August Garden Checklist for Australian Gardens
August is the last quiet month before bud burst. Here are the pruning, feeding, mulching and planting jobs worth doing now, sorted by climate zone.
Resource Centre
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Flowering Gum (Corymbia) Care Guide
Flowering gums put on the loudest summer display of any Australian tree. The secret is a grafted cultivar and sharp drainage, especially east of the Nullarbor.
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Indian Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis) Care Guide
Indian hawthorn flowers in late winter, handles salt wind and heat, and asks for almost nothing. Here is how to pick the right cultivar for the height you want.
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Viburnum Care Guide: Fast Privacy Hedges for Australian Gardens
If you want privacy this year rather than next decade, sweet viburnum is the hedge that gets you there, with soft glossy leaves instead of a hard formal wall.
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Tuckeroo Care Guide: Australia's Toughest Coastal Shade Tree
Salt wind, sandy soil, blazing sun: the conditions that kill most trees are exactly where the native tuckeroo does its best work.
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Philodendron Care Guide: Lush, Forgiving and Very Hard to Kill
If you want a jungle without the maintenance, start with philodendrons. Bright indirect light and a light hand with water is most of the job.
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Ornamental Pear Care Guide: Growing Pyrus calleryana in Australia
White spring blossom, glossy summer leaves and blazing autumn colour on a tree tough enough for car parks: ornamental pears earn their popularity.
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Aloe Care Guide: Growing Flowering Aloes in Australia
Aloes flower in winter, drink almost nothing and feed every honeyeater in the street. The hardest part of growing them is finding something to do afterwards.
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Monstera Care Guide: How to Grow the Swiss Cheese Plant in Australia
Big, glossy, famously holey leaves and a forgiving nature: monstera is the indoor plant that makes beginners look like experts.
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Cycad Care Guide: Growing Living Fossils in Australian Gardens
Cycads have survived 200 million years by being nearly impossible to kill. In the garden they trade speed for sculpture, and the trade is worth it.
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Tree Fern Care Guide: Growing Cyathea cooperi in Australia
Nothing transforms a shaded corner like a tree fern. One trunk, a two metre canopy of lace, and suddenly the side passage is a rainforest gully.
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Blueberry Care Guide: How to Grow Blueberries in Australia
Blueberries are the highest value crop a home gardener can grow, and they thrive in Australia once you understand one thing: acid soil.
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Lomandra Care Guide: The Toughest Strappy Plant in Australia
There is a reason every landscape architect in the country specifies lomandra. It is the plant that keeps looking good after everyone stops trying.
