Amber Dawson

Native food plants that suit an ordinary backyard, sorted by climate zone, with honest notes on taste, use ...

Chickens scratch, peck and dust bathe, so the plants that last around a run are the ones they cannot reach,...

We shipped 20,604 plants to Australian gardens over twelve months. Here is what people actually ordered: th...

Australia's own rainforest palm is self-cleaning, cold tolerant to about -2 degrees and safe near paving. H...

Flowering gums put on the loudest summer display of any Australian tree. The secret is a grafted cultivar a...

If you want a jungle without the maintenance, start with philodendrons. Bright indirect light and a light h...

Big, glossy, famously holey leaves and a forgiving nature: monstera is the indoor plant that makes beginner...

Blueberries are the highest value crop a home gardener can grow, and they thrive in Australia once you unde...

A backyard orange tree is a fifty year investment that pays out every winter in fruit sweeter than anything...

A single well fed lime tree keeps a household in gin garnishes and Thai curries for decades. Here is how to...

Big silky flowers, glossy leaves and months of colour: hibiscus deliver the tropics on demand, provided you...

From weeping groundcovers to lemon scented screens, tea trees are among the toughest flowering natives you ...

Nothing paints a garden tropical faster than cordyline foliage. The whole game is matching the right specie...

Nothing says Australian garden like a banksia candle covered in honeyeaters. Pick the right species for you...

The backyard lemon is an Australian institution. Choose the right variety, plant it properly and feed it we...

One healthy backyard avocado can out-produce your toast habit. The secret is drainage, drainage and drainag...

A grafted mango can hand you buckets of fruit within four years. Here is how to choose between Bowen, Kensi...

Sun, sharp drainage and benign neglect: rosemary asks for the three cheapest things in gardening and repays...

No other native genus feeds as many birds or flowers for as many months. From knee high ramblers to 20m sil...

Dragon tree, Illawarra flame tree, bottle tree, monkey puzzle and Wollemi pine: striking trees that still p...

The English cottage perennials struggle in most of Australia, but the cottage effect transfers perfectly on...

Wattle, banksia, grevillea, hibbertia and more, grouped into trees, shrubs and groundcovers, with the birds...

Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon', bottlebrush, flowering gum and kangaroo paw all bring hot red into the garden, an...

Grevillea, bottlebrush, banksia and hakea bring honeyeaters and lorikeets in. Layer them with dense shrubs ...

Resort-style density comes from structure and layering, not just tropical species. Canopy palms, mid-level ...

Hay fever does not have to mean a bare yard. What actually triggers it in Australia, the camellias, magnoli...

The plants Australians are buying most this year, from ZZ plants and succulents indoors to kangaroo paw and...

Fragrance is the one quality that cannot be seen in a photograph. Nine reliably scented plants for Australi...

Planted in Brisbane courtyards every year by gardeners who will be removing it in a decade. How big it real...

Succulents fail in Australia from humidity and heavy mix far more often than from neglect. Named varieties,...

White, yellow, pink or deep red, and each frangipani has its own climate preference. How to pick a variety ...

Delonix regia is the poinciana, and it is not Australian. Here is how it differs from the Illawarra flame t...

Moonflowers open at dusk and are finished by morning. The scent, pale petals and timing are all deliberate,...

One reaches eight metres with spines that need gloves. Another stays at two and has none. Which to plant wh...

Agapanthus is tough, drought hardy and reliable in flower, and in parts of Australia it is also an environm...

Diamonds in the Dark are compact crepe myrtles with near black leaves and summer flowers. Where they grow i...

Native does not always mean low water, and exotic does not always mean trouble. What the words mean in an A...

White hydrangeas light up a shaded corner and need no soil management for colour. The types compared, where...

Blueberry ash is a narrow, evergreen native tree with fringed flowers and blue berries that birds eat. Wher...

Admired for its vibrant floral display, callistemon thrives in Australia. It not only adds beauty to garden...

Those cascading branches are the whole point. Plant a weeping mulberry in autumn, keep it out of the wind, ...

Sculptural, drought-hardy and almost indestructible in a sunny spot - four agave varieties worth planting, ...

Ixora flowers for months in warm Australian gardens and clips into a neat low hedge. It is fussy about one ...

For a few weeks each autumn the whole canopy turns purple. The two things that decide whether yours does.

The closest thing to a foolproof formal hedge in warm Australian climates, with two caveats worth knowing f...

Unveil the beauty in this guide to palm trees, showcasing how diverse palms can transform any space into a ...

Bigleaf hydrangeas turn blue in acid soil and pink in alkaline. How to shift the colour deliberately, where...

Transform your space by adding colour through plants in your backyard, creating a visually engaging oasis. ...

Rosettes, central cups and over 650 Tillandsia species alone. A run through the main bromeliad groups and h...

Camellias flower from autumn to spring when little else does. Sasanqua and japonica compared, the varieties...

Spring is not one season across Australia. What to plant in each climate zone, what is better left until au...