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00:04Hey!
00:06Hey! Hi!
00:11Whoa!
00:17Hey!
00:19Hey, mate!
00:21Hey!
00:23Hey!
00:24Hey!
00:34It's that time of the week.
00:36Your prescribed dose
00:38of inspiration, greenery
00:40and down-to-earth
00:42advice. And you better be ready
00:44because we're getting straight
00:46into it. Hello and welcome
00:48to Gardening Australia. Here's
00:50what's coming up.
00:53Autumn
00:53is a busy time
00:55in my patch here in Tassie and it's
00:57a really good time to get lots of jobs
00:59done before the winter chill sets
01:01in. Today, I'm
01:03going to plan for future pops of
01:05one of my favourite colours.
01:06Pink, of course.
01:09I'm meeting a team of working dogs
01:11that are playing a very important
01:13role in plant biosecurity.
01:16And if you like the
01:17weather-beaten look, I've got a
01:19planning idea for you that's as rusty
01:21as a red dirt sunset.
01:29Container gardening really stretches
01:30the limits of what's possible.
01:33New places, new ways,
01:35new opportunities to grow.
01:37Tammy has found a fantastic
01:40idea that takes challenging places
01:43and turns them into vibrant
01:45pockets of green.
01:57For those of us with busy lives
01:59looking to maximise our gardening
02:01happiness in the most time efficient
02:03way possible, I'm visiting a gardener
02:05who may have found the perfect solution.
02:07It's a planter designed to help
02:09plants thrive in the most tough
02:11space-restricted environments.
02:13Rooftops, paved backyards,
02:15balconies and steep slopes.
02:19Here in Darling Point,
02:20four kilometres from central Sydney,
02:23Sandra Dixon's home and garden
02:24stretches out into the harbour.
02:29Oh, look at this.
02:31Back in 2017,
02:33Costa paid a visit to explore
02:35the steeply terraced garden, which
02:37took loads of maintenance.
02:40But since then, Sancha has been
02:42finding ways to maximise her gardening
02:44pleasure with less effort,
02:46here on her exposed terrace.
02:50Hi, Tammy. Hi, Sancha.
02:52Lovely to see you.
02:53Lovely to be here.
02:55What an amazing garden you have.
02:57I just love it.
02:58It's my pride and joy.
03:02And how long have you been here?
03:0450 years.
03:05Wow.
03:08Yeah.
03:08And was the garden looking like this?
03:11No, it wasn't.
03:12It was just pretty shocking
03:13when we bought it.
03:15All the walls were falling down
03:17and it was just full of fish fern and weeds, really.
03:21So we're here today to have a look at the plants on the terrace.
03:24Mm-hmm.
03:24Can you tell me a bit more about them?
03:26Like, they have to put up with a lot, don't they?
03:28They do have to put up with a lot.
03:30Firstly, they have to put up with me,
03:32because, you know, I try anything and give it a go.
03:35They have to put up with the salt air.
03:37They have to put up with the strong northeasterly,
03:39which is a very harsh wind in the summer,
03:43and the westerly sun in the afternoon.
03:46Hence, succulents and cactus are the perfect ones for the job.
03:50I am a great plant collector and I had about 10,000 plants,
03:55so to have them in pots was extremely difficult
03:58because of the maintenance.
04:00They'd be either too dry or too wet,
04:03whereas when you've got them neatly planted
04:05into these fabulous gabins,
04:07you can look after them so much more easily.
04:10If you've got a pot, you planted something in the top,
04:13but if you've got these gabins,
04:15you can plant all the way around,
04:16so hundreds of plants could go into, you know,
04:20one structure like that.
04:22So when you say gabins,
04:24so they're these large cage-like structures?
04:26Yes, they're like a hay bale,
04:27but they've got wire around them
04:29and then they've got this fantastic medium inside
04:32that nurtures the plants
04:34so that you can put very tall cactus in those,
04:38which, I mean, that would be, what, two and a half metres,
04:40and hopefully he'll get bigger.
04:42This one, which I call my coral reef,
04:44is just like a blanket
04:45that's over stairs,
04:47and it's got short-rooted plants.
04:50If you've got a small space,
04:51you can have masses of plants
04:54and make it neat and tidy.
04:56So this gabin structure
04:58is what underpins all your plantings?
05:01All of it, absolutely.
05:02In different shapes and sizes,
05:04depending on where they have to go.
05:06So I can see we've got various layers of fabric...
05:09Yes.
05:09..which would help then the roots cling on too...
05:12That's correct.
05:12..before they grow deeper into the media?
05:15The media, yeah.
05:16And this polystyrene allows the water to...
05:20Drain away.
05:21Drain away.
05:22A drip irrigation line runs along the top of the gabion,
05:25releasing about a litre of water a day.
05:27The water absorbs through the porous outer layer,
05:30where it finds a capillary mat,
05:32which holds moisture for the plants to draw on when needed.
05:35The gabion acts like a rock face
05:37that plants cling to as they would in nature.
05:42This is my coffin.
05:44When it was nude,
05:45it was the perfect size, shape, everything for a coffin.
05:49And how do you know that?
05:50Well, because we made them in the old days,
05:53but not like these.
05:55Ours were in timber and only had one purpose.
05:58And it wasn't a very pretty one.
06:00So that was your business?
06:02Well, it was one of the businesses, yes,
06:04that my husband and I owned, yes.
06:06But my husband was an accountant
06:09and he worked out that you could only sell one to one person.
06:14And so therefore, you know...
06:17A true businessman.
06:18Yeah, absolutely.
06:19So we gave that one up.
06:20And these are so much prettier.
06:24And what have you got planted here?
06:26Well, euphorbias and agaves
06:28and other various cacti and succulents
06:32that I bought at various times.
06:34Different colours and textures.
06:36That's what my garden is really all about.
06:38And where did you get the euphorbias from?
06:41They're magnificent.
06:42A lot of them came from deceased estates.
06:44They have auctions
06:45and they sell the plants that are in pots
06:48in the garden, etc.
06:50And he's done so well
06:51since he's been in this medium.
06:53When he came, he only had two arms
06:55and now he's got all of that.
06:57He's just multiplied.
06:58He has.
06:58He's a happy chappy.
07:01This is another Gabion.
07:02And he's got my leftovers,
07:04but he's flourishing.
07:06He seems to be thoroughly enjoying the leftovers.
07:08So I can see you've got various...
07:10There's kalanchoe, there's blue chalk sticks.
07:12They're all cascading from the Gabion.
07:15Well, that's right.
07:16And that's...
07:17The beauty of the Gabion is that it isn't just a flat top
07:22so that everything can fall down and cover the entire structure,
07:27which I think is stunning.
07:29It gives me pleasure every day.
07:31When these do get leggy, as this one is,
07:35you can just cut it off and then stick it back in.
07:39It's just so easy to look after.
07:42And this begonia, this is not something that you typically see
07:45in such an exposed area, but it's thriving.
07:48It is.
07:49It's the most extraordinary begonia.
07:51It was given to me by a friend.
07:52She just gave me a small one.
07:54And anywhere I've got a difficult spot in the garden,
07:57I stick it in.
07:59And I love the fact it's got that lovely red,
08:02the back of its leaf.
08:04It's beautiful all round, I think.
08:06Yeah.
08:06Normally with begonias, they can be quite,
08:08not necessarily fragile, but they're,
08:10they prefer like filtered sunlight,
08:13cooler conditions, but here's exposed and just...
08:16It does.
08:16And it just takes it.
08:18I don't know why, but it does.
08:19You've made it tough and hardy.
08:21Of course.
08:22Like me.
08:27But this, your coral reef.
08:29Yes.
08:30This is, this is my special little treasure.
08:32There's so many different textures and shapes
08:34and even colours.
08:36Absolutely.
08:36And many of them, I can remember where I got them.
08:40And so they're sort of, it's a bit like a family album.
08:43You can, you know, look, look at them and enjoy
08:47memories of where they came from.
08:48That's so sweet.
08:50So there's, you've got Haworthias.
08:51There's, I think a few aloes in there and then agaves.
08:55Agaves are a real recurrent theme in your garden.
08:58They certainly are.
08:58Yes, absolutely.
09:00And so where does the name come from?
09:02What, the coral reef?
09:03Yeah.
09:03My imagination, really.
09:05Because on my very rare trip to the barrier reef,
09:09when you snorkel down and you see all those different corals
09:13and they're all moving and the colours and the textures,
09:17that's just what this reminds me of.
09:20As with most living things, occasionally something dies
09:24and then you've got to, you know, find something else to put in.
09:28And...
09:28Gosh, where will you find something to put in?
09:30It's tough.
09:31Tough, yeah, but somehow I manage it.
09:34Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:37So with all these planting schemes, what does it bring to you?
09:41Untold treasure, and particularly at night.
09:44You know, when you're on your own and to come out here
09:47and look at all my friends, it just gives me tremendous joy.
09:59I love how Sancha has transformed her terrace
10:02from a multitude of scattered pots
10:04into a beautiful and intense display of form and texture.
10:08And even better, we can all think about using this technique at home.
10:12Whether you have a hot rooftop, an awkward slope or a bare backyard,
10:15it's a great solution.
10:22Where does cork come from?
10:25Well, cork is the bark of the cork oak tree.
10:29It's an evergreen tree from the Mediterranean.
10:32It grows to about 15 metres
10:34and you'll find it growing wild from Portugal to Italy
10:38and from Morocco to Tunisia.
10:40This tree grows in a dry temperate climate
10:44and the cork is harvested when the trees are about 25 years old.
10:49Sheets of bark are removed very carefully
10:52so it doesn't damage the tree.
10:54Once the harvest is over, it can be re-harvested every nine years.
10:59The best thing about cork is that it's fully recyclable.
11:04Can I put eucalyptus leaves in the compost?
11:07Gum leaves are in abundance
11:09and they're a great resource too good to go to waste.
11:13They reputedly have allelopathic properties,
11:15which means they contain chemicals
11:18which can inhibit the growth of other plants.
11:20But the more decayed they are, the weaker this effect.
11:24They can take a long time to break down,
11:26but if you let them dry out first,
11:28they can be crumbled up and spread throughout the compost
11:31or added in lightly with other materials
11:34so they don't form a thick layer.
11:36Now I think a better idea might be to make a pile of gum leaves
11:40on your lawn and run your mower over it.
11:42That'll chop them into fine pieces and they'll break down quicker.
11:45Now remember, when adding anything to your compost,
11:48it's all about the right balance of brown materials that are dry,
11:52including the eucalyptus leaves, and green materials that are fresh.
11:56And you need that balance to get the composting process happening properly.
12:01What kind of shade cloth do I need for my shade house?
12:04Throwing shade is a little more complicated than you might think.
12:07These are all shade cloths and they all have different shading abilities.
12:11It's usually measured as a percentage.
12:14The higher the number, the more light it blocks and the more shade it creates.
12:18This one's 30%.
12:19This one's 50%.
12:23This one's 70%.
12:25Choosing the right shade cloth depends on what you're growing
12:28and how much sunlight hits your structure.
12:30Forest orchids like Stanhopia grow naturally in deep shade.
12:35So they flower best under heavy shade cloth, often 70 to 90%.
12:40But orchids like soft cane dendrobiums,
12:43coelogeny and catleas need brighter light to trigger flowers.
12:47So they prefer lighter shade cloth, around 40 to 60%.
12:51Shade cloth isn't a one size fits all.
12:54Too much shade gives you leaves but no flowers.
12:57Too little shade and plants burn.
13:05Oh, fruit.
13:08Mmm.
13:10Fresh off the tree.
13:12And how good has it been over the last couple of weeks?
13:15Guest presenter Tan the Fruit Nerd has taken us on a tasting tour
13:21of some of the most unusual fruits grown around Australia.
13:25And guess what?
13:26He has saved the best till last.
13:28One of the most unique looking fruits on the planet.
13:33So if you want to grow a splash of edible colour at your place,
13:38then listen up.
13:40Mmm.
13:41Yum.
13:53As a fruit nerd, I'm on a mission to get Aussie gardeners expanding their fruit and veggie horizons.
13:59And today, I want to show you a fruit with out of this world skin, flesh and flowers.
14:05Dragon fruit is named for its vibrant, spiky skin.
14:09It's the fruit of several climbing cactus species native to southern Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador.
14:16It's also known as pitaya and comes in red or white flesh varieties.
14:22It's cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions around the world and is extremely popular in Southeast Asia and China.
14:30Now I'm a bit of a dragon fruit whisperer because my name is Tan and in Vietnamese the meaning of
14:36Tan Long is dragon fruit.
14:38Now I can tell that this dragon fruit is really ripe because the skin is really thin and smooth and
14:44it's really plump.
14:44And the distance between these two fins is quite far, so I'm going to give it a harvest.
14:51Wow. Bountiful.
14:55And here in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, about 70 kilometres north of Brisbane, is a sweet spot for growing subtropical
15:02fruit.
15:03I'm near the superb Glasshouse Mountains, where the region's rich volcanic soils and subtropical climate makes it perfect for pineapples,
15:11avocados, but also lesser known crops.
15:14Like dragon fruit.
15:16Karen Martin and her family have been growing dragon fruit here for close to two decades.
15:22Karen, there's a lot of healthy looking dragon fruit plants here. How did you get into growing them?
15:26Well, we grow a number of subtropical fruit, lychees and custard apple, and we were looking for another type of
15:33plant that we could harvest at a different time of the year.
15:35Right. What kind of varieties of dragon fruit do you grow?
15:38We grow two varieties. We grow the white flesh variety and this is the red flesh variety.
15:43And what kind of growing conditions do dragon fruit plants like?
15:47They like to grow in the subtropics. They grow from far north Queensland right down south, but they like the
15:53heat.
15:53They get an annual fertiliser, we mulch them as well, and they like a lot of water just before harvest
15:59time.
16:00And they're a climbing plant, right?
16:02Yes, the red variety love to grow on a trellis system. We have three wires and we train the plants
16:09up the wires. It takes about two years to get a good structure.
16:12Right. And what about white dragon fruit?
16:14They grow a little bit different. We can have a look at that if you like.
16:17Alright, let's go.
16:24So Tarn, these are the white flesh dragon fruit. They like to grow on a single post. As they grow
16:30up the post, they come out like an umbrella.
16:33It cascades down and that's the way they like to grow.
16:35Now I can see these white cacti look really spiky.
16:39They are. And these are the spikiest of the two varieties that we grow. I always wear long sleeves and
16:45gloves when I'm picking the fruit.
16:47I think it's time we give the whites and the reds a taste.
16:50I agree, Tarn. There you go.
16:52This is amazing.
16:55Alright, shall I give it a cut?
16:57Yes, go ahead.
16:58Let's do it.
17:00It looks beautiful. And it's just such a vibrant fruit. Easy in a fruit salad.
17:05And for those who, you know, are a bit wary about, you know, it being a difficult fruit to handle,
17:10it's basically just like a watermelon.
17:12Yep, you slice it open, scoop it out with a spoon or cut it into wedges. It's so easy.
17:19Just peel the fruit back.
17:24Delicious.
17:25It is. Very juicy.
17:27And I love the crunchy pulps when you bite into the seeds. It's very textual.
17:31And it's like a fruit salad taste.
17:33People say it has a subtle flavour, but I like that really gentle tanginess.
17:38Let's try the red.
17:39Let's try the red, yeah.
17:40Oh, check out the vibrancy.
17:42That is such a stunning colour.
17:44The juice is all over the board and it feels like it's much more juicier than the white.
17:48Yes, they are. They are.
17:50Wow, the pigmentation.
17:54There's so much more aroma and perfume in this dragon fruit.
17:58It's really floral.
18:00Oh, that is stunning flavour.
18:01What a delicious, healthy snack.
18:04They really look otherworldly, don't they?
18:06Yes, they do.
18:07Wait till you try it with lime though.
18:12Mmm.
18:15I like that.
18:16I'm going to keep that tip.
18:20Karen, I hear that your family have a nickname for you.
18:22Well, it's more my husband.
18:24He likes to call me the dragon lady.
18:26I love that.
18:28Now, as the dragon lady, what should home gardeners look out for if they're keen to grow a dragon fruit
18:33plant?
18:34There's a few tips that home gardeners can take on board.
18:38The first one is deciding which variety they want to grow.
18:40The second one is once you've worked that out, what infrastructure you're going to be needing for that, whether it's
18:46posts or posts and trellis.
18:49You need space in your home garden because the plants will grow quite big.
18:54You'd at least need a two metre radius, which needs to be in full sun, and you need to give
19:00it a good dose of water.
19:02Although it's a cactus, during the flowering and the fruiting part of the season, they like a lot of water,
19:08and that helps get the size of the fruit.
19:10But they're a pretty resilient sort of plant.
19:13Now, along with their very striking looks, there's another side to dragon fruit, isn't there?
19:17Yes, it's a spectacular show of flowers, and they come on usually of an afternoon, and they are open through
19:27the night.
19:27And they're pollinated through that evening, and by the next morning they're wilted, and they'll start that process of developing
19:36fruit.
19:36Because it's all timed by the moon phases.
19:39So often of a night time will come out when it's a full moon.
19:43They look like lights, but it's the flower that's there, and they're just hundreds and hundreds of flowers.
19:49It's really spectacular.
19:50I'm going to have to come here during the full moon time.
19:52Yes, well, what's remarkable about the flower is the size.
19:57It's about 30 centimetres in diameter, about the size of a dinner plate.
20:00And it's a very delicate flower.
20:02And when you first come across that of a morning, you'll see hundreds of honeybees, native bees, beetles, flies.
20:12Everything that can go in there, just love rolling around in that pollen.
20:16Looking right inside the flower, it's quite an experience, yeah.
20:20It's an event.
20:20It is, it is, yeah.
20:23How often do you need to prune the dragon fruit?
20:25They're pruned once a year in about August.
20:28And how about propagation?
20:30Very, very easy.
20:31So what we'll do when we're pruning, we will take them off, let them dry out a bit, put it
20:38into the soil with a small stake and away you go.
20:41You just need a bit of sun and a bit of patience.
20:42You do, you do.
20:43Here's one I cut about three weeks ago.
20:45It's starting to grow shoots already.
20:48Why don't you take that home and you can grow it?
20:50I'm going to give it a try. Thank you.
20:56For us, it's been an experience of learning what the plant does, experience with the flowers and what to do
21:03with the fruit, how to eat it.
21:05In Australia, it hasn't been a very well-known fruit.
21:08So if home gardeners are interested in growing the plant, it's not difficult to grow.
21:13It's a little spiky, but lots of other things are spiky in life as well.
21:19Sue says the dragon lady.
21:20Yeah.
21:31Us gardeners know as the temperature drops, the gardening action fires up.
21:38At her place in chilly Hobart, Hannah can't wait to get things cranking.
21:58Autumn is such a great time in the garden because there's so many fun jobs to do before the winter
22:04chill kicks in.
22:05Top of my list today is to plan for future pops of colour.
22:09And here, the clue.
22:13It's no secret I'm a huge fan of the colour pink.
22:17Look around and it's hard to miss.
22:21Pink flowers.
22:24Our pink house.
22:26And even pink hair.
22:31So, what's not to love about a pink flowering feature tree?
22:36I reckon every garden needs at least one statement tree.
22:41And while my garden has a whole lot of trees which I love, I haven't actually got a feature tree.
22:47So today, I'm going to plant a hot pink number.
22:51It's a crepe myrtle and it's going in right at our front gate, so it can be a welcome tree
22:56every time we come home.
23:02Crepe myrtles are great trees.
23:04They thrive in a variety of climates and soil types, can get by on little water and have the triple
23:11appeal of long lasting flowers, autumnal colour as the leaves drop and shiny iridescent bark when the leaves have fallen.
23:19And they generally don't get too big, usually topping out at between four or five metres.
23:25Plant breeders have been hard at work and these days, crepe myrtles are available in a variety of shapes and
23:31colours.
23:32There's a real rainbow from white, lavender, reds and, you guessed it, multiple shades of pink.
23:46Autumn is a great time to plant trees as there's still some warmth in the soil, but none of the
23:51heat stress that can come in the warmer months.
23:54I'm digging a hole as wide as the pot the crepe myrtle's in and a little bit deeper.
24:00Plus, I'm sloping the edges. It's almost a wok shape that I'm after.
24:04Before the plant goes in, I'm watering well to help give it a good head start.
24:09I'm going to gently nurse the tree out of the pot.
24:13Oh, yeah, and you can see it's got quite a lot of roots there. It's a little bit root bound.
24:18They're going to give it a tickle, which is another way of saying give it a root prune.
24:24And that will help activate more growth in its new home.
24:33And now I'm back filling.
24:42Add a bit more water and there you go.
24:44Over the next couple of years, it's going to spring into hot pink blooms, ready to welcome everybody into our
24:50garden.
24:51I can't wait to watch it grow.
24:56So next on my list, they're not pink, but they will be a lovely shade of purple,
25:01are my two young wisteria vines, which are ready for a bit of Autumn TLC.
25:07Now, these two vines, they've only been in the ground for around one year, so they're very young.
25:12So right now, it's more about training them to make my life easier later on,
25:16and some minor pruning to make sure I get a good array of flowers.
25:21When you're using a ladder, safety is always number one.
25:24Make sure it's on flat, stable ground.
25:27If you're going up really high, it's worth tying it down up top if you can.
25:32Come on, love.
25:34And to be extra safe, get someone to hold the ladder to make sure it's nice and steady.
25:40Today, I've got my sweetheart Anton helping.
25:43Never climb past the second highest ladder rung, and never straddle the top of an A-frame ladder.
25:49I'm pruning off the dead wood and some of the wispy bits.
25:53Wisteria's flower on second year wood, so prune the existing growth back to around four leaves,
25:58or 150mm from the old stem, and this is where the new flower buds will form.
26:03I'm twisting the vines around a steel rod in the direction that I want them to grow in.
26:09Lastly, I'm using a bit of jute twine to tie them down to make sure they're nice and secure.
26:22Last on my autumn job list is to dig up and store some of my dahlia tubers.
26:27I went big on dahlia this year, planting many dozens.
26:31And you guessed it, some of them were pink.
26:34But their glory has well and truly died back now, leaving just the underground tubers,
26:40which I'm about to dig up and store safely until we replant them in spring.
26:46In warmer climates, dahlia tubers will generally survive the winter in the ground and come back year after year.
26:53You only really dig them up in order to subdivide them to make new plants.
26:58But in climates with wet and long winters, it's safer to lift and store your dahlias.
27:04It's safer to prevent them from rotting in the cold, wet conditions.
27:08I can just ease the whole crump out nice and gently because they're quite brittle.
27:13They can break quite easily.
27:15Oh!
27:15And then you can have a look to see how many you've got in here.
27:21You've got lots of tubers.
27:23I'm going to work all this soil off, let them dry out in the sun for a couple of days
27:28or so.
27:29Then I'll gently separate them and store them in a bucket of sawdust in my cool and dry and dark
27:36shed.
27:40When you're dividing your dry tubers, you want each tuber to have at least one eye.
27:46That's this little bump here and that's where the growth point is.
27:50Come spring, I'm going to plant all these back into the garden again where there's going to be a flurry
27:54of blossoms,
27:55overwhelming the garden with lots of colours including pinks.
28:17I just want to hug these camellias because I've got this wonderful relationship with them.
28:24It's in the Camellia Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and about nine years ago,
28:31I had the opportunity to do a pruning workshop for a lot of the apprentices and a couple of the
28:38staff here
28:39around how to do a structural prune on camellias because what had happened,
28:44they hadn't been pruned for many, many years and they'd all grown really big.
28:49They'd created this wall of foliage so that when you enter the gardens at the top gate there,
28:54you couldn't even see the beautiful old conservatory and the idea was twofold.
29:01They wanted to open up the view, but the main thing was to bring the camellias down
29:07so that visitors to the gardens could appreciate the flowers.
29:13Now, a botanic gardens is an educational space.
29:17You want to be able to see a flower, get inspired and say,
29:20wow, I'd love one of these at my place.
29:23So that meant going in hard.
29:25And a structural prune is one of those things.
29:28And if you come in here with your historian's hat on, you can see exactly where these hard prunes took
29:36place.
29:36And we basically cut these camellias back to just four or five branches in the shape of a vase.
29:46Now, these ones, after their big structural prune, look at what it's done.
29:51It's bushed them out.
29:52Over the years, the staff have kept them down.
29:56And each year you get all this beautiful new lime green growth,
30:02from which you'll get new buds that then produce the flowers that everyone wants to see.
30:08People will be able to come up to them and say, oh, right, what's this one?
30:13This is the Aspasia macarthur.
30:16And then from your garden point of view, there's no reason why you can't have a featured japonica like this,
30:23but keep it down in a garden bed with other things growing around it, like these ones are now.
30:29But if you wanted, the other thing you could do is take out the lower branches,
30:36which is something we call crown lifting.
30:39And that way, if that was in a courtyard or a small space, you could have a table and chairs
30:44underneath it.
30:45You can actually sit down and appreciate the canopy, get the shade,
30:50but at the same time, look out through the leaves and the flowers.
30:54So there's plenty you can do with camellias.
30:57And I think the most important thing is, don't be afraid.
31:01A tough prune, a bit of tough love will bring awesome results.
31:08Still to come on Gardening Australia,
31:12Clarence bangs the drum.
31:15We visit a garden that's a cool climate centrepiece.
31:20And we get you working with your jobs for the weekend.
31:29Protecting Australia's biosecurity is important stuff, and we need all the help we can get.
31:36Over in Perth, Josh has found a few furry friends,
31:41and they're doing their bit to help preserve our precious natural heritage.
31:48Good gal.
31:51This looks like a typical morning at Perth's Kings Park.
31:54Good gal.
31:55Dogs on a lead, being taken out to stretch their legs.
31:59But this is no ordinary walk in the park,
32:01with arguably the cutest gang of hounds you're likely to see.
32:06The cuteness is actually a disguise.
32:08These are working dogs, with a very specific job description.
32:13And this is a big day for them.
32:18Dr Kylie Ireland also has a very specific job description.
32:22There you go. What are we looking at today?
32:24As the Plant Diseases Program Leader for WA's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,
32:31Kylie is a plant pathologist leading a team on a mission to protect local flora from biological threats.
32:39Combating plant dieback, a slow killer of plants, is one of the team's most challenging assignments.
32:46Phytophora dieback is the disease, and it's caused by a little pathogen called Phytophora cinnamomai.
32:51And it's a water mould, so it actually isn't a fungus, it's more closely related to brown algae.
32:56And so it creates these amazing little motile zoospores that can swim and infect roots,
33:02and start to cause all that damage in a tree.
33:11Effectively it's choking up the whole kind of vascular system of the plant,
33:14and affecting the fine roots and the roots of the plants.
33:17They just can't get the water and everything up there to actually keep it alive.
33:21So that's what we often see, is those first plants starting to die off in that landscape.
33:26And we have a sweeter species, some are more susceptible than others,
33:29so those are what we call our indicators.
33:32So if we see them starting to flag, then there's a good indicator that it's in that system.
33:37So we find Phytophora cinnamomai in every state except the Northern Territory.
33:41So where you get higher rainfall, you get bigger problems with Phytophora cinnamomai.
33:45Places like WA, it's known as the biological bulldozer,
33:49because effectively it hits so many species it comes through like a front.
33:53And certainly down in the southwest we see very clear lines of where it's been and where it hasn't been.
33:58And it's present at Kings Park, isn't it?
34:01It is, unfortunately.
34:02The Banksia Garden at some point, something's come in and contaminated that area,
34:06but just across the way is the threatened species bed and it's clear.
34:10In WA we have what we call registered dieback interpreters,
34:13and they're effectively reading the landscape.
34:15So they go around with a GPS, they map where those plants are dying,
34:19and then they produce a map which you can use to manage.
34:22So if you're going in there for forestry, or if you're going in there for mining,
34:26or you want to put a trail in, you can start to plan where you would put it
34:30to reduce the risk of spreading further dieback.
34:33Is there an easier way to do it?
34:35Well, we think there might be.
34:36And so as soon as we found out the dogs might be able to sniff out Phytophora,
34:41we were like, oh wow, how could this work?
34:46And the research has been really amazing.
34:49They look like they're accurate.
34:50They look like they're way quicker than the lab.
34:52So the lab's like two weeks and we're dealing with maybe minutes with the dogs.
34:56So we're really excited now to be welcoming three new little puppies into our team.
35:01So our dear dieback interpreters, they won't be out of jobs necessarily,
35:05but they'll still be looking for all the other evidence.
35:08But the dogs can take that nose evidence and we can add that to all of that mapping we do.
35:13To understand where the dogs think it is in the landscape and build a better picture.
35:18And also we've had some really dry conditions, some really horrible conditions for our vegetation.
35:23We can't map there very effectively anymore, but the dogs with their noses might actually be the trick.
35:33Their heightened sense of smell is setting these dogs on a very important career path.
35:39Animal trainer Ryan Tate and his team have put the pooches through detection school at their New South Wales base.
35:45And today these canine graduates are ready for work in WA.
35:51So what makes dogs so well suited to the task?
35:55Ah, so the dog's nose is essentially how they see the world.
35:58So they've got 40 times more olfactory receptors than we do.
36:02And the part of their brain that's designated to looking for smell is 40 times bigger than ours.
36:07So you're talking at factors of, you know, one drop in 20 swimming pools they can sort of smell those
36:14kind of differences.
36:15Parts per trillion.
36:17What the dogs are doing when they're working through the environment is they'll work in basically an area where it's
36:23negative, right?
36:24So there's nothing they can smell and they're searching the air for a single volatile organic compound of Phytophthora.
36:31So they're searching the air for particles.
36:33As soon as they find one particle, they then want to work through what we call like a plume or
36:38a scent cone and work out where there's more and more and more.
36:41Until they work out, I'm as close as I can possibly be to the strongest part of Phytophthora, which is
36:47usually near like a dying banksia or something like that.
36:50And that's where the dog freezes and says, I believe I'm as close as I can be to the strongest
36:55part of Phytophthora.
36:56And that's where the handler is, you know, usually going to mark and reward their dog there.
37:03Yes!
37:04Oh, good boy!
37:06Yes!
37:09The dogs are really useful at helping us zone in where we take our samples from.
37:14So even if they bump up our strike rate a little bit, we're saving our lab technicians time by sending
37:19them fewer negative samples.
37:25Yes!
37:25That's what I'm after!
37:27Good girl!
37:28How accurate are these furry finders of Phytophthora?
37:32Kylie says the lab results only confirm that these dogs are seriously good at this.
37:38But we're excited about the dogs because if we know that they're mostly correct most of the time,
37:42we can say we're confident in that and actually reduce the number of samples we're popping through the lab.
37:47The way we verify whether Phytophthora's in that system is the die-back interpreters will take samples from the best
37:52spot they can find.
37:55We put it into a tub, you cover it with water and because it's a water mould what happens is
38:01that stimulates the spores to actually start swimming up and we have little leaves and things like that on the
38:06top which it then infects and we isolate that in the lab.
38:10For now, detection, identification and containment are our only defences against Phytophthora die-back.
38:18Everyone can play a role with limiting the spread of die-back.
38:21So it spreads in like soil and plant matter and so anytime you're out hiking or anything like that, basically
38:27practicing come clean, go clean and I always say be mindful in between as well.
38:31So being really mindful of your vehicles, of your bikes, if you're a horse rider as well, you've even got
38:37to watch those feet.
38:39Look at your boots and you're like, okay, there's no soil on there or if there is, grabbing a really
38:43good brush, giving a good brush down.
38:45So anything that can carry soil, making sure that it's clean as you go into an area and then as
38:50you leave as well.
38:51Science and technology have never been more advanced, yet nothing comes close to the sensitivity and sophistication of a dog's
39:00snout.
39:00Add die-back detection to a growing list of credentials and dogs really are our best friends.
39:14Gardening gives us a chance to get creative, turn bits and pieces into something that we need.
39:20Of course, you can buy it off the shelf, but when you put some elbow grease into it, skin into
39:27the game,
39:27suddenly you're creating something that's unique, one of a kind.
39:32And I reckon this next project of Clarence's, well, it's just shot to the very top of my to-do
39:39list.
39:42Doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter what you're made of.
39:47Aussie conditions take their toll.
39:50Look at me, barely 30.
39:53Lucky, the rusty weathered look works well in a native garden.
39:56With the right planters, the right native plants, you can do it yourself.
40:01When it comes to rusty garden planters, you can spend as much as you like on Pnexi options made from
40:07Core 10.
40:08A kind of steel protected by a layer of rust.
40:11So I've gone with the classic 44-gallon drum.
40:14This drum is from a trusted reseller, so I know it's safe to plant into.
40:18And it takes about an hour to split with an angle grinder.
40:21Personally, I love the look of a rusted 44-gallon drum.
40:24You can buy these for about 25 bucks, and these will eventually rust.
40:29But if you are in a hurry, there are a few tips and tricks.
40:33First, scrape off some of the paint.
40:36A wire brush and a drill bit, a flat disc on the grinder, whatever you like.
40:41Just be careful.
40:43Have a think about the aesthetic.
40:44You want all over rust, one side rust, dings, patches, your dog's name.
40:50Go crazy. Do whatever you like.
40:52Alright.
40:5344-gallon drums come with lids, which are great if you want to keep your planter contained.
40:57You just need plenty of drainage holes.
41:00I'm doing 20 holes in this small one, 10 in the big one.
41:04You'll find out why very soon.
41:06With the paint gone, you might see some rust in the next couple of days.
41:11If you want to speed up the process, there's nothing like a bit of chemistry.
41:14We take vinegar, a little bit of nappy sand and salt.
41:19The reaction? Let's wait and see.
41:23It will froth, but fresh is best for fast results.
41:29Spray it liberally on all the abrasions.
41:31Rust is just iron getting too friendly with oxygen.
41:34And this is an oxygen-rich solution.
41:37And with any luck, we will see rust fast.
41:43And while I'm waiting, I'll gather some plants for two different habitats.
41:48One's kind of swampy, the other more arid.
41:50My two brand-new rusty planters.
41:54All right.
41:55Well, it's only been about an hour.
41:57This is working an absolute treat.
41:59Chemistry, eh?
42:00Now, before we plant these up, we've really got to give some thought to where to put them,
42:04because they're going to be super heavy.
42:05This one, we can probably manage to move around.
42:07This one, there's a lot of weight going to be in here once we put the soil in.
42:11It's going to be anywhere between 100 and 200 kegs.
42:14This one, probably going to be about 50.
42:16This one, we're going to have more of the swamp sort of feel, so it'll stay a bit more moist.
42:22Thus, only the 10 holes.
42:23This one, drier, hotter, 20 holes.
42:26All comes clean in the wash.
42:30When you're happy with your container's position, add plenty of native potting mix.
42:37You'll need six 30-litre bags between these two planters,
42:41before the first is ready for its feature plant.
42:46Now, the feature plant swamp banksia.
42:50Perfect.
42:51A little bit more moisture in the soil, as the name suggests, obviously.
42:54It grows in the swamp.
42:56But the flowers, as they start to form, almost iridescent green.
43:00Just beautiful.
43:02What's nothing like about banksias?
43:03Along with our feature plant, we've got a little WA native.
43:08This is a velvet rush.
43:09These beautiful, lovely, chocolatey flower heads on top.
43:13Well, they're really seed heads, but they look like flowers.
43:16Good contrast with form.
43:18And another contrast, the soft, beautiful, coppery,
43:23sometimes almost red foliage of the leprosperm of copper glow.
43:28It will bush out quite a bit, so it'll really keep a nice understory below our feature plant
43:34and our nice tall rush.
43:36Our drier pot, we're going to go with the beautiful baronias.
43:39And this is Baronia heaven scent.
43:43Beautiful, dusky pink flowers.
43:45The aroma from the flowers of this, even the foliage, absolutely stunning.
43:49Along with this one, which is another Baronia.
43:52This is Baronia dark prince.
43:54More of a deep plum-coloured flower once it starts doing its thing.
43:58And then to top that off, this absolutely stunning Lassia petalum bronze velvet.
44:05Gorgeous foliage that'll cascade over the edge of our pot.
44:08And these little delicate flowers that just give it that really beautiful bronze velvet,
44:14as the name suggests.
44:15But to really tie these two pots together, real burst of colour.
44:20What could go better than a couple of paper daisies?
44:24Putting a bit of pizzazz, a little bit of colour, a little bit of oomph.
44:28That'll look an absolute treat.
44:30I'll get to planting. Once they're done, we'll see what they look like.
44:34Sun and drought tolerance has seen a lot of Aussie plants evolve muted tones in flowers and foliage.
44:39These work great in rusty planters. You really can't go wrong.
44:44Plants like grevilleas, gums, acacias and melaleucas.
44:47Your drums will look so sharp, you'll want to take precautions.
44:52Now, if you are worried about sharp edges, grab a bit of old hose, slice it down the middle.
44:57Works perfectly as an edge.
45:01Now it's nice and smooth and soft.
45:04Doesn't look too bad.
45:07Well, I am unbelievably excited about how well these have turned out.
45:12The science of the rust, the colour, the form, these different species are really setting each other off.
45:19A little taste of Australia right here in recycled 44-gallon drums.
45:25Nothing more Aussie than that.
45:36Gardening makes you think about time.
45:39Some of the things you plant today will live on long after you've gone.
45:44And sometimes you care for a garden only for a brief period of time.
45:51The plants were there before you and they'll live on into the future.
45:56Our next story takes us to Tasmania, where one gardener is carefully guiding something precious into its next era.
46:25I'm Dinah, and I live here with my husband Philip, Ruby and Ginger, two Vislas.
46:32We're here at Killane, which is on the edge of Westbury, a village in the north of Tasmania.
46:41I think it was named after Killane Castle on the west coast of Scotland.
46:46It's just a fabulous place to live.
46:50This property was built in the 1840s and it was on a block 40 acres and we still have 32
47:00acres of that original property.
47:04It's been passed down through many families, many people.
47:10Killane has a really wonderful history.
47:15The garden is about 10 acres and we irrigate 10 acres.
47:21Of course, there's the lake, which takes up about three of those 10 acres.
47:25So it's a big garden, some historic areas, some much newer areas.
47:30When I came here, we had some original trees, probably planted when the house was first built.
47:43Over the 13 years that I've been here, we've watched these trees grow and grow.
47:48They've just flourished.
47:50This tree here is a sequoia.
47:53It's not an original.
47:54It was planted in 1878.
47:57It has its roots in the lake, so it has plenty of water and plenty of space to grow.
48:02So it is a beautiful example of a sequoia dendron or what we call Wellingtonia pine.
48:10They're absolutely beautiful trees.
48:17This is one of my favourite trees.
48:22It's the Indian bean tree, Katalpa biganoides.
48:27We think this is about 110 years old.
48:31And these are the beans.
48:33They're not edible, but they're the seed pods.
48:36It's a beautiful tree for summer because it gives this very comfortable, cool shade.
48:44And it flowers at Christmas time, usually on the 23rd of December, which is very handy because that's where we
48:52have our Christmas lunch.
48:53So a perfect tree for a big garden.
49:01We grew up in Hobart on a small property on the Eastern Shore and I've always enjoyed those days.
49:09And we went to live in England for 12 years.
49:12And there, of course, there are so many beautiful gardens.
49:17And then when I came back, I just didn't have time for gardening.
49:22I worked for 40 years full time and it was hard to build gardening into my time.
49:28But I was always interested and started to see gardening as the thing that I'd probably want to do as
49:38I retire.
49:40The two gardeners before me were avid tree people.
49:44They planted beautifully.
49:46They could see visions of trees as they got bigger.
49:50So I took it upon myself not to plant any more trees because I think we've got enough and tried
49:57to fill in that understory.
50:00And I always loved woodland plants.
50:05When we came, we had a few hydrangeas in a beautiful bed, which we can see from the house and
50:13the veranda.
50:14You know, hydrangeas probably to me were a bit old fashioned, but I did go to a lecture by a
50:23garden designer who said,
50:24don't follow fashion.
50:27Look at what survives in gardens.
50:31And he said hydrangeas.
50:35This is just an ordinary mop top and another type of hydrangea here.
50:42They do well because it's the south side of the house.
50:46They don't get direct sun and we give them plenty of water.
50:51And I think the soil is just perfect pH for them.
50:55One of the things we have to think about is pests.
51:00We have deer visit the garden very regularly.
51:03We have possums, wallaby, rabbits, hares.
51:07So I found over the years that hydrangeas just don't get eaten.
51:11Things like the big ears don't get eaten.
51:15So really what's here in the garden is the things that will survive.
51:21Learning to live with that is part of gardening.
51:30When you're the owner of a beautiful garden like this, you often think about the people who've lived here and
51:36what they thought and how they did things.
51:42Very fortunate that the Lakers bought the property in the mid 60s.
51:46Dr Laker and his wife were avid gardeners all their life and they really did put a lot of the
51:54bones back into the garden.
51:57And I'm thrilled to bits to have Judy come to see the garden and she hasn't seen it for 25
52:05years.
52:07Hi Judy.
52:08Hi Diana, how are you?
52:10Good.
52:11Welcome back to Collette.
52:12Lovely to see you, thank you.
52:16So how does it feel?
52:18I was really concerned about coming back as to what would have changed, what has, you know, maybe not been
52:25looked after, but that's certainly not the case.
52:27It's wonderful to see that the garden has continued and grown from when I was here because basically it was
52:34nothing.
52:35There were the lovely old trees, but there was really no garden to speak of.
52:40And when I left, the garden father had created and of course that included all the lake and the landscaping
52:47there.
52:47It was immense.
52:48How did the lake come to be?
52:51We were kids and all of a sudden it just happened.
52:53In came the bulldozers and they took that field right out and made the dam wall with that.
53:01So Judy, tell us about the oak tree, this tree over here, because it's one of my favourites.
53:09Well Diana, I think this tree is one of the most unforgettable of my childhood.
53:15We just loved it.
53:17And I think it's very old. It would have been one of the first trees on the property, I'd say.
53:23I would think so. And that makes it probably 180 years old.
53:28It's amazing. It's a magnificent tree.
53:32You really do feel you're here just to look after it for the next people and hopefully you don't change
53:42things too much.
53:43There were no trees and you could see straight through to Westbury there.
53:48Yes. It's incredible.
53:50It's amazing to think how you can create a forest.
53:53I know. Look at the liquid amber.
53:58So I'm very fortunate to be the custodian, even if it's only for a few years.
54:19Roll up the sleeves and grab the hoe. Your jobs for the weekend are here.
54:29Cool temperate gardeners, it's time to prepare for bare rooting.
54:33Add some well-rotted manures and compost to your patch, dig over and in a month or two you'll be
54:39prepped for planting bare root fruit trees.
54:42Keep your compost cosy in the cooler weather and chuck in some comfrey, a cracker for adding heat to your
54:49heap.
54:49A sprinkle or two of some blood and bone will also work wonders.
54:53If sawfly larvae are clustering and attacking the foliage of your young native plants, carefully cut off the small branchlets
55:01that harbour colonies and bung them in the bin.
55:04In warm temperate gardens, it's time to harvest persimmon fruits.
55:09Non-astringent varieties can be eaten straight away, but let astringent fruits go soft and squishy before tucking in.
55:16I love them!
55:17It's a ripper time to transplant evergreen trees.
55:21The milder conditions mean they're less likely to suffer stress and will re-establish readily, rocketing away once the weather
55:29warms.
55:30The cooler, wetter weather sees snails and slugs up and about.
55:35Protect young seedlings and vulnerable plants with a beer trap.
55:39In the subtropics, if you haven't planted onions yet, don't cry.
55:43You can still get them in.
55:45Go for early varieties that thrive in warmer climates, like gladiline brown or barletta for pickling.
55:52Have a grow of hoizontal.
55:54The leaves are an Aztec delicacy and spinach substitute, and the buds can be deep-fried for a crispy treat.
56:02So now, they'll be ready to harvest in seven weeks.
56:06Prune your pandaria.
56:07They'll respond really well to a hard haircut.
56:10And if you remove seed pods and spent flowers, this colourful climber will bounce back beautifully.
56:17In tropical gardens, have a go at some unusual heat-loving perennial greens, like Okinawa spinach, Brazilian spinach and sambung.
56:25Easy to grow and good for you.
56:27Keep an eye out for Japanese honeysuckle and give it the chop before it sets seed.
56:33It's now a serious invader of native bushland, so do your bit and bin your prunings.
56:39Did you know that Australia has a native gardenia?
56:42This tall shrub to small tree has fragrant flowers in the spring and delicious fruits in the winter.
56:49Find a spot in your garden for this stunner.
56:53Ornamental, tough, fast-growing, local and lemony.
56:57What's not to love about native lemongrass?
56:59Perfect for arid gardens, plant one out at your place where you can enjoy the fragrant foliage.
57:06It's time to give your strawberries a sweet start and sow some seed into propagation mix.
57:11Keep them under cover or indoors in a seed tray and you'll be ready to transplant in four weeks.
57:18Leshenaltia are blooming now and come in a range of full-on colours.
57:22These tough natives are hot in hanging baskets or pots and will reward you with masses of flowers for months.
57:30Get out there and have a great weekend in the garden.
57:33And if you're craving more content, head over to our Gardening Australia YouTube channel.
57:45Well, that's everything we've got in the seed packet for this week.
57:49But there's plenty more coming next time.
57:52Let's take a sneak peek.
57:57I am getting down and dirty and learning everything there is to know about growing one of the world's most
58:03popular vegetables.
58:07I'm checking out some more unusual native plants that you may not be familiar with, but they're all perfect for
58:14creating a beautiful layered urban garden.
58:17And we meet a gardener killing the competition.
58:23Everyone say yes!
58:27Yes!
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