Lachlan Duffy

Most hedging plants want to reach three metres. These ones naturally stop at knee or hip height, so a front...

Shade outside the glass and across the west wall does much more for a hot house than a blind inside, and a ...

No garden plant is fireproof, but placement, plant choice and upkeep all matter. This guide sets out what V...

Tree roots are a leading cause of blocked sewer pipes. This guide sets out what Australian water utilities ...

Kerb appeal is structure, not flowers. One feature tree, crisp low hedges and disciplined repetition will d...

Plants delivered by courier or freight have been in the dark without water for days. Unpack them the day th...

Eight trees that stay under eight metres, hold their shape without constant pruning, and suit a courtyard, ...

Dry under the eaves, dark most of the day and barely a metre wide. The columnar shrubs, fence climbers and ...

Violet flowers edged in white from October to May, on a hedge that grows half a metre a year. How to plant,...

A full backyard transformation does not need a landscaper. Buy small, buy fast growers and stage the spend ...

Blocking a first-floor window takes four to eight metres of dense foliage in the right place, not just fast...

Michelia figo flowers smell like ripe fruit and the shrub clips into a dense evergreen hedge. Where it grow...

Silver birch is a cool-climate tree with shallow roots and specific needs. Here is where it works in Austra...

Metrosideros flowers scarlet at Christmas and shrugs off salt and wind. Here is how to choose between the t...

The default choice for driveways and narrow front gardens. How big Luscious really gets, how far apart to s...

If you want privacy this year rather than next decade, sweet viburnum is the hedge that gets you there, wit...

White spring blossom, glossy summer leaves and blazing autumn colour on a tree tough enough for car parks: ...

For a few weeks each spring, jacarandas turn whole suburbs purple. Here is how to plant one properly and wh...

A courtyard is not a small garden problem, it is a design opportunity where every single plant gets to matter.

Glossy leaves, cream flowers and a perfume that carries across the whole garden: gardenias reward a little ...

Crepe myrtles deliver months of summer flowers, sculptural bark and brilliant autumn colour. Here is how to...

Nothing says an Australian summer like frangipani perfume. Learn how to plant, feed and overwinter Plumeria...

The ficus family covers the most loved indoor plant in Australia, the best wall covering climber, and backy...

Every trim triggers a flush of brilliant red new growth: photinia is the hedge that rewards you for cutting...

Four hundred years of formal gardens rest on one small shrub. Buxus is slow, dense and utterly reliable, if...

A slender Australian rainforest native with fringed bell flowers and bright blue berries, blueberry ash is ...

Small shimmering leaves on near black stems, a metre of growth a year and a haircut twice annually: pittosp...

Clumping bamboo is the fastest privacy screen you can plant. This guide covers the best varieties, spacing,...

Golden stems, arching fronds and no single trunk to look past: the golden cane palm screens a fence line th...

Salt wind, drought, frost and neglect: coastal rosemary shrugs off all four, then flowers most of the year ...

Japanese maple, nandina, loropetalum and crepe myrtle shift colour as the year turns, giving a garden somet...

Most Australian ponds are planted badly. The marginal and edge plants that hide the liner, shade the water ...

Zoning, screening plants, shade, lighting and focal points: practical ways to turn a backyard into a comfor...

Magnolia Little Gem, crepe myrtle, lilly pilly and clumping bamboo all read as maturity to a buyer. The tre...

Lilly pilly, viburnum, murraya and star jasmine soften hard boundaries. Which plants suit narrow beds, whic...

Japanese garden design adapts well to Australian conditions. The layout, feature trees, evergreen structure...

Evergreens hold privacy and structure year-round; deciduous trees let winter sun through. Which suits your ...

Scale and placement matter more than flower colour. The feature trees that suit Australian front yards, fro...

Lilly Pilly, Silver Sheen, Viburnum, clumping bamboo and Little Gem magnolia all grow 3-8m quickly. Plantin...

The pot controls the whole root environment, and too big is as damaging as too small. Exact size steps, the...

Prune deciduous magnolias after flowering in late summer, evergreens in late spring. The four D's method, v...

Five dwarf magnolias for Australian gardens and pots, including Teddy Bear at 3 to 4 metres and Little Gem ...

Yellow leaves, no flowers, scale insects: a magnolia tells you when something is wrong. Here is how to read...

Evergreen or deciduous is the first decision. Teddy Bear, Little Gem, Kay Parris, Saucer and Star magnolias...

Yellow leaves, brown papery patches or a black sooty film on a Syzygium australe 'Resilience' hedge, diagno...

Resilience, Select, Hinterland Gold and Goodbye Neighbours compared side by side on psyllid resistance, gro...

The practical version: spacing, hole prep, watering schedule, and the one pruning rule that decides whether...

Psyllid pimples are a lilly pilly problem you can plant your way out of. Why Syzygium 'Resilience' resists ...

One to 1.5 metres in the first 12 to 18 months, and psyllid resistant with it. What Resilience actually doe...

Lilly pilly, viburnum, murraya, photinia or buxus, and the spacing that decides whether they knit together....

Gracilis, Goldstripe and Chinese Dwarf compared on height and spacing, plus planting depth, watering and ho...

Sweet Viburnum, Callistemon 'Slim', Westringia, Escallonia and more: ten hedging plants with heights and gr...

Yes, and it is nothing to worry about. Crepe myrtles are deciduous, drop their leaves after an autumn colou...

One cold night can undo a season of growth. These frost-hardy shrubs, trees and grasses shrug off sub-zero ...

A canopy tree is the cheapest air conditioning you will install. Here is which one to plant, and how far fr...

Which hedge plants grow fastest in each Australian climate, what that speed costs in trimming later, and th...

The right avenue trees turn a driveway into an entrance. Which species suit Australian conditions, how far ...

One of the fastest growing plants on earth, and useful with it. Why clumping bamboo is the type to plant, a...

Australia's default hedge, sold under three botanical names in forty cultivars. How to pick the right one b...

Japanese maples reward the right position. How to pick a variety, find a sheltered spot with dappled light,...

A white garden reads as calm and lifts at dusk. Eight reliable white flowering plants for Australian condit...

The lilly pilly psyllid does not disfigure. How to space it, clip it, and keep the base from going bare.

Most lilly pillies are grown as green screening. Cascade is the one you plant for the flowers, if you prune...

Shade, full sun, privacy screening or pollinators: four jobs a garden needs done, and the plants that handl...

A living Christmas tree can last for years instead of weeks. Pot size, light, watering through a hot Decemb...

Choosing the right pet friendly plants allows both your plants and pets to thrive harmoniously. Opt for Spi...

Bamboo gives height, movement and privacy in a narrow strip faster than almost any other plant, provided it...

Pencil pines give you height without width, which is why they suit driveways and narrow boundaries. Here is...

Native gardenia is a glossy rainforest tree with strongly scented white flowers, and one of the best evergr...

Ficus hillii holds a clipped shape better than almost any other plant, and its roots damage paving and pipe...

Olives are one of the few Mediterranean trees that genuinely thrive in a pot. Here is how to keep one healt...