry set and a science set to keep you, you know, forever mesmerised and enthralled,
07:09this is it. You know, you can't go past a natural setting like this.
07:13I actually adore watching how it works. You know, it's my joy.
07:20Closer to the house, where the land is much flatter, Jim has planted a mix of sun-loving
07:26exotics and natives, including cacti, proteas, wisteria, arbutalon and more.
07:36But Jim's absolute favourite are orchids.
07:38So one of the things I've done here is, being a really very keen orchid enthusiast,
07:46I've made a point of putting some dendrobium hybrids on this large rock here, this large sandstone boulder.
07:52The orchids are basically taken very well and you can see the roots growing fairly aggressively over them.
07:56And they're stuck there and they flower as they are.
08:01Jim's method for mounting an orchid on a sandstone rock is dead simple.
08:06You need a few tools. You need a hammer, some masonry nails, some thin wire and of course,
08:12perhaps the most important ingredient, an orchid.
08:16We splay the roots, remove much of the medium. We place it on the rock.
08:23I'm just using some thin wire to secure the orchid. Attach to each of the nails
08:27across the root ball in the middle of the plant.
08:33Just place a bit of leaf mulch around the base of the plant, largely for aesthetics.
08:38And that's it.
08:40So when did you get involved with orchids?
08:43Do you know, I think I was probably about 15. I was mesmerised by these plants that
08:47looked in some regards like straggly bits of nothing, but had these unbelievably gorgeous
08:51smelly flowers on them. And one of the things about orchids is once you get hooked, it's a disease
08:55that's incurable. And you're stuck with it lifelong, but you can do worse.
09:00And that's coming from a doctor saying that it's incurable.
09:03But it's a good disease to have and not be cured from, so probably the only one.
09:09For many of us, it would be an absolute dream to call a bush setting like this home.
09:15But Jim's doing things we all can do. Caring for country, creating a biodiverse garden for all
09:22creatures to thrive, and most of all, reaping the benefits of surrounding yourself with nature.
09:30And later in the program, Jim's showing me another one of his favourite parts of the garden,
09:36his shade house.
09:45Is it good or bad to water the leaves of plants?
09:49Well, an old wives' tale used to say that if you water the plant on a really hot day,
09:54those drops of water on the leaves would actually act like a magnifying glass and burn them.
10:00But that is not true. It's not unsafe. But it can encourage a lot of disease problems on different
10:07species, particularly food crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins. They all suffer fungal problems
10:13on the leaves if you water them. So water the ground. Get that nice and deep where the roots are.
10:19That's where the plant needs it. And you're much less likely to have any other problems that can be
10:23caused by watering the leaves.
10:26Will pest oil control citrus leaf miner? By itself, it won't. I'll tell you why.
10:32Citrus leaf miner is a little grub that gets under the surface of the leaf and it causes these squiggly
10:37lines. The leaf to distort and it can stunt the growth of a plant. So if you were to spray this
10:42with a pest oil, which acts by smothering a pest and suffocating it, you won't actually get contact
10:48with the grub because it's protected by the surface of the leaf. So what you have to do is prune off
10:53all of the damaged material and bin it. Then you spray the pest oil over the surface so any new growth
11:00is just slightly covered with the oil. And that deters the night flying moth from laying her eggs
11:06and reinfecting the plant. How can I control garlic rust? Garlic rust is a fungal airborne disease
11:13that'll rip through your garlic crop and other alliums like chives, leeks and onions. It'll first
11:20show up on the lower side of the leaf as a yellow or white splotch, quickly followed by orange rusty
11:25bumps. The way to manage it is to remove those leaves as quickly as possible and bin them, keep
11:31harvesting those impacted leaves throughout the season, nursing it through to harvest day where you'll
11:35still get a decent yield. Importantly, never compost these impacted leaves because you'll spread that
11:41disease. And source a fresh batch of clothes for planting next season so you can grow healthy,
11:47beautiful garlic.
11:53When you're growing vegetables, you'll find that size doesn't matter. You can grow them in anything.
11:59I've used a tube stock crate in which to grow some carrots. It's not that deep. It's only about 10
12:05centimetres deep. I've sown a taste of France. They're called Paris market carrots and it was about
12:11eight to ten weeks ago so they're looking pretty good. They're so cute, little round ones and they're
12:16really tasty. So these are nigh on ready for harvesting.
12:23They're good. They're really good.
12:28Oh look at that.
12:31Isn't that amazing? From that tiny container, no depth at all and you've got all that.
12:37Now's the time to start off a new crop of carrots and they're a cool season crop so you could try them
12:43along with peas or coriander or salad greens, pea shoots, those kind of things. And in summer,
12:50the hotter season, you could try basil and chives. So here we go. Once you've harvested all these carrots,
12:57that potty mix can still be used if you revitalise it with a bit of fertiliser and compost. And then
13:04that whole thing, you can go and re-sow whatever you want into that area there. I've used this tube stock
13:11holder. It's a beauty because it's got drainage holes and I've used a liner in there just so that
13:16the water collects a little bit but still drains through. Could use cardboard or layers of newspaper
13:22as long as the potting mix doesn't fall through and that there's plenty of drainage.
13:27And just by putting in lots of potting mix, fresh potting mix.
13:31Right, level that out and you'll find that even though the potting mix is in there, it's really
13:39light. So that's no problem at all. And it's time to sow the carrots.
13:46You can sow them either by scattering or put them into straight lines. But in this case,
13:51I'm just going to scatter the seeds.
13:59Cover them up really lightly with a little bit of potting mix and then just tamp them down
14:04so that they're actually in contact with that potting mix.
14:11So put them in a sunny spot and as the seedlings start to grow, just thin them out ever so slightly
14:17because they do need a bit of room to move and keep them well watered. It's a shallow container,
14:23so you do need to keep them well watered. And you have a go at it because growing your own vegetables,
14:29even on a small scale, is so rewarding. And if you get a crop like that, you can virtually
14:36forget about going to the green browser.
14:37After a hard day's gardening in the sun, there's nothing better than a refreshing drink.
14:50But what if you could grow your own on tap? Well, Jerry's brewing a story in Brisbane you're going
14:58to want a taste of. I'm in Cleveland, a coastal spot 25 kilometres south of Brisbane on Moreton Bay.
15:13It's home to a farm producing a crop you'll be surprised to see thriving in the subtropics.
15:21Hops are the female flowers of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. The plant itself
15:27is a perennial herbaceous vine which grows up to 10 metres tall that produces fragrant flowers,
15:34essential for brewing beer. And hops are not just used for brewing.
15:41They can be used as a flavouring agent for things like vinegars and marinades.
15:46They've even been used in traditional medicine. This farmlet is the passion project of lifelong friends
15:54Steve Mitchell and Andrew Carson. The idea of farming hops was born in 2017 in Steve's garden.
16:02That was in my front yard at Bulimba, an American Cascade which is one of these and that this plant
16:08is from that original plant. One of our mates brewed a beer with it. We thought that was pretty cool
16:13and we wanted to go bigger and started expanding from there. Native to Europe, Serbia, northern Iran
16:21and Morocco, hops are traditionally farmed in cool climates with long spring summer day lengths.
16:28And the plants use a decrease in day length to stop growing and start flowering.
16:33In Brisbane, our longest day lengths in summer are around 13 ¾ hours of sunlight. The ideal conditions
16:41are 16 and a half hours. If they don't get that 16 hours, they will start to flower. The plant won't
16:49reach its full growth and will get inconsistent harvests. So how did you get around that problem?
16:55We had a brewer who told us that they experimented with lighting in South Africa where the day lengths
17:00weren't long enough. That was literally a light bulb moment for the pair and the farmlet now boasts
17:06rows of healthy vines that tower six metres in the air suspended on wire trellises punctuated by light
17:14bulbs hung from above to extend the subtropical twilight. That changed everything for us. We could
17:21control when they flowered, we can make the plants bigger and obviously our yields went up too. I love the
17:28fact that you're using natural fibre to support the hops. It's called Koya fibre, so it's made from
17:34coconut plants. Hops are a climber and they need something to grow up. So we've made six metre trellis,
17:42three metre spacing in between the rows. When the plants wake up in spring, we put strings beside each
17:48plant in the field. We tie it from the top of the trellis and then when the plants start growing,
17:54we poke it into the ground beside each plant and then we train the vine up the string. It always goes
18:00clockwise and it's the same northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere. So once we do that, that's the
18:06end. It'll just take off and hopefully grow about six inches every night. So how easy would it be for a
18:14home gardener to grow hops and have you got any advice? I think anyone could grow hops. For a backyard grower,
18:21like I would suggest just a good amount of compost and some simple fertiliser because they grow so
18:27quickly in such a short period, they're very hungry for nutrients. So they need a lot of nitrogen to grow
18:34vegetatively and then for flowering a bit more potassium. And full sun? A hundred percent full sun.
18:42They can grow against the side of a house, so in partial shade, but they grow best in full sun.
18:47Indeed, the vigorous growth of the hop vine can quickly outpace unsuspecting gardeners. So it's not
18:55recommended to try growing it unless you're willing to invest the time to keep it from overtaking your
19:01entire garden. And the height it can reach also means access for maintenance could be a problem.
19:08So what are you growing and why? We grow a number of American bread varieties. Cascade,
19:17Centennial. Brewers really like those for brewing pale ales. We're growing a number of Australian
19:23varieties as well. So Red Earth, Krakenup, Victoria. But there's one new variety the pair is particularly
19:31excited about. We've recently imported Vista, which has been developed by the American Agricultural
19:37Department. It grows vigorously, quite big. It grows well in a range of climates. So it yields a lot,
19:44and it's meant to be drought tolerant and somewhat disease resistant. So it's got a lot of factors going
19:50for it. The cones that we've got off the first plant, they really seem a lot oilier and better smells,
19:58more passion fruit, more citrus. There's a lot more coming through them. But that's
20:01probably what you're going to get with a hop variety that's developed in the last three years
20:06compared to all the other ones that we've got that have been developed 20, 30, 40 years ago.
20:10So it's a more modern hop. So why is it you grow so many different varieties?
20:15Different hops are suited to different beers. We've got ones with different alpha acids or bitterness
20:21and ones with different fruitiness and oil content as well. The oil is more about the flavour
20:26and the acids are more about the bitterness. You can sort of match what sort of beer you want to make
20:30with whatever hop you want to use. So that's perfect for craft brewers?
20:35Yeah, that's right. The craft brewers like a combination of different hops and we can provide
20:40that because they all seem to mature at the same time by using the lights. So we can give the brewers
20:48whatever they like. When the plants are all grown up, the lights are turned off. And the change in day
20:55length means within seven weeks the plants have produced cones and are ready to harvest. So when
21:02do you know they're ready? Well, the cone goes papery so it loses moisture and the breaks will brown
21:10off a little bit around the side and the lupulin inside will turn a bright yellow. You'll be able to
21:16roll them in your hands, the oil will come out and you'll get that smell. So the stickier and oilier the better.
21:26Unfortunately, recent weather events have had an impact on this season's harvests
21:32and yields are down. Anyone that knows hops and looks at this paddock at the moment will say,
21:37that's not such a great looking field. The pair are harvesting early, cutting the vines down wholesale
21:46and feeding them through their three-stage harvester.
21:49How big would the average brewery order be? A small brew of 200 litres might require a couple of kilos.
22:09The bigger ones, we've gone all the way up to 70 or 80 kilos of fresh hops.
22:14How are you guys? Hey Stu, how are you doing? How are you? Local microbrewery owner Stuart Martin
22:21has been using hilltop hops for the past eight years. Big bags. Happy brewing. Incredibly, the shelf life
22:29of fresh hops is under 24 hours. We really try and get the guys to pick the hops first thing in the
22:37morning and then I'll be here to pick them up, drive them straight back to the brewery and then they go
22:42within a couple of hours of picking. To see this process, I'm visiting Stuart's microbrewery in
22:50Wilston on Brisbane's north side. So we have four key products that go into beer. Water, barley or sugar,
23:01yeast and then hops. They are the four ingredients that must be in the product to be able to call it beer.
23:07What we do is we boil it up and we add the hops and then finally we add the yeast which then
23:15eats the sugar and a by-product that processes alcohol. So today we're brewing the QPA, Queensland Pale Ale.
23:24Every year the QPA is brewed once a year and we celebrate the fact that the atmospheric conditions,
23:31the soil conditions, the temperature, the sunlight, they're all different every year. So we celebrate
23:38that natural variance in ingredients and we call it paddock to pint. And I'm taking a moment to grab
23:48a pint straight off the tap. Cheers. Purely for research purposes and course.
23:53Back at the farmlet, despite their successful efforts to date, Steve and Andrew are cautious
24:03about any plans to scale up their efforts. We both have day jobs so we do this in our spare time on
24:09weekends. It gets a little bit trickier during harvest where it's every day for two or three weeks
24:16solid. But generally it's weekend work. It's also very nice going home after harvesting in your car and
24:22all your clothes just reek of hop resin. So it'd be fair to say you're hooked on hops.
24:28Yeah, sadly we're hooked on hops, yes.
24:38I was wondering, have you expanded your indoor plant collection over the last few years?
24:43Well, Tammy's here with a creative way of growing more outside the pot. It'll rock your world.
24:52So many gardeners turn to nature to inspire our own personal potter jungles,
24:58with plants filling every room in the house and dripping from every available outdoor space.
25:03But when it comes to real jungles, plants don't just grow in the soil. They grow absolutely everywhere,
25:09as epiphytes on trees and lithophytes on rocks. And I'm going to show you how to cultivate a little
25:15rocking plant inspiration at yours. You need to start with a specific kind of stone called lava rock.
25:22Other types of rock won't work because they won't stay consistently damp. And this also has lots of
25:28little crevices for the roots to anchor in. It's a fine porous volcanic rock with holes small enough
25:34to wick the water from the surface below up to the plant. Lava rock can be a little tricky to find,
25:40but aquarium supply stores typically carry it for aquascaping. Or sometimes your local landscape
25:45yard will carry it in bulk as an inorganic mulch. If your lava rock has a flat base, you're in luck,
25:51and you can just position it on your saucer ready for planting. If not, you may need to glue it to
25:57ensure it stays stable and upright. You can also use a glass vase and sit the rock in the bottom of that.
26:03There are a range of species that can be cultivated this way. Plants to try include ferns, aroids,
26:10ficus, and certain orchids. The main unifying factor in finding suitable species is that they're
26:16epiphytes, which means they grow without soil. The example we have is a Heptaplurum cultivar.
26:23Outdoors, these can grow metres tall, but this treatment has bonsai'd it, and the effect is a small
26:29tree clinging to a damp, rocky outcrop. You can see the roots trailing over the rock and spilling
26:35down into the water dish below. The one we're going to build today is using another epiphyte,
26:40a cultivar of Epipremium Panadum, Cebu Blue. In nature, this aroid is adapted to climbing and
26:47scrambling over surfaces and putting down roots from nodes wherever it finds moisture and a foothold,
26:54so it is well suited. Starting with a small plant means it's easier to manipulate at this early
27:00stage, rather than trying to retrofit a larger plant into a condition it's not used to. Wash the soil
27:06from the roots completely, so you can see exactly what you're working with. Soil left stuck to the
27:11roots can lead to rotting, so try to remove as much as possible. Inspect the root system and cut away
27:18anything that is damaged. I'm dividing this plant and using two smaller sections for my living rock.
27:27Spread the remaining roots over your rock and find a natural fit, like an octopus on coral. Look for a
27:33position where the roots will easily contact the stone. Once you're happy, carefully wind some string
27:39or fishing line to hold the plant gently but firmly in place. Sit your rocking little plant in the
27:48saucer and backfill with pebbles or a little gravel. The pebbles help slow the evaporation of water from
27:57the saucer, meaning you should have to top it up less frequently. Water the entire display, soaking the
28:06rock and the plant, plus fill the saucer. You may need to remove a few excess leaves to ensure the
28:13plant doesn't dehydrate before the roots re-establish. Place in a spot with bright indirect light. Over the
28:20next few weeks to months, watch the plant closely and fill up the saucer every few days. As a porous
28:26rock, it will draw moisture up to the plant, but you will need to mist it regularly as the roots adhere to
28:31the stone. Initially, the plant will take some time to acclimatise. The few roots or leaves
28:36dying back, but after a few months, you'll see some new shoot and leaf growth. Remember to keep the pebbles
28:42and the lava rock wet. Without soil, there isn't much wriggle room in how long the plant will survive
28:48without water. Over time, you might get some white mineral buildup on the rock and the dish. This is
28:53likely a buildup of salt from fertilisers. Don't worry, it's harmless and can be cleaned with an old
28:58toothbrush and some warm water. Once it's fully attached, you can remove the fishing line and enjoy your
29:04rocking little display. There's no doubt we all love plants in nature, in our gardens and pretty much
29:12anywhere else. And there's no end to the creative ways to cultivate them. Still to come on Gardening
29:19Australia, we hang around with a pair of plant collectors. Hannah stops to drop her compost pot
29:28and we meet an artist creating her own world.
29:40As well as all the work Dr Jim's put into his stunning Grays Point temperate rainforest garden,
29:47there's more to see. So Costa, if I could just invite you into my little greenhouse here.
29:54Oh! Hidden away at the opposite end of Jim's place is his pride and joy, his shade house.
30:01This is like a cubby house. Your playroom in here, it's packed. It sure is. It's my happy place and I
30:07spend a lot of time in here. We've got a lot of, guess what, more orchids, bromeliads, pitcher plants and
30:14anything else you can think of really. And it's here that his beloved orchid collection really has a chance
30:20to shine. You know, I've devoted a lot of gardening time to growing orchids. But no, it's been great fun
30:27and they're doing well. This space is enclosed with mesh which lets the breeze through and keeps
30:34it well ventilated. And the plants get watered by misting jets attached under the benches, connected
30:41to a rainwater tank. It's also where Jim's three native green tree frogs live.
30:4621-year-old brothers, Ollie and Greeny. 21? 21. No way. We know they're 21 because we actually
30:55raised them from tadpoles that were found in the swimming pool up the road. So they're native
31:00Latoria corulio green tree frogs. About four years ago, we were kindly gifted a female frog,
31:05which we called Frida. So Frida, Ollie and Greeny are the caretakers of the greenhouse. We don't use
31:10fertiliser, we don't use insecticides and we rely on the frogs to move around and eat the insects. And they
31:14do. And I suppose they turn what they eat into fertiliser.
31:20There's a cricket there. And I think Frida's going to get here. Just watch this, watch this.
31:26Watch this. Beauty!
31:28We do actually supplement their diet every week. I give them a few live crickets just to keep them
31:32happy. But they find food here. And like many a proud parent, Jim loves sharing their special moments
31:40with the world. Is it true that they've got their own social media following? A huge social
31:46media following. Thousands. I'm not kidding. Thousands of people around the world follow my
31:50dear frogs. I sometimes wonder whether they know that. I suspect they probably do. People kept saying,
31:56why don't you write a children's book? I did. I wrote a rhyming children's book about their lives in the
32:02greenhouse. It's called The Adventures of Ollie the Rain Gauge Frog. The reason the rain gauge comes into it is
32:07four times in Ollie's 21 years. He's hibernated in the little rain gauge here and he submerges himself
32:12in the water for four months and doesn't move. And that's now distributed around the world in various
32:18libraries and what have you. So what other frogs have you got in the garden? There's a lot of other
32:23frogs. Marsh frogs, the Perrins tree frog is everywhere. And the Perrins just love the Bromeliads.
32:28You know, we've got a lot of ponds around the place that they love. And I suppose there's a lot of
32:32natives that grow around the ponds as well as Bromeliads and they seem to be happy.
32:44One of the ponds is home to Jim's short-necked turtle Murray. You've got to call him. Murray!
32:50Who was rescued from a busy road by wildlife volunteers. Murray was taken to a vet and the
32:56vet gave them to us because we have a reptile license and you know people know we keep turtles.
33:02They're rather extraordinary creatures. If you want lunch, stick your head out of the water,
33:06all right? Okay, lunch it is. Because of Jim's reptile-keeping license, he's often approached
33:13to take in rescued animals. So the idea of a healthy wildlife as an indicator of a healthy garden,
33:21that's pretty much true for your garden? Oh, absolutely. Costa, I suppose what I really like
33:27most is to see how the whole system works together. So, you know, we're all interested in the plants,
33:31we're all gardens, we love our plants, but plants are only part of the story. There's a lot more to it,
33:35and particularly animals.
33:39Jim believes in letting nature do its thing and not interfering all the time, except when it's
33:45necessary like cleaning out a lantana infestation. But I just adore watching how things grow and how
33:53things interact without us fiddling with it. That's the joy, you know, watching life do its thing,
33:58which seem basically. We use the canna lily in our gardens to give us a tropical feel with its spires
34:11of fluorescent flowers. Now, it grows from underground rhizomes, which become a problem
34:17when dumped as garden waste. The canna lily is prolific around southeast Queensland and northern
34:23New South Wales, where it loves the climate. My suggestion as an alternative is the cordyline.
34:30There are various species, but generally they're upright with long strappy leaves and spikes of
34:36purple pink flowers. I think they have the feel of the tropics whenever I see them. Well, what about
34:43Patersonia occidentalis? It's a strappy leaf perennial with masses of purple flowers. It grows from
34:50an underground rhizome, making it just as resilient as the canna lily, but far less an environmental threat.
35:03There's a certain type of person that becomes a plant collector. It takes a real commitment and focus
35:11and a little bit of obsession. Actually, I reckon a lot of obsession. When a couple share that passion,
35:20well, it's a beautiful thing. Here's Josh with more.
35:29There's something comforting about a rambling cottage garden, but all of these delightful combinations
35:35of spring colour and WA native plantings are not the reason I'm here today.
35:40Tucked away on this 1.2 hectare property, 30 kilometres north of Perth, is a collection of plants
35:49that has been generations in the making.
35:54Hoyas and epiphytic cacti. Too many to count. Keeping them thriving has been a labour of love
36:01for Irene Daniels and her husband, Kevin. Hello, I found you in this amazing garden.
36:06How are you both? Oh, very good. Thank you. My grandfather,
36:10Stan Hardy, he was a passionate cactus collector. He had the biggest collection in Australia at one
36:16point. And then my dad decided to specialise in epiphytic cacti when my grandpa gave him some
36:23cuttings to start with. So my dad had a huge collection of epiphytic cacti, mainly epiphyliums and
36:27slumbergieras. And then the Hoyas became more popular. So when my dad was getting sicker and
36:34sicker, he needed to pass his collection on because he couldn't look after all of it. So we brought it
36:39here. And since he's passed away the last two years, yeah, we have it all here and we look after it.
36:44And how many species do you have? Probably a couple of hundred species. Yeah, easily.
36:57It must have been quite an exercise to move the collections. Fortunately, in June of 21, we spoke
37:05to Rex, Irene's father, about continuing the legacy of this little part here we built. All using the
37:11same metal that we dismantled from the shade house at Dad's house. And then we finished building the
37:17front of the shade house. We got him here and you could see the shade house built. And then sadly,
37:23he passed away in January of 22. And that's when all the hard work started. A lot of trailer loads
37:29of plants came over here. And then we found this was full to capacity and overflowing,
37:33as we had to build more shade houses. So it's been quite a journey, Josh.
37:39They are a rainforest type epiphytic plant. So a lot of humidity, but once again, not too much water,
37:46because Hoyas in particular, they suffer from root rot, so they can't have wet feet.
37:52Sometimes you're better off actually just wetting the ground floor of the shade house, especially when
37:56it's hot. And sometimes just spraying the plants so that they're not getting drowned where the roots
38:02actually are. And some liquid fertiliser and granulated fertiliser, like probably once a year.
38:08The Hoyas come from all over the world. So when they end up in Australia, they do need to be kept in
38:15specific locations to help them thrive. So in these sorts of conditions where it's warm,
38:21in this environment, in this shade house, just with standard shade cloth, with the right watering,
38:25the humidity, they grow really, really well. But in winter in particular, we need to look after
38:32them more carefully. So we have a little hothouse here where we'll move a lot of the plants and they
38:36survive and they're very happily. Sometimes we'll add a heater and maybe a warm growth light. And then a
38:41lot of the smaller ones that you'll see in here, we actually take inside the house. Otherwise,
38:45they won't survive. With such an extensive collection of Hoyas, do you have some standout
38:50favourites? Oh, yes. Well, probably for sentimental reasons, it's the Lois and Drusiana. Also, it's
38:55pretty impressive because it's called the dinner plate Hoya. So its leaves are huge and it's got
39:01peduncles. And you can tell how old it is by how long the peduncle is, because each time a Hoya will
39:06actually flower on the previous one. And so the really long peduncles, you can tell it's a really
39:11old plant. And my dad's had that one for a long time. I remember always being at his house and seeing
39:17it. So it's special because of that reason. And then of the other extreme, I like the really small
39:23leafed ones. So like there's a chook is a really nice one that Kevin's made into a nice ball. And then
39:29I love the twisted ones like this, which is called Indian rope. And you can get them inside variegated and
39:35outside variegated as well. So they're so unusual. Cinnamon folia has a beautiful flower because it's
39:41like a green with a maroon in the centre. So that's a really stunning flower, that one. A lot of the
39:47australis, they just smell so beautiful. So it's the fragrance rather than the look. Carnoses and the
39:53pubicalyx, they're like Hawaiian purples and purple hybrids. They generally always have a large white flower
40:01with pink middles. And often these plants have a lot of flowers, whereas some of the other
40:06Hoyas will just have one or two or three at a time, depending on the age of the plant. So the ones
40:10that are prolific, I just love.
40:14The collection of epiphytic cacti may not be as extensive as the Hoyas,
40:19but it's no less impressive. Look at the colour of this bloom. What's this one called?
40:27This is Liberty Glow. It's a little bit past its best now, but it's a beautiful orange,
40:32very bright pink in the middle. Do the flowers last?
40:35Not for as long as what we'd like them to last. Probably only a couple of days.
40:40And what other standouts do you have? I love Clown. That's a beautiful one with pink and purple and
40:46white. And also Snow Leopard. So Snow Leopard has a pink bud and when it opens, it's white inside.
40:52So I love Snow Leopard. Are the conditions that these plants need similar to the Hoyas?
40:56Yes. So rainforest conditions, they probably could do with a little bit more sun, as long as it's not
41:02direct sun, perhaps in the morning when it's not as hot. But they do flower better if they've had a
41:07little bit of sun. How much work is involved in potting and repotting all of these plants?
41:13I know we're looking at Epis now, but particularly the Hoyas, they do need a really good free draining
41:18mix. So I actually really love mixing up all the potting mix. They require a lot of orchid bark
41:24and the vermiculite and a little bit of premium potting mix. We even actually sprinkle a bit of
41:29cinnamon through our potting mix. That actually helps to stop fungal diseases from happening.
41:33So yeah, for both plants, they need to be free draining so they don't get root rot.
41:39And how often do you have to repot? Hoyas like to be root bound, so they can stay in a small pot
41:44for probably a year or two, I would say. And sometimes when we repot them, they are completely
41:49root bound, Josh. There's hardly any dirt left in them. They go into a bigger pot and then they
41:54will continue to thrive. Epis, I think they need to be potted a bit more regularly.
41:58Well, sometimes they force you to repot them because they all seem to grow out one side and the
42:03whole basket of the pot falls over. So you sort of want to repot it and realign it,
42:09depending on how much you cut the leaves to propagate from.
42:16Usually about August, you're just cutting the leaves from a leaf that's at least 12 months old,
42:22not from something that's recently flowered. And let it callous over for a little while,
42:28like a few days and then put it into some free draining potting mix. Don't over water it to
42:34start with and keep it warm. Hoyas are slightly different. They don't need to be callous,
42:40they can just be cut. Normally we dunk them in honey, they don't actually need a root hormone
42:45and straight into the soil and they get wet straight away and have to be continually wet
42:49until the roots actually develops. And that might take a month to two.
42:52My grandfather founded the Cacti Study Group. So I remember as a little girl going to visit my
43:00grandpa's shade house. And then my dad, he founded the Epiphytic Cacti and Hoyas Society with another
43:07man. So he was the first vice president. And I've been involved in the society as well. And I'm
43:12currently the president now. This is the epigram, which is the journal of our Epiphytic Cacti and Hoyas
43:18Society. And in our special 35th year, mum was honoured as being the cover girl, which was quite
43:23recently. She was into therapeutias. So that's why she's photographed on the cover. She's nearly 90.
43:29That is gorgeous.
43:32It's been wonderful to be able to take all the plants on board, Josh, and just embrace them.
43:36I think we've just followed your dad's journey all these years, haven't we?
43:39It's the saying that eventually we all become a little bit like our parents. Do you think this is
43:47the case of that? Possibly. Yes. Definitely.
43:53I now understand where dad's passion came from and why he would spend so much time on them. And
43:58I have so many photos of dad with the same plants and enjoying the same plants now that I do. And so
44:06when I look at that flower, you know, in the photo and I can see the same plant with the same flower,
44:11that really makes me feel close to dad.
44:26I'm pretty crazy for compost and love spreading it all over my garden. But what if you haven't got
44:33space for a compost bin or you're a bit nervous about getting the carbon to nitrogen ratio just
44:38right? Well, there's always an option and a way to compost, and it might just be the dig and drop
44:45method. All you need is access to a garden, food scraps, and something to dig with.
44:53You can compost all your fruit and vegetable scraps, plus things like brown paper bags. But in order to
44:59keep away animals like rodents and foxes, don't include any seafood or meat scraps.
45:07Then get digging. But it needn't be onerous. If you're lucky, you'll have nice, friable,
45:13loamy soil, which is easy to dig, so go to around 35cm deep. If you have heavy clay soil like mine,
45:20just take it easy and dig to around 25cm deep. Scraps buried deeper than 25cm in clay
45:28will likely get too compacted and not get enough oxygen to decompose.
45:35Ollie's gonna help as well, you good boy. Now, when it comes time to work out how wide to make
45:41your hole, you only need to go slightly wider than your spade or your shovel. Of course, when you're
45:45digging, take care of your back and go nice and slow and steady. The only thing left to do now is
45:50to pop the food scraps in. You can push them down a little bit and cover them up.
46:08Just pack it in nice and tight and the earthworms and the soil microbes will already be munching into
46:14those food scraps. Loving it. And if you need to, you can pop a marker on top so you don't forget
46:19where you put your food scraps, which means you can come back later on and plant one of your favourite
46:24plants and it will love you for it. This simple dig and bury method is a great way to get your start
46:31in the wonderful world of composting. So get digging and you'll soon be on your way to becoming a compost star.
46:44You know, one of the things I love about gardening is you can create your own little world. Our next
46:51story is with a gardener who's combined her garden with her art to build something bursting at the
46:59seams with creativity. Every time we come home, I say, oh, this is so beautiful and how lucky we are to live here.
47:13The house and the garden both are a sanctuary. I'm Claudia Rubinstein. I live in Melbourne in the
47:23inner eastern suburbs and I'm a visual artist.
47:31We've lived in this house for 16 years and it's undergone a few changes in that time. The boys have
47:38left school and left the house and it's just Craig and I, but it's really not just Craig and I.
47:44We have a lot of family friends and the two guest rooms are usually occupied.
47:50My favourite part of the garden is this portal that you come through to leave everything behind,
47:58but be very present in this area. The garden is my muse because most of my paintings have got
48:10botanical foliage and I need a reference point and there's so much to see in the garden here.
48:16I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by so much of it. I've added a lot of pieces to the garden. Mushrooms
48:25and the little statues, there's a little dragon in the front. When I see something that speaks to me,
48:32I like to include it somehow into the house, into the story of the house and garden.
48:39I grew up on an acreage in Canada. My childhood involved being sent outside to play, collected tadpoles
48:46from a pond and created little worlds out in the garden and in the forest which encroached on the back
48:53of our property. And it had a lot of birch trees. They've always been a favourite tree and they make me
49:03think of Canada. I've drawn and painted them as long as I can remember.
49:12I have dedicated studios to my creative life and one is the painting room where I paint in acrylic.
49:20I used to paint in oil, but the process of washing out the brushes was very, very time consuming.
49:27And as my Parkinson's advanced, I found I just couldn't do both, paint and maintain the brushes.
49:33I have painted fairytale type stories and stories that I've imagined. When I graduated high school,
49:43what I wanted is to be an artist. My father said, no, you need to learn to sew curtains or do something
49:49practical. So I thought nursing would be the best fit for me. And I'm glad I did because I learned a skill.
49:56It was enjoyable when I did it and I met my husband. So win-win.
50:05And whenever I had days off, what did I do? Paint.
50:08My house is covered from floor to ceiling with ornament, decor and stories. It's a collection of
50:20stories of our life. I pick up little things and write a song about them, tell a story about them,
50:27do a painting about them. And throughout that theme is botanica, is foliage, is blossoms and leaves,
50:37in the garden. Going down the side of the garden, you get this sort of tunnel effect with all the trees
50:47and it's just a beautiful walk coming all the way down. Then you come around to the rest of the house
50:55and the next main feature would be my son Oli's room. And he has a memorial garden planted because we lost him three years ago.
51:06And I built him a piano garden because he was a great pianist, a great pianist, and he loved to play the piano.
51:18When we go through Oli's area, I wanted to create two stained glass panel windows
51:36that you couldn't see in or out but just allowed the light in. And it's just a place to go for a
51:41private conversation where nobody sees you. It's a lovely hedge and you're shielded so it's a nice spot to be.
51:50It is my home, it is my sanctuary, and I just love to surround myself by the things that I love.
51:58And what I love to do is create little worlds.
52:00The forest room was created after we lost Oli.
52:10This room is a very special room and special project. The room needed to be made new.
52:18And what I wanted to do is give it a really beautiful feeling of awe and wonder when you come in.
52:25I took a painting and had it transformed to wallpaper and professionally installed.
52:32And that painting was a forest scene. So lots of blues and greens and paintings of the garden and nature
52:41and also a few whimsical images as well. But it was meant to be a place where
52:49where Oli left his earthly troubles behind and is at peace. I find I'm not thinking so much of Oli
52:59because that room has given me some closure in a way by creating something beautiful.
53:10Spending time in any green environment is shown to just calm us all down and it's no different for me.
53:19And I feel I've been blessed in life and privileged to be able to create, have a loving partner
53:29who is supportive of that and bring joy to the world, I hope.
53:33In cool areas, take cuttings of corrier and start a new hedge. Select soft stems that will bounce back when flexed, then pop into rooting gel and an aerated potting mix.
53:58Tip prune banksias to keep them bushy and remove dead flowers and branches. Take care to retain most of the old wood.
54:07That's where they'll flower next year. Delicata squash grows groovy skins and a creamy flesh that is sweet when cooked.
54:16Sow seeds directly into aged compost about a metre apart and then mulch.
54:24In warm temperate areas, brighten up the baskets by planting Calibracoa.
54:28These colourful petunia cousins love free draining soil in a sunny spot. Plant passion fruit in pairs one metre apart to aid pollination.
54:39Build up a mound of rich loose soil, plant with a layer of mulch and give them something to climb up.
54:46Hardy heavey shrubs are in bloom and will appreciate their yearly dose of compost.
54:52Trim back by about a third after flowering to maintain their compact form.
54:57In subtropical areas, marigolds are blooming for the festival of lights.
55:04These companion plants attract plenty of pollinators. Celebrate these garden heroes by planting more.
55:11Flying foxes are out and about and having babies. Why not plant some flowering gums to provide food for future generations?
55:21Okra is a reliable summer crop and loves the heat.
55:24Sow seeds and knuckle deep in composted soils in full sun. Use stakes to keep them sturdy and protect from winds.
55:35In tropical areas, strappy natives such as Lomandra can deal with water inundation as well as droughts.
55:42They'll stabilise a soggy spot and provide a source of food and habitat.
55:48Get down to your specialist nursery and grow a vanilla pod vine.
55:52This climbing orchid is ready for its yearly trim and grows well from cuttings planted now.
55:59Divide bromeliads and spread the love.
56:02Snip pups from the mother plant and pot into orchid bark.
56:07Or take advantage of their epiphytic nature and mount on a tree.
56:13In arid areas, geraniums are drought hardy and will bloom right through summer with regular water.
56:19Water in the morning once a week and let soil dry out in between.
56:24Pomegranate flowers are out and attracting pollinators.
56:29Ensure the flowers fruit by transferring pollen with a small paint brush early in the morning.
56:35Plant these rosemary cuttings into moist free draining propagation mix to keep the memory alive.
56:43Go on gardeners, get out there and give the garden some love.
56:48For more ideas on what to do next, sign up for our newsletter via our website.
57:00Well, we're moving on for another week, but we've got plenty lined up for next time.
57:06Here's what's coming your way.
57:09I'm going to introduce you to some shady characters.
57:12Plants that love to take centre stage in the shady corners of your garden.
57:18I'm visiting an elegant show garden with marvellous memories for the family
57:23who set it all up more than five decades ago.
57:27And I'm going to show you a few simple ways to keep rodents out of the garden.
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