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00:04Hey!
00:06Hey! Hi!
00:11Whoa!
00:17Hey!
00:18Hello?
00:20Hey, mate.
00:21Hey!
00:23Hey!
00:33Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia, your home of horticulture, heart and a whole lot of plant love.
00:41Now, it doesn't matter if you're into gorgeous Australian native plants, garden design or getting your hands dirty.
00:50We've got something for everyone. Take a look.
00:56I've never wanted to turn down a swim to check out some amazing marine life.
01:00So, join me while I check out some underwater gardening to help restore southern Australia's golden kelp forests.
01:07I'm taking you to a landscape supply yard to show you the literal foundations of your next garden project.
01:15I'm going to show you how to design and plant an orchard from scratch.
01:20And I'm exploring a naturalistic garden that's been inspired by the Australian bush.
01:25It's been six decades in the making, and you're going to want to join me.
01:35What's your favourite colour in the garden?
01:38A pop of pink?
01:39A splash of red?
01:41A sea of blue?
01:42But what about the greens?
01:44The greens.
01:45They're the backbone of any good planting, but they're often undervalued.
01:51Well, Clarence is here to change all that.
01:59At my local nursery, there's no shortage of beautiful Australian native flowers.
02:05But it's foliage I've got my eyes on today, and the combinations of shapes, textures and colours.
02:12Let's start with green.
02:14From cushion bush lime green, to deep green foliage of waratahs.
02:18And then there's your delicious leafy greens.
02:20Native mint green, and all shades between.
02:27Human sight has evolved to be able to perceive more shades of green than any other colour.
02:32And we can discern differences between greens very accurately.
02:38Studies have proven that just looking at the colour green supports our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
02:51Lomandra longifolia cultivars have become some of the most used plants in the Australian landscape.
02:57With their fresh green foliage gracing roundabouts and shopping centre car parks.
03:02There's no doubt that their strappy, happy foliage offers weary city dwellers a little hit of what we all need.
03:10Green.
03:12Species with darker foliage provide the perfect foil for other plants.
03:17As darker colours will recede visually, pushing others forward.
03:21Rich burgundy and purple foliage are great to use as a backdrop.
03:25Like this dark leaf cultivar of Leptospermum, Starry Night.
03:29A fast growing graceful shrub with fine foliage.
03:34And then there are the coppery red cultivars.
03:37That look great on their own as a feature, or with different plants all around them.
03:42Now this is Melaleuca claret tops.
03:44And the more sunshine it gets, the redder the foliage.
03:53And these are rast ferns.
03:55With brightly coloured tops, it's a clumping fern with shallow roots.
04:00A spreading habit.
04:01They make a great ground cover.
04:02It's adapted to both sunny and shaded areas, and really good for growing under trees.
04:12Now silver and grey foliage plants can be some of the most handsome plants in the garden.
04:19Want to talk about good-looking plants?
04:22Acacia sterling silver.
04:24This is a stunning plant.
04:25You can prune it right back, mound it, shape it, do what you will.
04:30It'll handle windy conditions, dry conditions, any soil type, as long as it's well-drained.
04:35And little green buds coming through to turn into this lovely spray of silver.
04:41Absolutely gorgeous.
04:45Species of Aromophila, with hairy stems and foliage, give the plant a very distinctive silvery appearance.
04:51And the best thing is, they're so soft to touch.
04:55Aromophila are best suited to dry climates with well-drained soils.
05:00So good.
05:04Then there's Leucophyta brownii.
05:07Its name, Leucophyta, literally means bright leaf.
05:11In their natural habitat, bright white leaves are adaptations developed to survive in hot, harsh climates.
05:18And the colour of the foliage helps to reflect the heat and protect the plant.
05:25Whilst bright foliage will stand out, subtle repetition of grey-green tones can really bring plantings together.
05:34The grey-green softness of the prostrate woolly bush on the border draws you in and leads the eye through
05:40the garden bed to the smoky grey of the Wastringia cultivar.
05:44You're further drawn to the blue-grey of the Califeminis.
05:51Woolly bush, Wastringia and Califeminis all love a sunny position and they don't like having wet feet.
05:57So make sure they're in well-drained soils, and in this case, a raised bed.
06:11Foliage in your garden can be understated or bold.
06:15And with the diversity of foliage in Australian native plants to choose from, you can grow your space into a
06:20beautiful place to relax in and enjoy.
06:23You might even find it's pretty easy being green.
06:35While we're together, we need to settle which type of parsley is best, curled or flat-leaved?
06:42Do you have a position?
06:42I do.
06:43I do.
06:44I have a very strong view.
06:45Oh.
06:46And it's based on the fact that I don't just grow parsley for food.
06:50I'm interested in the insects that it brings into the garden.
06:54And I have to say that with the flat-leaved parsley, I got bored counting the number of bees and
06:59other beneficial insects that visited the flat-leaved parsley.
07:02So I only grow the flat-leaved.
07:05Oh, well, I only grow the flat-leaved as well, but just because I like the taste better.
07:09But now I can say it's also a better pollinator attractor.
07:13So I would play one in the camp of flavour.
07:16I appreciate the flat-leaved parsley.
07:19It's a beautiful plant, seeds everywhere, easy to grow.
07:21But I really love curled parsley.
07:23It's harder to grow, but also it's just got that incredibly intense flavour.
07:28And if you want to make a really good tabbouleh, you've got to go absolute ample amounts of curled.
07:34And apparently parsley is one of the most nutritious plants that we can eat in our vegetable garden.
07:39So I think, you know, we might prefer different ones, but as long as you grow it, you're winning.
07:44Well, we've almost solved that one.
07:47How about putting citrus in the compost?
07:50That's a really common question we have to answer.
07:54It's such a crazy myth, and I kind of understand where the myth started.
07:58Like, not great for your worm farm, but anything organic will break down.
08:04Oh, yeah, I work it all in there.
08:05And with, you know, if I have a lot of citrus, especially in winter,
08:08I just make sure I chop up those skins, mix it in with other food scraps,
08:12and it breaks down so easily.
08:13There's nothing to worry about.
08:15That's really the key, isn't it?
08:17Mixing it all in.
08:18Yep, easy.
08:19So go for it.
08:25The temperature might be dropping, but that won't stop Hannah from plunging into learning about one of the most important
08:33gardens in southern Australia.
08:49This is a really popular beach in Williamstown in Melbourne's inner southwest.
08:54But what many people don't know is that this shoreline is fringed with a vibrant underwater ecosystem.
09:02These are the forests of the sea.
09:05The beautiful golden kelp that's vital to marine ecosystems along much of southern Australia's coastline.
09:12But in recent decades, golden kelp has been in dire straits due to water pollution and changing water temperatures.
09:23So today I'm meeting Prue Francis, Associate Professor in Marine Science at Deakin University,
09:29to learn about the important work that's underway to help revive the golden kelp forests in Melbourne's Port Phillip.
09:35So Prue, it's pretty windy today, but we're going to get in anyway.
09:39What are we going to see out there?
09:41Well Hannah, we're going to go out into the water and try and find golden kelp and find the reproductive
09:46tissue of the kelp,
09:47and then take it back to the wet.
09:48Oh mate, let's do it.
09:49Let's go in.
09:55I have a feeling it's going a little bit chilly out there.
09:58I think so.
09:59Let's hope that the gloves help a little bit in the wet suit.
10:01Alright, let's have a crack.
10:10The golden kelp in Port Phillip is connected to the Great Southern Reef,
10:14a system of interconnected reef ecosystems that span the entire southern half of mainland Australia
10:20and all of Tasmania.
10:23It's not a complete coverage on kelp, as some people might think it might be when you say kelp forest.
10:29But there's patches and different species of seaweed out there as well.
10:34Alright, Prue, what are we looking at here?
10:36So Hannah, what we've got here is golden kelp,
10:39but very excitingly we've managed to find some reproductive tissue of the kelp.
10:43So here we can see the darker patch.
10:46And that patch is where all tiny little microscopic zoospores are in that tissue right now.
10:52And we're going to take that back to the lab and release it.
10:56Yeah, and can we do that now?
10:58We can, we're going to go to the boot and we're going to do what I call boot signs.
11:01Oh, car boot signs.
11:02Alright, let's do it.
11:12It's good to get some warm clothes back on.
11:14Oh, isn't it?
11:15A bit fresh in there, wasn't it?
11:17Oh yeah.
11:18Alright, so now we've got our golden kelp samples, Hannah.
11:21Yeah, we're going to release the spores.
11:23Oh, let's do it.
11:26So I think we start with, this is a really good one.
11:28So we can see the dark patch around here.
11:31So we're going to cut around that part.
11:34So now we'll have tweezers and we're going to do like a dipping.
11:38So this is all seawater and the first one's just to rinse it off to get any things that might
11:45be on the tissue now.
11:47Yeah.
11:47The second beaker has iodine in it and this is a antibacterial wash.
11:51So any little bugs that might be on there or epiphytes of other algae, we can wash them off.
11:57And then the final beaker is just a final seawater rinse.
12:00And at the end, you can pop it on the paper towel and want to try and dry it as
12:05much as you can.
12:07So the drying process is a way to, I guess, stress out the seaweed or the kelp.
12:12And so what we're trying to do is dry it out completely for a couple of hours.
12:16We'll re-immerse it in the seawater and that will help release the spores that we need to grow the
12:21kelp.
12:22Wow.
12:22So it's just like plants, which when they're really stressed, they'll set seed to make sure they can still survive.
12:28Yeah, that's right. Exactly.
12:29Okay. So now we're going to wrap it up.
12:30Yeah, wrap it up like a little present.
12:32Yeah.
12:32A little kelp present.
12:33And then they're going back to the lab, is that right?
12:35Yeah, so we'll put it on ice, keep it nice and cool and we'll keep them like this for two
12:40hours and then take them back to the lab to release the spores.
12:43Awesome.
12:50So Prue, why is this work so important?
12:53Yes, the golden kelp is facing pressures just like anything in our ocean, unfortunately.
12:57So we've got a global problem with climate change and along our temperate Australian system, the Great Southern Reef, we're
13:04seeing two stresses, which is the warming ocean.
13:07But also here in Victoria, it's a prickly problem, which is the purple sea urchin overgrazing on the kelp.
13:13It is a native species, so we want it to be here.
13:15But what's happened is because of anthropogenic disturbances and changes in the water quality, they've expanded in numbers and they've
13:22got hungry.
13:23But unfortunately, they've targeted the golden kelp.
13:25I love this one.
13:26Yes, the golden kelp is a foundation species of what we like to say in the marine world.
13:31So that means that if we take it out, there's going to be these knock on effects.
13:35So it supplies oxygen, habitat and food to so many different organisms in the ocean, but also to us here
13:41on land.
13:42And sometimes we forget that we actually live on an ocean planet.
13:44We're such keen gardeners of the soil, a lot of us, but we really need keen ocean gardeners to keep
13:50the planet and us healthy.
13:52Yeah, for sure. And hopefully that's what our work is helping to achieve as well.
13:56Okay, so Hannah, we've had our samples that we put in tissue and let set for two hours.
14:02We've now unwrapped those samples and put them back into some seawater.
14:06And so it's hard to tell with our eyes.
14:08We need a microscope to verify this.
14:10But if you can see the discoloration in the water.
14:13Yeah, I can see that.
14:13And based on that kind of murky colour that we can see, I'm pretty confident we've got some zoospores in
14:19that seawater.
14:20So that's the first stage of the life cycle of a cow.
14:23Ah, okay.
14:25Yeah. And so then we take two weeks in the lab using different conditions.
14:30We manipulate the light, the temperature, we give them some nutrients and they'll actually grow into this next life stage.
14:37Ooh, and we call this one?
14:39These are gametophytes.
14:40Yes.
14:40So in here we've got both male and females.
14:44The female will develop an egg and the male will release sperm which fertilises that egg.
14:50So then they transition to the last life stage which are called sporophytes or we like to call them kelplings
14:55in our lab.
14:56And so these are roughly about eight weeks old and this is the life stage that we would then out
15:01plant into the ocean.
15:02And when you say plant out into the ocean, are you just like throwing them out there and saying good
15:07luck?
15:07No, it looks like here you'd throw them out.
15:10But no, what we're actually doing at the gametophyte stage here, we would spray them onto different surfaces.
15:16And so we use either rocks or what we call green gravel or we use cotton twine wrapped around PVC
15:23pipe.
15:23Got it.
15:23The twine is actually biodegradable.
15:25So that would be what we grow in the hatchery for about six weeks and then that then can grow
15:31out into the ocean after that.
15:32But I want to show you what it looks like roughly about six months later.
15:36Yeah.
15:36So I've got a sample here.
15:38This is one of our bigger sporophytes.
15:40Beautiful.
15:41Of the kelp.
15:41Now seaweed aren't actually plants, are they?
15:45No.
15:45We have what looks like roots here.
15:47A kelp is what we call an algae.
15:49So they're not a true plant.
15:51A true plant would have a root system.
15:53This does look like it is a root system, but it's actually called a holdfast.
15:56And as the name suggests, it holds strongly onto its substrate.
16:00So in this instance, it's a rock and that holdfast doesn't provide any nutritional elements to the kelp to grow.
16:07The kelp relies on the sun and also nutrients in the water.
16:11In the water.
16:11Yeah.
16:12But like plants, you know, plants also photosynthesize.
16:14So there's so many beautiful intersections, aren't there?
16:17Yeah, for sure.
16:18I love that.
16:19This seems like a huge task.
16:21Is this realistic that you can rehabilitate this region?
16:24So it has been a collective group of scientists that we have been able to rehabilitate 26 hectares in two
16:31marine sanctuaries here in Port Phillip Bay.
16:33So we've been working collectively with the University of Melbourne, the Nature Conservancy and Parks Victoria to undertake this work.
16:39And a success that we've been able to show in our local backyard.
16:43There is hope to either repair or restore those areas where we've lost kelp in, not just here in Australia,
16:49but globally as well.
16:51Yeah.
16:51So how do you feel when you're out there and you see a huge area that you've helped rehabilitate?
16:56Proud, I think it's the first word that comes to mind.
16:58Because I guess in a world where we live now where we are seeing these climate pressures and seeing decline
17:03of the kelp,
17:05that you can go out to these areas where you have been part of this bigger group of people to
17:10help rehabilitate this area.
17:12It's just a really nice sense of blue hope, I like to call it.
17:15Blue hope.
17:15Yeah.
17:32Has anyone seen my pile of gravel?
17:35It's got great sedimental value.
17:37It's hard to give a concrete recommendation.
17:40This is a quarried material, so don't take it for granite.
17:43It's sedimentary, dear Watson.
17:46Ah, take it with a grain of basalt.
17:48This gravel is quite cheap.
17:50It must be on shale.
17:54OK, I got it out of my system.
17:57Down to business.
17:59Ready to rock and roll.
18:06If you haven't spent much time in a landscape supply yard, consider this your invitation.
18:13A personal guide to things like sand, gravel and rock.
18:19But remember, when you come to a place like this, it's busy.
18:23There's forklifts.
18:24There's loaders.
18:25There's trucks.
18:26There's all sorts of activity.
18:27If someone offers you a high-vis vest, throw it on and keep your wits about you.
18:35We may as well start with the smallest of grains.
18:38Sand.
18:39Sand is made up of tiny rock and mineral particles.
18:43But not all sand is the same.
18:46You can buy sand that has grains of different sizes, uniformity and sharpness.
18:52Those things determine how sand behaves and how you should use it.
18:59This is fine sand.
19:01And it's the kind of sand you want to play in, which is why it's used in things like playgrounds
19:06and sand pits.
19:07Now, when you have a close look at it, you can see that the grains are very small and round.
19:14They're anywhere from 0.05 to 0.25 of a millimetre.
19:19That's perfect if you're doing a paving job, because if you spread it out over your paving,
19:24let it dry and then sweep it into the gaps, it goes in perfectly.
19:29You don't want to use this fine sand in your propagation mix,
19:34because it will hold moisture and that will smother the roots.
19:43This builder's sand is also fine.
19:46But the difference with this is it has a lot more silt in it,
19:50which means it holds together.
19:53And the only reason you're going to use this is if you wanted to mix up some mortar to lay
19:58bricks.
19:59Perfect for that.
20:02This river sand is much more coarse.
20:06Its grains are larger and sharper and can reach up to two millimetres in diameter.
20:12It provides much better drainage than a fine sand,
20:16and the coarse, irregular grains lock into each other for more stability.
20:22This has traditionally been used as an ideal bedding underneath pavers
20:26or to help improve drainage in heavy clay soils.
20:31Sand's an essential component to life as we know it.
20:34It's used to make glass, concrete and even the silicon that powers technology.
20:40But sand mining can have big environmental impacts.
20:44So use it consciously and only order what you need.
20:48It's also worth considering recycled crusher dust,
20:52which is a finely crushed mix of construction materials like concrete, brick and tile fragments.
20:59The size of the particles may vary a little and because it's made of a mix of materials,
21:05it may compact a bit more.
21:07But it's a great option for paving, driveways, filling in holes or as a base layer for mounds and structures.
21:17Now, we're getting chunkier and into gravel territory.
21:21This is granitic sand and it's made from decomposed granite.
21:26It's great for pathways, driveways, between-raised veggie beds
21:30or to create a visual void to give your plantings more definition.
21:35It's very permeable so stormwater can easily drain through it,
21:39rather than rushing over it like concrete or asphalt.
21:43If you're wanting it for a hard-wearing area like a driveway,
21:47you can mix it with a bit of cement to give it more stability.
21:51The small round particles are reasonably soft underfoot,
21:55so if there's any areas in your garden where you want to get around barefoot,
21:59this is an ideal choice.
22:02Blue metal gravel is a crushed, mineral-rich basalt rock.
22:07Its irregular rough edges make it great for drainage
22:10and it's stable and hard-wearing for driveways.
22:14Keep in mind that this dark colour will really soak up and retain heat,
22:19so it's best to choose lighter options for large areas that can catch that afternoon sun.
22:25Now that blue metal is a quarried product.
22:29This aggregate, on the other hand, is a recycled product.
22:35This used to be bricks, roof tiles, concrete slabs that would otherwise have gone to landfill.
22:44Now they are captured and crushed and then sieved into different sizes.
22:50So this is about a 30mm or below aggregate.
22:55There's no fines in here, making it a perfectly clean material to be used as a filler,
23:02if you want to put it in around a pipe, because moisture will drain through here.
23:07It's really versatile, it can be used if you need to fill an area to raise it up,
23:14and you could even use it as the topping on a path.
23:18Either way, if you're on a budget, this is a great way to save money
23:23and contribute to less quarrying of raw materials.
23:29Recycled road base is made from the same recycled materials.
23:32But why is it called road base? The answer's in the name.
23:36It's the base for a road.
23:38So if you've got a road, that's got to have strength,
23:40because you don't want it bending and buckling.
23:43The way road base gets its strength is that it's made up of a whole lot
23:48of different sized particles, starting with the really fine
23:52and going up to 25, 30 and up to 40mm particles of rock and concrete.
23:58Now, the key to it is the fine particles that crush a dust,
24:04because it goes between the gaps and holds it all together.
24:09And when you add water and compact it, it goes really hard.
24:13So this material is ideal under roads, under driveways,
24:18under concrete slabs or even under a small garden paving project.
24:24As you'd expect, there's an increasing supply
24:27of recycled crushed building materials available to buy.
24:33Millie's a big fan of the crushed recycled concrete
24:36she used in her garden,
24:39as well as the recycled brick gravel she chose for her side path.
24:44And don't forget, leaving something out can be a design choice too.
24:49Take these Nepean river pebbles.
24:53Is it worth pulling them out of a riverbed for your project?
24:59A lot of these materials can be bought in bulk by the metre or cubic tonne.
25:06But if you only have a small project on the go,
25:09or need to get access through an apartment or unit,
25:12you can buy most things by the bag as well.
25:15To calculate how much material you need for your project,
25:19measure the dimensions of your space.
25:22For a space that's square or rectangular,
25:25multiply the length by the width to get your area in square metres.
25:31Then multiply this number by the depth.
25:33A common depth for gravel is 50 millimetres,
25:37which is 0.05 of a metre.
25:40And that is your order in cubic metres,
25:44which is the language you need to talk to your landscape supplier with.
25:49For irregular shapes like in between raised garden beds,
25:53divide the area into smaller rectangles,
25:56calculate each area and then add them up.
26:00And look, if you're not confident on a calculator,
26:02bring your measurements into the landscape supply yard
26:05and they'll help you figure it out.
26:08Places like this are brimming with the literal foundations
26:12of your next gardening project.
26:23I'm here in my new patch in South Australia's Mid-Murray region
26:27to show you the position I've selected on the property
26:30to be my future fruit tree orchard.
26:33I've chosen this position because it gets lots of sun,
26:36as fruit trees need at least six hours of direct light per day.
26:40And it's been prepped,
26:41so it will be easy to plant out all the trees in the same way,
26:45in a structured layout.
26:47When it comes to spacing,
26:49it depends on what's being planted
26:50and how much competition you want to deal with.
26:53The closer you plant,
26:54the smaller your trees are more likely to be.
26:58Thankfully, the soil here is pretty good
27:00compared to elsewhere on the property.
27:02And fruit trees are reasonably tolerant of different soil types
27:05as long as they're well-drained
27:07and you can add lots of organic matter.
27:09I've already dug a large hole in preparation.
27:11If your soil is extra dry,
27:14you can fill it with water
27:15and let it drain first before planting.
27:18I'm adding gypsum to improve drainage in the clay.
27:21And as usual, compost is key.
27:24If the soil is really heavy clay,
27:27you can also plant in mounds to improve drainage.
27:36Planting deciduous fruit trees in winter
27:38when they're bare-rooted is the perfect time.
27:40There's less transplant shock putting them in the ground
27:43and they're more affordable.
27:45Now, while it does get cold here,
27:47I don't think I get sufficient chill factor
27:49to grow cool-season crops,
27:51so I'm going to plant stone fruits and this one's a peach.
27:56Next, inspect the roots for death or damage
27:59and snip off any dodgy ones.
28:02Bare-rooted plants come packed in sawdust.
28:05Make sure this is all removed before planting.
28:09Position the roots so the soil level
28:11is at the same level it would have been originally
28:13and you can see the different colour on the stem.
28:16Not too high.
28:19And I'm adding a bit more organic matter
28:23up the top as well.
28:26You can see how quickly the addition of compost
28:29changes the colour of the soil.
28:32Backfill and water well.
28:33As they are dormant,
28:35they won't need fertiliser until spring,
28:37but I am adding mulch.
28:39Now, a hard prune might seem a bit drastic,
28:41but it's essential with bare-rooted plants.
28:44When they dig them out of the paddock
28:46where they were growing, they cut off about 90%
28:48of the root system.
28:49So it's vital that I prune the top by 90%
28:52to compensate for that.
28:53And by pruning these side branches back to about here,
28:57it's going to cause each of the nodes to become branches.
29:00And by the end of the year, it'll look fantastic
29:03and be bigger than it ever was.
29:07Future pruning will be about creating a strong structure
29:10that allows for good ventilation and easy picking.
29:15We can get winds here of up to 70 kilometres an hour,
29:18and that can strip off leaves, disrupt pollination
29:21and damage fruit.
29:23So I'm using tree guards whilst they're getting started
29:25in the ground.
29:27And I'm also planting out a strategically placed,
29:31fast-growing saltbush hedge of a variety called Ayres Green,
29:34which is going to grow with and protect the orchard.
29:38While it mightn't look like much yet,
29:40all this planning and prep has set the fruit trees up
29:43for a pretty good start in what is otherwise
29:46a really harsh environment.
29:47And this is a solid foundation
29:49for what will become a productive fruit-filled haven.
29:54Still to come on Gardening Australia,
29:57Josh re-thinks and re-plants a beautiful little garden.
30:02We meet a scientist whose own garden path
30:06celebrates everything from muddy creeks
30:08to beautiful botanic gardens.
30:11And we get you working with your jobs for the weekend.
30:22Good design is at the heart of the very best gardens.
30:26And Millie has found an absolute cracker,
30:30cultivated over years by a legend in landscape design.
30:51How beautiful is this?
30:53Chocolate lilies under a canopy of eucalypts.
30:56It might look like I'm on a bushwalk,
30:58but I'm actually walking a very spectacular driveway
31:01on my way to view a very spectacular garden.
31:06I'm about an hour north-east of Melbourne
31:08on a four-hectare property
31:09that backs onto Warrandyte State Park on two sides.
31:14Most of the blocks protected under a conservation covenant
31:17so it can never be cleared or developed.
31:20A large, naturalistic garden wraps right around the house,
31:24with mature plantings and clever design,
31:27creating the soft, grounded kind of beauty
31:30that only comes with age.
31:34It's a little frog.
31:35We've got six, seven different types.
31:39You can hear the bobble-wonk in the distance over here.
31:42You can hear the bobble-wonk in the distance over here.
31:44Bev Hansen designed and built this garden
31:48when she was in her 20s, almost 60 years ago.
31:52I guess we wanted to meld in with the natural bush,
31:56the natural surroundings.
31:58The backbone, I'd say, is the hard landscaping,
32:02the placing of rocks, which I would see most important,
32:06meandering paths and, of course, the planting.
32:10Bev tell me, what was the first thing you did
32:12when you started this garden?
32:14We had a front-end loader and my husband drove that
32:18and he didn't mind being told by a woman what to do.
32:24Back in those days, it was a bit different.
32:27And so you went about, I guess, straight away changing the land
32:32a little bit from a design perspective
32:34or from a plant-growing perspective.
32:35Why did you move that soil around?
32:37As you see over here, there's a mound we wanted,
32:41particularly Australian plants,
32:43to grow very well in a mound with good drainage.
32:45And that mound there gave the neighbour next door
32:49who was here before us their privacy back
32:52and gave us something to look out our big windows onto.
32:56But I wanted it also to blend in with the existing lie of the land.
33:03It changes the space very quickly, doesn't it?
33:05If you've got a flat block and you can plant and plant,
33:08but that's going to take time to evolve.
33:10But if you can create a little bit of topography,
33:12immediately you've got microclimates to grow plants,
33:15but also you are changing that outlook
33:18and, in this case, creating something to look at.
33:20Yes, particularly where your main windows are.
33:25You know, I'm a great believer in creating a picture
33:28of your main family room windows there
33:32or your entrance or lounge room, whatever.
33:35Most important to have something to look out on.
33:40Before we go any further,
33:42I should tell you a little bit more about Bev's background.
33:45She's a prolific landscape designer.
33:48That's Como Park and the Yarra Rivers here.
33:51Bev left school at 16 to study at Burnley Horticultural College
33:56and then went on to work with one of Australia's garden design greats,
34:01Ellis Stones, who in turn built rock walls
34:03for the equally legendary Edna Walling.
34:09How many gardens do you think you've designed over your career?
34:12Oh, goodness me. I know it's over a thousand, but I don't know exactly.
34:18When you look back on a career like that, I mean,
34:20you've really helped probably a lot of people fall in love with their gardens.
34:25I hope so. That's the aim.
34:29Bev was part of a movement that helped shape Australia's naturalistic garden style.
34:34It was a big shift from the formal manicured gardens of the early colonial years
34:39towards something much more relaxed, with rocks, changing levels and natural water features
34:45that all helped the gardens feel like part of the landscape.
34:49Well, you just love making something that's ugly into something beautiful.
34:54And there's this real satisfaction in that.
34:58Watching plants grow, there's something special about that.
35:02And hearing the frogs come and the birds come and all of the things that...
35:06All of that, yes. Nature, yes.
35:13I love the way Bev's included natural ponds around the house.
35:17There are five in total, all fed by rainwater collected from the roof.
35:22Another thing that I can't help admiring is the collection of beautifully crafted nesting boxes
35:27that Bev's son has built.
35:29There are boxes shaped for all kinds,
35:32and they've been given the stamp of approval by many generations of birds,
35:37threatened Fascagales and a family of sugar gliders currently in residence.
35:43Do you have an absolute favourite group of plants that you would always recommend people use?
35:49Well, I always lean to Australian plants.
35:53When I was at Burnley, of course, you didn't learn anything about Australian plants.
35:58No. No. Not when I was there.
36:02You learn all about exotics.
36:04Well, go to a nursery then, and there were none.
36:08So when you're setting this garden out, you literally couldn't buy Australian plants?
36:13Well, they were coming in then, but once you got specialised nurseries in Australian plants
36:19and lots of variety, that's when they came in, yes.
36:23What has really worked in this garden?
36:25Well, they're ground covers like that grevillea over there behind you.
36:30I planted that when we first came, so it must be over 50 years.
36:35Really?
36:35That's one plant.
36:37What is it?
36:38Grevillea obtusifolia.
36:40You know, that's there for the long haul, which is fantastic.
36:43That is exceptional.
36:45It is.
36:45And then there's a ground cover banksia up there, and there's a flower on that.
36:50Can you see it?
36:51Yes.
36:52Planting is most important, and once you've got rocks, it's no good spending all that time
36:59and money and everything if you hide them behind something.
37:04You know, you plant a grevillea there that's going to just cover the lot.
37:08So you choose very tight ground cover in front of the rocks, and some tufty plants,
37:14and a drift of something like brachacomb, some of those really pretty little Australian
37:22plants as a drift.
37:28We're so lucky in Australia to have such a variety.
37:32If you have an eye for beauty and you have an eye for detail, I think Australian plants,
37:37there's just endless plants to love.
37:40Yes, yes.
37:40Having a garden for as long as you have, what do you think it's given you as a gardener
37:45over that time?
37:46Well, it's peaceful.
37:48I recently was in hospital for two weeks, and I could feel my mental health going downhill.
37:57I had a window, but it looked out on a wall.
38:01So, mental health was in my case anyway.
38:07Yeah, looking back on my career, I'm so lucky that it happened the way it did, yes.
38:13I just loved what I was doing.
38:15It's easy to do what you love doing, and you're so lucky if your work is what you love doing,
38:21and you get paid for it.
38:23Wow!
38:23It's even better.
38:41All gardens evolve, shaped by their environment, and of course, the people who care for them.
38:48We've watched Josh's garden grow and transform over a decade now, and today, it's ready for
38:56an exciting new chapter.
39:03The small extension to our family home is finally complete, including the landscaping,
39:09which ties the new building into the backyard.
39:13To make room for it, we had to reconfigure the existing limestone retaining wall that forms
39:18the rockery.
39:19And the plants that have remained, well, they need a bit of TLC.
39:22There's also opportunity for new plants to make the most of this prime garden real estate.
39:32The first task on the to-do list is to give these salvias and prostrate rosemary a prune.
39:40The rosemary gets a light trim, whilst the salvias get a hard prune.
39:46This one is Salvia leucanther, which will reshoot from buds at the base of the plant.
39:52And this one is Salvia microphylla hotlips, which will reshoot from the woody stems.
39:58The result will be strong new growth and abundant flowering.
40:04You can see this plant has spread out a bit, probably through layering.
40:08And I can actually pull these out, and they can be replanted.
40:13You can also take cuttings from this sort of medium wood to create new plants.
40:23There's a plant that needs removing altogether.
40:26This embattled pomegranate has been plagued by Mediterranean fruit fly for the last few years.
40:32And it's been very difficult to manage in this spot, getting out of reach and growing over the fence,
40:38making it impossible to control the pest.
40:41So I've made the call to pull it out.
40:47On the upside, there's now room to plant something new and improve the screening along this boundary line.
40:53I've chosen a narrow form of Racinocarpus tuberculatus or wedding bush to do the job.
41:00To screen effectively, I'm planting a staggered row of three.
41:05They'll grow to around two and a half metres high and one and a half metres wide,
41:10and will get covered in fragrant white flowers in spring and summer.
41:16A bit like a class photo, layered planting in a garden bed makes sense aesthetically,
41:22and for the plants to get access to light.
41:26With the taller planting sitting along the fence, this Wastringia jarvis gem will form a mid-level.
41:33It will grow to about a metre high with a nice compact form,
41:37and the silver foliage will contrast nicely against the darker green foliage of the wedding bush and the dark grey
41:44fence.
41:46In the front row, an attention grabber.
41:50This is a corrier called Perfect Pollinator Red.
41:54It has a spilling habit, so in time will cascade over the rocks and produce masses of red flowers through
42:01winter.
42:05This is all looking a bit bare right now, but it will soon fill out with plants which are all
42:10hardy, low-water use native species.
42:13It will look terrific, and I've lined up more native plants for the narrow bed below.
42:21You might be familiar with the striking foliage of this one, Leucophyta browniei.
42:27This variety is silver bullion, which has a compact mounding habit.
42:32The masses of pink flowers on Pamelia magenta mist are an absolute knockout.
42:38They completely cover the plant from spring through to autumn,
42:41and will be a great contrast against the pale limestone behind it.
42:51The narrow strappy leaves of Patersonia occidentalis, or purple flag, will add some striking vertical form,
42:59with the bonus exquisite violet flowers.
43:02And finally, some quick-growing annuals.
43:05Pink and white everlastings to provide some instant colour while the other plants fill out.
43:12A layer of mulch across both tiers of the rockery garden will conserve soil moisture,
43:18keep weeds at bay, and create a neat finish.
43:25Renewal in a garden can take shape in different ways.
43:28Don't be afraid to give something a hard prune,
43:31or remove a plant completely if it's not performing well.
43:34What awaits is an opportunity for new growth.
43:38And that's always exciting.
43:45Have you ever wondered how salt affects plants?
43:48Plants have varying salt tolerances.
43:51In areas where it's naturally salty, native vegetation has found ways to adapt.
43:57But in areas where there's high salinity, other plants can become dehydrated,
44:01and it can affect their absorption of nutrients.
44:05Salty soils can occur naturally.
44:07They're common here in South Australia.
44:09Or, they're caused by disturbances, like clearing vegetation,
44:13changes to stormwater flows, and irrigation.
44:17Basically, changing how water moves and is used in the landscape.
44:22On a home garden scale, if you have salty soil,
44:25you can add organic matter and compost to help absorb it,
44:28and choose salt-tolerant plants where possible.
44:32Tomatoes, beets and brassicas can do quite well in salty soils.
44:36And if possible, use rainwater over tap or boil water.
44:42If you've got salty clay soils, that can be a whole other issue.
44:47Add organic matter and gypsum, and build raised beds for sensitive plants.
44:51The term dryland salinity is often heard in regional and rural areas,
44:57as it refers to non-irrigated land.
45:00It's a natural process, but is also increasingly happening in areas such as pasture lands,
45:06where deeper-rooted vegetation has been replaced by shallow crops.
45:11When the groundwater builds up and reaches the surface,
45:14the salt it carries can build up in the soil, and that can affect plant growth.
45:18This is a wide-scale issue that's significant in the Murray-Darling catchment area.
45:29Our next story follows the path of a botanist,
45:33who's built a career managing large and spectacular gardens,
45:38but also has a passion for the tiny and slimy.
45:56I'm Tim Entwistle.
45:58I'm a professor at University of Melbourne, botanical training.
46:03It's taken me around the world, worked in three botanic gardens.
46:09But I got into it through the study of algae.
46:14When you look at algae growing here in the lake,
46:17it's very slimy, a bit yucky to touch.
46:21Not that exciting, perhaps.
46:23But when I was a student, I collected something in a lake, in a pond like this.
46:31I got so excited by the fact it had never been found before,
46:37you know, never been recorded.
46:39New to science, needed describing, needed a new name.
46:43That's pretty exciting when you're a scientist.
46:48You put this under the microscope, and it's beautiful, it's spectacular.
46:53This huge diversity, not only that, very long history,
46:58they've been on Earth longer than the flowering plants.
47:02The phytoplankton, these are the tiny algae that float in the sea,
47:06they're sucking up nearly half of the world's carbon dioxide,
47:09so they have a very important role in helping our survival
47:13as a species and as a planet.
47:17I was born in Nil, which is a little country town
47:20in sort of wheat belt country in Victoria,
47:23halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide.
47:26When you're born in Nil, you're always going to be successful
47:30because you come from Nil.
47:32My grandfather used to take us for walks in the bush.
47:36We went off searching for gold.
47:38We never found any gold, but I was immersed in plants and plant life.
47:43My father died when I was about six,
47:45so he died of asthma complications, and my mother remarried.
47:49And my new father was someone who liked growing plants,
47:54and he liked gardening.
47:55And I remember helping him sort of grow eucalyptus seeds
47:58and sprinkling them on little pots when I was younger.
48:02I started university as a kind of a maths physics nerd.
48:07Then did this switch, and I'd just studied plants.
48:10And I got very intrigued by algae.
48:14And then an opportunity came up at a botanic garden.
48:17That was a job called a flora writer.
48:20Now, a flora writer writes and also edits the big descriptive volumes
48:26that help you identify the plants of an area, in this case, Victoria.
48:30And so I applied for that, and I said, look, I work on algae,
48:33but it's the same kind of thing.
48:34You know, I know how to describe things and how to name things.
48:37I got the job, and I never left botanic gardens.
48:41Worked as a director of three botanic gardens.
48:43Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney,
48:47and Kew Gardens in London.
48:48So my entire life really has been, since then, in botanic gardens.
48:58Botanic gardens, I think, are such an important place today.
49:02But when people ask you what is a botanic garden, it's quite tricky.
49:07In some ways, it's having all the plants labelled, people think,
49:11and it's very neat and they're in order.
49:13The old traditional way used to be to have a rose garden, a herb garden.
49:16That's not the way you should plant a new botanic garden.
49:22I say it's nature, culture and science.
49:29The science and study of plants, that's where I sort of came from.
49:33It's about nature.
49:34It's a safe place to start to connect with plants and nature.
49:37And then there's culture.
49:40To not just be musty old heritage places,
49:44the places that are ready to sort of take on modern culture.
49:48Places that are willing to be a little bit provocative,
49:50to do things a little bit differently.
49:55Engage more strongly with the cultural life of the city.
50:01So, for example, in a botanic garden, we often have commemorative trees.
50:04And in Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria,
50:07we had over a hundred trees planted by kings, queens, governors, general.
50:12And when I was there, I was thinking,
50:14look, we need really to have a different representation of people in the gardens.
50:18We need something that might attract people here
50:21that don't normally come to botanic gardens.
50:25The obvious person to me was Nick Cave.
50:30An interesting ambassador for a cultural life in Melbourne.
50:34Took a lot of effort.
50:35Took a bit of sort of persuasion to do that.
50:39But in the end, Nick loved it.
50:41Great way to show the botanic gardens are kind of still relevant,
50:44a little bit provocative.
50:51People often ask me, what's the world's best botanic gardens?
50:55The really great botanic gardens are not only beautiful places,
51:00but these days it's the important work that goes on often behind the scenes.
51:05One of the most exciting things I did recently at Melbourne Botanic Gardens,
51:10in Victoria, was to set up a climate change alliance.
51:15And that had 500 botanic gardens signed up
51:19to help adapt botanic gardens to climate change
51:22and to help use botanic gardens to change the way we respond to climate change.
51:29We're already seeing botanic gardens change because of climate change.
51:33You know, some of the big old trees are dying.
51:35We know that.
51:36We're seeing changes in flowering times of some species.
51:39And if pollinators get out of sync at times of plants flowering,
51:44you start to get a problem.
51:50One of the ways we can respond to climate change is to say,
51:53look, what should we grow in our gardens?
51:56So take Melbourne, for example.
51:58In 2090, we expect it's going to be a climate like Dubbo.
52:03So, you know, one way to work out what you're going to grow in a garden
52:06is to get in the car, hop in a car, drive up to Dubbo,
52:09step out, look in the garden.
52:11That's what you should grow in Melbourne.
52:18Botanic gardens have multiple roles, really,
52:20in helping the community deal with climate change.
52:22And one of them is the plants they display.
52:25And you'll see a lot of the new plant landscapes
52:28being put in botanic gardens are responding to drier climates.
52:35We're in the new arid garden of the Australian Botanic Garden.
52:39And here we've got a collection of Australian plants.
52:43What's fascinating to me is included here is a local native orchid,
52:48a purple donkey orchid, a diurus.
52:50And it's a rare plant and not what you expect to find in an arid garden.
52:56It's a great example of what you can do if you push those boundaries a bit
52:59and try and plant new things, test things out, experiment a little bit.
53:04That's what botanic gardens can do.
53:05And look, I'd encourage you to do in your home garden as well.
53:16Botanic gardens are, first and foremost, a beautiful place.
53:22People sometimes underestimate the importance and value of these big, beautiful vistas.
53:30These are part of our cultural life.
53:33So I think as a botanic garden, we need to be a bit stronger on why we're there.
53:41And it can be conservation.
53:44It can be science.
53:48But also we need to provoke a little bit in botanic gardens
53:52because we as places of influence
53:57can change behaviours out there beyond the botanic garden fence.
54:11Autumn is such a great time in the garden to get things done.
54:16You get results.
54:17Now here's that list that some of you love to hate.
54:21Your jobs for the weekend.
54:28Cool temperate gardeners, why not spend some time exploring your local botanic garden,
54:33appreciating the science, scenery and serenity.
54:37Winter grass is starting to take over turf.
54:40So it's time to act.
54:42As soon as you see the bright green leaves, dig the clumps out and feed to the chooks.
54:47Or make a wee tea for the garden.
54:50Feeling fruity?
54:51Bung in a banana.
54:52Find a sunny, protected corner of your garden or courtyard
54:55and give some of the cold tolerant varieties like Red Dacca, Dwarf Cavendish and Rajapuri a go.
55:03In warm temperate gardens, it's hydrangea haircut time.
55:07Remove spent flower heads, pruning to the next healthy bud on the stem.
55:11Take off two thirds of the foliage and it'll rocket away in spring.
55:16With winter around the corner, our thoughts turn to snow.
55:20Snow peas of course.
55:21Sow seeds direct, install a teepee or climbing frame, water well
55:25and you'll be harvesting in just 60 days.
55:29Cooler weather means stews and roasts.
55:32So it's a great time to sow herbs such as sage, oregano and thyme
55:36into rich, fluffy, well-drained soil in a bright sunny spot.
55:42Subtropical gardeners, it's time for bare root roses.
55:45Head to a nursery and grab your fragrant favourites and plant out as soon as possible,
55:51keeping roots moist but not wet.
55:53Find space under cabbages and kale and have a crack at shade-loving landcress,
55:59Barbaria vulgaris.
56:00A cracking companion plant, the leaves are edible, hot, spicy and great in salads.
56:06If you love herbs, it's time to pop in some parsley.
56:09Curly or Italian, parsley is reliable and great in pots or plots, enjoying full sun to part shade.
56:17Harvest regularly for bigger bushier plants.
56:20In the tropics, it's time to put in a dragon fruit.
56:23These spectacular night flowering cacti are climbers and grow best on tall, strong supports.
56:30Plus, the fruit is refreshing and delicious.
56:33The silk floss tree, Ciba speciosa, is a large, fast-growing shade tree worth considering.
56:40Related to the boa, the spiny trunk and flamingo pink flowers make this one a stunner.
56:46This is the start of the Nidjan Gama, season of heavy dew for the Gula Morrigan people of the Darwin
56:54region,
56:54when sugar bag honey, dadbingwa, is collected from tree hollows.
57:00Arid gardeners, if you've struggled to grow celery, pop in some parcel.
57:04Unfazed by humidity, heat or full sun, the stems and small leaves of parcel taste like both parsley and celery.
57:12Yum!
57:14Textural, trendy, tough and terrific winter flowers say hello to an aloe.
57:19Perfect for arid gardens, there's hundreds of these stunning succulent cultivars,
57:23perfect for pots and plots.
57:26Why not get involved with the friends group of your local park or botanic garden?
57:30It's a great way to meet like-minded people and do something meaningful in your neighbourhood and community.
57:37Autumn's an amazing time to get stuck into truckloads of jobs in the garden,
57:42so let us know what you get up to this weekend on our Gardening Australia social pages.
57:53Well, that's all we've got time for, but you know where I'll find you next week.
57:59Right here in the garden. Of course. I'll see you then.
58:04I'm visiting this beautiful garden in South Australia's Barossa Valley, and it goes to show that with some careful planning,
58:12you can create a resilient and delightful garden in a dry region.
58:18I'll be sharing some design tips about some of my favourite plants.
58:23And we meet a devotee of a true Australian icon.
58:28They just become more and more interesting, and the more you know, the more you realise you don't know.
58:32There you go.
58:38What's one you realise, I'll see you then.
58:39Is it nice?
58:39That's it.
58:40Try to get a visitor.
58:40Get to the end of the garden.
58:40You can't wait...
58:40You can't wait...
58:41...you can't wait for everybody.
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