Gardening Australia Season 36 Episode 10
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00:00Whoo-hoo!
00:06Hey! Hi!
00:13Ooh!
00:19Ooh!
00:21Hey, buddy.
00:23Hey!
00:24Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:36Have a look at this.
00:38I'm on a suburban block in northwest Melbourne
00:42that's been transformed into a productive personal farm.
00:46I can't wait to show you how it's been done.
00:49But first, here's what else is on the show.
00:54With a bit of commitment to care for eye-catching metanillas,
00:57I guarantee these tropical treasures will give back in spades.
01:01And I'll be sharing tips on how to grow them.
01:04What does geology have to do with your garden?
01:06Well, it turns out, quite a bit.
01:08And today I get to meet a legend
01:11and learn more about how what grows above the ground
01:14is influenced by what's going on below.
01:18I'm taking a close look at the fimbriated, involuted
01:21and convoluted shapes of, among others,
01:24the pom-pom, the water lily and the cactus forms
01:28of the daily hour, of course.
01:30And here in South Australia,
01:32I'm meeting some budding ecologists
01:35who are restoring and conserving a historic creek
01:38as part of their school curriculum.
01:40This might look like your typical front yard,
01:48but here in the suburb of Nideree,
01:50not far from Melbourne Airport,
01:52there's a lot more going on out the back.
01:55Let's check it out.
01:56It's the home of architect turned passionate veggie grower,
02:08Ben Strong,
02:09who transformed this quarter acre block four years ago.
02:15Ben.
02:16Hey, Costa.
02:18Wow.
02:19Look at your place.
02:21Oh, welcome.
02:22This is incredible.
02:23It just goes on and on.
02:25What was the site like when you first arrived?
02:28We were lucky to have the established fruit trees.
02:31So we've got an apricot tree, a plum tree,
02:34an apple and a pear,
02:36but the rest of it was just grass
02:38and it was quite overgrown
02:39with lots of kind of brambles and shrubs and stuff.
02:42So we cleared all of that out
02:44and then we got to work making these terrace veggie beds.
02:48We're growing hundreds of kilos of fruit and veg every year,
02:51feeding us and our friends and family.
02:54So what exactly was it that set you off on this gardening path?
03:00Four years ago, before I moved onto this property,
03:03I was living in a small apartment in Carlton North
03:06and I'd never grown a vegetable before
03:08and honestly I didn't really have any desire to,
03:10but I was working as an architect
03:12and a big focus of my work was sustainability.
03:15And as I started to think more and more about sustainability
03:20and how I could apply it in my own life,
03:22I realised that growing food was an opportunity for me
03:25to make a difference in my day-to-day life.
03:28So how did you go about setting out the block?
03:32So we started with about 22 vegetable garden beds
03:38and they're about 3 metres by 1.2 metres
03:41and we arranged them north-south
03:44and that's because that means that they go down the hill
03:47but it also means that we get really good sunlight into each bed as well.
03:50Yeah, so it comes right over from east to west.
03:53That's correct and so we don't get too much overshadowing from one bed to another.
03:58How have you gone about setting out your planting across the beds?
04:02Yeah, so over the years I've discovered that certain vegetables
04:06like to grow in certain areas
04:08because of the different microclimates that we have in the garden.
04:11So for example, we've got a big brick wall there
04:14which radiates a lot of heat in summer
04:16and so I need to put all my warmth-loving crops there,
04:18so things like capsicums and eggplants and tomatoes
04:21and then there's shadier spots under the fruit trees
04:24where things like lettuces and turnips do a lot better
04:27and I try and incorporate more than one species in each bed
04:31because I find that plants do a lot better
04:33when they're planted with other species.
04:36We grow about 30 different annual plants,
04:39so things like onions, potatoes, eggplants, capsicums, tomatoes.
04:44It's great to have diversity
04:46and I find that you get better harvests that way.
04:51So what have you learnt about gardening on a site like this?
05:04Ultimately, it's about being organised and being consistent
05:08and making sure that you've always got a new plant
05:11to replace something when you've harvested a crop.
05:14And by doing that I've found that I'm able to harvest a lot more food
05:18and that experience has just come over the various seasons.
05:21I feel more connected to nature, weirdly.
05:27I love going out into nature and going on walks and stuff like that,
05:30but I've never felt more connected to nature than in my backyard.
05:33A key ingredient in much of the garden's success is the large compost area.
05:45Oh, look at this.
05:47It's like my Nirvana.
05:50This is heaven.
05:51It's compost and chickens combined.
05:53That's it.
05:54Welcome to our integrated chicken composting system.
05:57This is where we produce all of our compost needs for the backyard.
06:01This is kind of under some fruit trees.
06:03It's quite a shady area.
06:04It's shaded by the fence.
06:06And so it wasn't a great place to grow veggies.
06:08But what it means is we can really produce that source of fertility
06:13that goes out into the garden.
06:15And we produce about 10 cubic metres a year of compost.
06:18We bring in all of our food scraps, garden scraps,
06:22and it all starts at the top of the hill here.
06:25And you can see all the chickens, they peck through all of that good stuff
06:28and pick out whatever they want.
06:30And then when I'm ready to make a pile,
06:33what I do is with all of these bays here,
06:36I'll start a hot compost pile in the first bay.
06:39It'll sit for a while, it'll heat up, get nice and hot like this one here,
06:43which is sitting at about 55 degrees right now.
06:46And then once it's sat for a couple of weeks,
06:49I'll turn it again and we'll go down the hill.
06:51And it's a lot easier to turn down the hill than up the hill.
06:54And so the compost pile will sit there for a couple of months and mature.
06:58And then when I'm ready to use it, I'll turn it one more time.
07:01And when I do that, I'll also sift it using this A-frame sifter here.
07:06The compost system with his homemade sifter is a great idea.
07:11And Ben, along with help from his wife, Maddie,
07:14has started sharing his idea on socials.
07:17It's looking good.
07:18Do it one more time and I might move.
07:20OK, so this is the A-frame sifter.
07:22So what I do with this is I take all of the chunky compost
07:25and I turn it into nice, finely sifted compost.
07:28And all of the chunky material just slides off the top.
07:31Awesome. That was really good.
07:33Great.
07:34And with the garden pumping out an absolute bounty of produce,
07:41Ben and Maddie have found a way to make the good times last.
07:45Oh, what's going on in here?
07:48What a cave of produce you've got stored here.
07:52What you see here is the past couple of years' worth of harvesting
07:56and then preserving.
07:57And, I mean, you've got the potatoes here as well.
08:00Yep, exactly.
08:01I think that's about 30 kilos' worth of potatoes there
08:03that we've harvested just this year.
08:06For Ben and Maddie, they're reaping many rewards
08:09for all their hard work.
08:12This is the best part for me.
08:14It's such a collaboration between what's happening in the garden
08:19and then bringing it into the kitchen
08:21and being able to make something and share something
08:24that is so nourishing with the people you love.
08:28It's, yeah, really rewarding to be part of that full process.
08:32Well, I've got my eye on that particular crunchy potato.
08:36Oh, that one's mine, Kosta.
08:38Nah, I'm just kidding.
08:39Let's dig in.
08:41Oh.
08:44Yum.
08:45Cheers.
08:46Cheers.
08:55Why do terracotta pots turn white?
08:58When new, terracotta pots are usually
09:01a lovely, consistent orange colour.
09:04However, over time, they can build up a white,
09:07powdery substance on the surface.
09:09And this is due to calcium and other salts in your water supply
09:13or fertiliser making their way through the porous pot
09:17and accumulating on the surface as the water evaporates.
09:21Now, you can wipe this off with a mild vinegar solution.
09:26But me, I quite like the character so I leave it as is.
09:30Can I grow sweet peas in Queensland?
09:33Well, yes you can.
09:34The main question is where in Queensland do you live?
09:37You see, they're easy to get started.
09:39You soak the seed in water overnight and you plant them outside in a sunny spot
09:45with freely draining compost enriched soil and give them a support to grow up.
09:49The sweet spot with sweet peas is cool winter days.
09:5416 degrees, 50 days in a row and you'll get a brilliant crop.
09:58In fact, you'll do better with sweet peas in the central desert uplands of far western Queensland
10:06or even Ipswich than you will do here in Bayside Brisbane.
10:10So it's where you are that will lead to your success with sweet peas in this state.
10:17What veggies should I grow for pickling?
10:20Well, welcome to my pantry.
10:22The great news is that you can pickle pretty much anything,
10:25including carrots, tomatoes, zucchini and more.
10:29The main thing is to leave out the starchy veggies like potato,
10:33which can get mushy and spoil the pickling solution.
10:36Of course, you can also dry your fruit and veg or do the canning method for your tomatoes and fruits.
10:43And of course, there's always the jams and chutneys.
10:46There is more than enough you can do with your surplus garden produce.
10:56There's so much to explore in the world of tropical plants.
11:00Beautiful flowers, lush foliage and intricate shapes.
11:04But what if we could have it all in a hanging basket?
11:08Well, Tammy's here to show us how.
11:13When the weather cools, it can be hard to get motivated to leave the cosy indoors.
11:18But if you're a little plant obsessed like me, it's a great opportunity to go on the hunt for something.
11:24I'll know it when I see it.
11:26I'm visiting a great little nursery in the heart of Sydney's thriving growing area, the Hills District.
11:39This place is filled with all sorts of cascading greenery and plenty to catch the eye.
11:45Wow, check out these Medanillas.
11:51They're just the thing I'm looking for to add a bit of warmth and cheer to the garden.
11:55Medanillas are evergreen flowering shrubs and the main attraction is long lasting blooms.
12:01And they also get these pretty ornamental berries.
12:08The blooms and berries grow from the main stem or woody trunk rather than from new growth or shoots.
12:14In botanical terms, this is known as Cauliflorus and is a feature of many plants that grow in the tropics.
12:20And Medanillas are very much from the tropical regions of the world.
12:30And I love the lush leaves of Medanillas.
12:33In their tropical homes, the leaves help capture water and nutrients for the plant.
12:37This one, Medanilla kokchanaya gregoryhambali, has these beautiful deep veins and a red purple underbelly.
12:45It's tiny now, but it will grow into a shrub about one to two metres tall.
12:49And look at the corky stems on this one.
12:52It's a taller variety called Giant Chandelier.
12:55I don't see this very often and I like it as a feature.
12:58I reckon as the stems age, they harden to help keep the plant upright.
13:12This is Medanilla magnifica, renowned for its pink pendulous flowers.
13:17They're slow growing and can get up to two metres tall.
13:22This classic is widely grown in Europe as an ornamental plant.
13:26This one's also popular with gardeners all over the world.
13:31It's Medanilla pendula.
13:33It's got these pink pendulous flowers, followed by these red purple berries.
13:38The berries and the flowers can appear on the plant at the same time, so the plant is constantly giving.
13:44It will grow to about a metre in a few years.
13:47I've got my eye on this Medanilla pendula hybrid.
13:51Look at how vibrant the berries are.
13:53If you want to grow them in cooler climates, you'll need to give them protection from frost.
13:58Luckily, they're happy in pots, so it's easy to move into an undercover spot.
14:02Now let's dig into how to take care of my new favourite plant.
14:08I've chosen this rustic hanging basket, and I'm lining it with cocoa fibre, which will retain a free draining mix.
14:15In their natural habitat, Medanillas grow like an epiphyte or a semi-epiphyte.
14:21They may have adapted to grow on rocks or on the forest floor.
14:24Or the dispersed seed may have sprouted from accumulated leaf debris and moss in the crook of a large tree in the rainforest.
14:32So whether you're growing Medanillas in a garden or in a pot, the key is they need excellent drainage.
14:38I'm using two parts chunky orchid bark to one part perlite and one part horticultural charcoal.
14:46And because the horticultural charcoal and perlite can be dusty, I've pre-wet them.
14:59Just loosening some of the roots here, so they'll grow well in their new home.
15:05Now it's a bit of a tight squeeze, but if I do it carefully enough, it won't damage any of the berries or the flowers.
15:15I'm backfilling around the plant.
15:34Medanillas thrive with a liquid feed about once a week during the growing season.
15:42And because their nutrition needs are similar to orchids, I'm using an orchid-specific fertiliser.
15:48This has a lower nitrogen to a slightly higher potassium level, and this will enhance flowering and fruiting.
15:55As always, follow the instructions on the label to get the right dose.
15:59When it comes to watering, what I would say is don't overwater.
16:05Never let a Medanilla sit in a pool of water, like a saucer.
16:09And conversely, don't underwater.
16:11These plants are not drought tolerant.
16:14Aim for a watering regime somewhere in the middle.
16:17Water regularly during the warmer months, and keep it on the drier side during the cool months.
16:22They like a well-lit, semi-shaded position, protected from strong, direct sunlight, and definitely keep it away from the hot afternoon sun.
16:39And what I find works well for plants that have high humidity needs is to group them with other plants, rather than on their own.
16:46Together, they shelter each other and create a little microclimate.
16:49Alternatively, you can invest in a greenhouse or humidifier.
16:56With a bit of commitment to care for eye-catching Medanillas, I guarantee these tropical treasures will give back in spades.
17:03With beautiful blooms, berries, and foliage fields all year round.
17:19In this garden, there's plenty of interest from the lovely deciduous trees and shrubs.
17:24They give colour for many, many months, in particular over autumn.
17:29But come winter, when the leaves have fallen off and the trees are dormant, you need another plant to give a bit of interest.
17:35And this is where this one steps in.
17:37Chamisiparis Lausoniana Silver Queen.
17:41Look at those beautiful, very fine, delicate sort of tracery of the fronds, and that lovely silvery look.
17:49It stays like that all year.
17:51It's a medium-growing tree, five, six, maybe seven metres high.
17:55And it really adds a lot of interest over all of the year.
17:59Next week is compost awareness week.
18:09And for me, digging into compost really makes me think about how what's underneath supports all this growth on top.
18:19And it seems I'm not the only one wondering about what lies beneath.
18:24Millie's got a story with a botanist who spent decades tapping into the connections between these two worlds.
18:33As gardeners, we are always talking about soil.
18:37But today, I get to dig a little bit deeper and learn how the geology of a place is just as much part of the ecosystem as the plants.
18:46The real geologists are only interested in what's down there.
18:55They see the surface as the soil and vegetation as a nuisance.
18:59To me, it's an essential part of the story.
19:03It's all interrelated.
19:05Leon Kostermans is a geologist and botanist.
19:10He's iconic in plant circles.
19:12And if you're interested in Australian plants, you've likely got one of his books on the shelf.
19:18He's been studying the relationship between geology and flora for decades.
19:23This is where we are.
19:24This is where we are.
19:25There's the gate.
19:26And at 91, he's pretty inspiring.
19:30To see some of these complex relationships between plant communities and geology in action,
19:35we're exploring the Langwarren Flora and Fauna Reserve, southeast of Melbourne.
19:41When you're walking through a place like this, I mean, is it just one geology?
19:46No.
19:47One of the great things about this reserve is that it's got diversity.
19:53And that diversity that you can see in terms of the vegetation is actually related to the
19:59diversity of what's underneath of the substrate.
20:02What's under the surface is just as important as what's above the surface if you want to understand
20:08nature, if you want to understand ecosystems.
20:12We've got about four types of substrate.
20:16In other words, soil or rock or whatever.
20:19Most of it's sand.
20:21And each area is quite different in terms of the vegetation.
20:26To begin to understand sand, it makes sense to start with classic beach sand.
20:32About seven kilometres from here is Seaford Beach on Port Phillip Bay,
20:36a stretch of coastal dunes fringed by coastal vegetation.
20:40The coastal sands, which were produced by sea action, are quite young.
20:46They're only about 6,000 years old around our bayside.
20:50And that beach sand is just quartz sand plus shelly material, no soil.
20:57The species that occur on beach sand, they're plants that have coast in front of their names,
21:03coast wattle, coast tea tree, coast banksia and so on.
21:08So they're confined just to that strip or should be confined.
21:13So as you travel inland, how are the sands different here?
21:17Sand here is of quite different origin in the sense that it's wind blown within the last 100,000 years,
21:25something like that.
21:26When sea level was lower and there were strong winds,
21:29and so they produced much bigger dunes, as you can see here.
21:35And it gets sorted in the process because wind can only lift a certain amount of sand.
21:41So you don't get coarse sand here, you only get the finest stuff that could build up here.
21:46A lot of plants are adapted to that condition.
21:49So you get a heath land.
21:51You can see there the heath tea tree, the casea suaviolanus sweet wattle,
21:56the browns wattle over there.
21:59You can see hakers.
22:02If you go down the slope where the soil is moister, it's nearer the water table,
22:08you get a whole lot of other species, but one that you don't get up here,
22:12but what you do get down in the valley is wedding bush,
22:15which is spectacular when it's in flower.
22:20And what about other vegetation types on the property?
22:23I believe there's a woodland?
22:24Yes, down in the south-western corner,
22:28you've got an area that's down on the Sandringham Sandstone,
22:32which is a different type of geology again.
22:34And it's a grassy woodland, which is mainly silverleaf stringybark trees and peppermints,
22:41but the understorey is sedges and grasses.
22:44But you also have other species that you don't get on the high areas,
22:49such as blackwood wattle.
22:51In a far corner of the reserve,
22:53sedimentary rock that sits below everything is much closer to the surface.
22:58There is in the reserve a quarry, a little old quarry,
23:02which shows what the rock is like underneath the basement rock or the bedrock.
23:06And that's about 400 million years old, give or take.
23:10And it's quite different because it has a veneer of sand,
23:15but it's rocky underneath.
23:17And you can see it's quite different.
23:19It's got different types of vegetation.
23:21We still see narrowleaf peppermint,
23:25but when the rock layer is closer to the surface like this,
23:28we also start to see swamp gums and messmates.
23:40Nearly 40 years ago, Leon co-founded a group of volunteers
23:44dedicated to restoring the reserve's plant diversity.
23:48And since then, our role as volunteers
23:53has been to work to try and restore it
23:56to what we believe should be its natural character.
24:00While the geology underlying these plant communities
24:03has been millions of years in the making,
24:05human influences have been a lot more sudden,
24:08including the clearing of vegetation
24:10and the activities of the quarry.
24:13These kinds of disturbances give some plants
24:16an opportunity to grow where they shouldn't.
24:19When we started here,
24:21a lot of the plants here were weeds,
24:25as we call them, environmental weeds.
24:27They were species that belonged on the coastal sand.
24:31But when an area has been disturbed,
24:34if it's opened up by fire or clearing,
24:37there's a fair chance that the weedy plants will get in.
24:42Because you can grow on the coast, you can grow anywhere.
24:44Yeah. Right.
24:45That's it.
24:46Despite being native, they're out of place here.
24:48When Coast Wattle and Tea Tree grow inland,
24:51they become dominant and smother out other species.
24:54And so our first job really was to get rid of
24:58all the Coast Tea Trees that were around this area.
25:01And the heath tea tree, which does belong here,
25:04comes back in its place.
25:06Do you feel proud when you look at this area
25:08and see what you have achieved in those decades?
25:11Yeah. I often wish with our volunteers
25:14that we could take them back to what it was like.
25:17Because when you're working and doing just a little bit at a time,
25:21you sort of tend to think there's no end to this.
25:24But the point is you've got to really stick at it
25:27because it's just made such a difference,
25:30particularly when you see it when it's like this.
25:32You're someone with a good long view of time.
25:35I mean, you can look at a 400-million-year-old rock
25:37and think of, you know, and understand it.
25:40Yeah.
25:41What does it feel like to be able to stand here as a human
25:44in your 40 years working on this site?
25:48Well, you feel insignificant when you look at it
25:51in terms of the timescale.
25:53Our human lifetime is just, you know, the tiny bit of thin...
25:58It's a little bit of leaf litter on top.
25:59..on the top of the whole timescale.
26:05As gardeners, we spend a lifetime
26:08trying to hone those skills of observation
26:11and understanding those complexities
26:13of the environment around us.
26:14And today I've had my eyes opened
26:17to see those plants that I love so much
26:20as a window to what lies beneath,
26:23those ancient forces that are the foundation
26:26to every living thing.
26:32Still to come on Gardening Australia,
26:34Sophie's headed back to the classroom
26:37to learn about a project
26:39to restore a historic creek on the school grounds.
26:43We meet a gardener whose collection
26:45of rare and unusual plants are going to blow your mind.
26:50And we've got all the jobs to keep you busy this weekend.
26:59It's hard to go past the dahlia.
27:02With so many shapes and shades,
27:04they're a real winner when it comes to pumping up the colour.
27:08Hannah's checking in with a grower
27:10who's showing you how to get the full rainbow at your place.
27:19Who doesn't love a showstopper that flowers long and strong
27:23for up to six months of the year?
27:25Well, look no further than the stunning cultivars of dahlia.
27:29They're big, bold and buzzing with bumblebees
27:33who love to sleep in them.
27:36Emma Horswill owns and runs Earthenery Flower Farm,
27:39south of Hobart.
27:41Her passion is a dahlia,
27:43and she knows everything you need to know
27:45about these wonderfully eye-popping plants.
27:47G'day, Emma.
27:50Hi, Hannah. How are you?
27:53Happy to be here.
27:55How is it that you came to be so beautifully obsessed with dahlia?
27:58I think it probably started with just the one plant,
28:01like it does for most people.
28:03And then you're addicted. That's it. You can't help it.
28:05Once you start, you can't stop.
28:07And you have so many different cultivars here.
28:10I am seeing dozens and dozens.
28:12That's what I look around.
28:14How many do you think you have?
28:15Well, we're growing out about 40 seedlings that we've bred ourselves
28:19to trial as second-year seedlings,
28:21and then probably about 60 named varieties as well.
28:24Wow. So around 100.
28:26So what different types of forms of dahlia do you have?
28:28Oh, well, there's quite a few,
28:31from the tiny pom-poms through to the giant dinner plates,
28:34and then things like this beautiful cactus
28:36and these decoratives, everything in between.
28:38There's one called Fimbriated,
28:40which has got tiny little split petals on the end as well.
28:42So there's lots of really interesting, unique forms.
28:46And are you drawn to one more than the others?
28:49I do have a favourite in colorettes.
28:52I love the colorette form.
28:54Very beautiful, very useful for design work as well.
28:57And the bees love them. They're open-centred.
28:59Dahlia's broadly have huge amounts of diversity in them, don't they?
29:03They do, yes. Yeah, it all comes down to the genetics.
29:06They're octoploids, which means that they have four sets of genes on both sides.
29:12We're humans, we're just two sets.
29:14Oh, wow.
29:15So there's a lot.
29:17And is breeding something that you really enjoy doing?
29:19I love it. It's so addictive.
29:22It's like Christmas morning when that first flower opens up.
29:26It's so, so exciting.
29:28You could just be the one that develops a new cultivar that no one's seen before.
29:32And so can I see a dahlia that you have successfully bred?
29:36Absolutely.
29:38Exciting.
29:39We actually released last year.
29:42So it's called E.F. Rothko.
29:45We name all of our dahlias that we breed after artists' names.
29:49So this one reminded me of the beautiful streaks of red that Rothko used in his paintings.
29:54It's very painterly, this form.
29:57This is a peony form.
29:59Two and four layers of petals with a nice open centre.
30:02And the bees love the open dahlias, don't they?
30:04They do.
30:05So they can get in there more easily.
30:06The pollination's really good.
30:07So the seed collection's really good.
30:09The germination's really good if they can access those centres all day long.
30:13As opposed to the decoratives which are really closed.
30:16Emma, what are some of the key characteristics that you love about the Rothko?
30:21It's the colour as well as the form.
30:23It's very kind of sculptural and very sort of expressive.
30:26Looks like it's being brushed with a brush stroke.
30:29I see my flowers a little bit like materials for art.
30:32Yeah, so it's just a riot of colour and you're just playing with colour when you're putting an arrangement together.
30:38So I love it.
30:48Emma, how do you actually breed dahlias?
30:50Well, there's a couple of different ways.
30:52You can do hand pollination.
30:54So you can select your seed parent and your pollen parent and you can match them.
31:00Or you can do open pollination, which is what we do, where we let the bees do the work for us.
31:05And one of the things that we do is we try and concentrate our genetics for colour by planting in what we call them bee lanes.
31:13So the bees prefer to travel down from flower to flower to flower down the row rather than zigzagging across.
31:21So in this row in particular, we've got all of our reds.
31:25So we concentrate the genetics for colour and form as much as we can.
31:30We love Rothko so much that we decided this year to plant a whole row of babies of Rothko.
31:37Would you like to see that?
31:38I would love to see that.
31:39All right.
31:40Let's go.
31:49Okay, Hannah.
31:50So here we go.
31:51This whole row, 200 Rothko babies.
31:54200.
31:55Yeah.
31:56Yeah.
31:57And you can see huge colour variations straight away.
31:59Yeah.
32:00And they're all sort of quite warm colours.
32:02So it's interesting to see how the genetics have responded for that one.
32:05Oh, it's fascinating.
32:06You still have like some, you know, clear yellow ones.
32:09Yep.
32:10But all the way through the pinks and oranges and the pinks and the reds as well.
32:12Pinks and oranges and really true red.
32:14Now, the really important part is the assessment, isn't it?
32:17Yes.
32:18Actually choosing what you're going to say.
32:19Yeah.
32:20Assessment is a really important part of breeding.
32:21You can't be passing on flowers that aren't consistent.
32:25So there are things such as dominant and non-dominant traits with dahlias.
32:30And unfortunately, all the things that are undesirable such as weak stems or downward facing blooms
32:37or things like this one with a curled petal around the centre, they're all dominant traits.
32:42The chance of getting a bloom that has got a high petal count, strong stems, upward facing is very low.
32:48Yeah.
32:49Wow.
32:50That's what makes it so exciting though, because if you breed that one flower that's perfect,
32:55you're going against all the odds.
32:57Yeah.
32:58Finding the perfect dahlia can be a multi-year process.
33:01Definitely.
33:02Yeah.
33:03It's a good practice to grow for three years before you name it and release it.
33:07Amazing.
33:08Yeah.
33:09How easy are dahlias to grow, Emma?
33:14They're really easy to grow.
33:15Yeah.
33:16Definitely.
33:17And easy to grow from seed.
33:18Ah.
33:19As long as you know what type of seed to save.
33:22Yeah.
33:23Well, here's some that's ready to collect.
33:25Nice.
33:26So you want to choose the papery, dry ones instead of the green ones.
33:30And so if we just break this open.
33:32So how do you know which seeds are good to save or maybe not good to save?
33:36Yeah.
33:37So the seed that you want to keep is this dark black long thick seed.
33:41And the ones that are like light green or brown that haven't been pollinated.
33:46Those ones you don't have to keep.
33:48And then from here, do you have to make sure they're dry but then storage techniques?
33:53What does that look like?
33:54Yeah.
33:55Just exactly like every other seed.
33:57Nice, cool, dark.
33:58Keep them dark and then bring them out in spring and plant them.
34:01Yeah.
34:02See the culmination of all of our...
34:04The trophy.
34:05Yeah.
34:06It doesn't look real.
34:07It doesn't, does it?
34:08Oh, this looks amazing, Emma.
34:11It's the culmination of all your hard work out in the garden.
34:14Absolutely.
34:15Yeah.
34:16This is why we breed and grow so that we can play with these beautiful flowers at the end.
34:19Yeah.
34:20And you can see all the forms in action here.
34:22Yes.
34:23Yeah.
34:24From the cactus to the Rothko that we were looking at.
34:26And this is one of Rothko's babies.
34:28Some beautiful decoratives.
34:29I think they all just work so well together.
34:32Oh, stunning.
34:33Oh.
34:34Someone once said to me that flowers are just joy on a stick.
34:39I reckon that's so true.
34:42Giving joy to probably you but also to everybody else who comes into contact with them.
34:46Yeah.
34:47Yeah.
34:48I agree totally.
34:49That's a beautiful saying.
34:50Yeah.
35:04Can you recommend trees that tolerate salinity?
35:07For an ornamental native shade tree, I recommend Cupaneopsis anacardioides, also known as the
35:15tuckeroo.
35:16It's a magnet for biodiversity and not a particularly big tree.
35:20It's often less than 10 metres tall and it's not very long lived, often living to less than
35:26100 years.
35:27And it's an evergreen tree.
35:29It originates in Australia and New Guinea and it tolerates drought, salt laden winds, brackish
35:36water and it will grow in any soil type, which is why it's popular with councils.
35:43Another pick is Coast Banksia, Banksia integrifolia.
35:48This variable and adaptable Banksia grows slowly to eventually attain tree size and can
35:54handle salt, wind and drought.
35:57The large lemon yellow flowers are produced all year round.
36:02They're nectar rich, attracting wildlife and are followed by their iconic fruit.
36:12Alright, Cluster, so I'm going to give you a quick tip on how to use a scythe.
36:16So what you want to do is stand with your feet shoulder width apart and then you want to just
36:20gently swing the scythe and let the scythe do the work.
36:29Oh.
36:30Beautiful.
36:31Alright, I'll leave you to it.
36:33Leave me to it?
36:34Ben!
36:37Anyway, it looks like I've got my work cut out for me here while you join Sophie who's with a group of budding young ecologists.
36:44Here goes.
36:45For ten years the teachers and young students of St Michael's Lutheran School have been restoring a section of the nearby historic
37:05Randolph Creek that flows through the school grounds.
37:11To look after the health of the creek, the young ecologists monitor the water quality, wildlife activity and flora with a range of equipment.
37:20Bubbles.
37:21Yep.
37:22Still visible.
37:23Yep.
37:24Behind the project is Principal Terri Taylor.
37:27When she arrived at St Michael's, the creek was completely overgrown and inaccessible.
37:33What motivated you to have a go at restoring this creek line?
37:37I looked at it one day and thought this is a perfect opportunity for our children to learn something about conservation
37:45and that even as young children they could make a difference.
37:48If that wasn't visible I'd be worried.
37:50We were really fortunate to get some fantastic grants from National Land Care and they helped us to move some of the fences so that we could get close.
37:58We had some people come in and do the big jobs which were to remove all the dangerous bushes and plants and the large poplar trees that were along the side of the creek.
38:08And how have you worked in what they're doing with the curriculum?
38:11In terms of the science curriculum and the environmental learning that they're doing here, it's just been so wonderful to have this hands-on experience that really in the past has only been something we've done in science labs.
38:24And what changes have you seen in the creek over that period?
38:28Lots more water birds have come in so that's been one of the huge things that's different.
38:33The creek has ducks and ducklings and we have a lot more small birds come in.
38:38So the tiny finches and honey eaters have come in because before there was nothing for them to hide in and nothing for them to feed on.
38:45We also have put bird boxes up.
38:47Just the animals and the wildlife that have come into the area which weren't previously here, which has been absolutely fantastic.
38:53I'm very, very proud of our students because they have put so much time and work into this and everything that you see around you here is the work of the children.
39:02They have really been self-motivated.
39:04They have requested that they have the Creek Club, which is a fantastic opportunity for those children to come down every week and really maintain this area.
39:13Mary Whittaker is an IT teacher whose science background and passion for the school's conservation project has helped the students on a micro and macro level understand how to monitor the health of the local ecology of the creek.
39:32Okay guys, just pop the trolley here and put all your stuff on top.
39:36Okay, and just come over here.
39:42So what have you planted?
39:44So we've planted a lot of local native shrubs and a few trees that will get a bit taller, but also indigenous sedges and lots of grasses along the banks.
39:55So re-vegetated what would have been back here.
39:57Yes, yeah.
39:58And I see you've got some nesting boxes in here, so it's not just about the plants.
40:02No.
40:03You're looking at the fauna too.
40:04Yes.
40:05We've put in bird boxes and some of them were made by the kids.
40:08They were bought as kids and some have been donated.
40:10So we're looking for birds right from when the eggs start appearing.
40:14We'll come down each week and then hopefully those eggs will hatch.
40:18And how do you monitor those?
40:20We've got a nest box camera.
40:21So we've got a big long extendable pole with a camera on the end that has radio communication to a screen.
40:28So one of the students will carefully put the camera into the nest box while the other one watches on the screen what's happening.
40:35So you know the thing?
40:36I think it might be a possum.
40:37Yeah, it's definitely a possum.
40:38And they might say to the other one, you know, move it around a bit tilted or whatever, and then they'll take photos and video of whatever they see in there.
40:46But we're mainly looking at the water and we do scientific testing of the pH, the temperature, the salinity and the velocity.
40:54Okay, girls, if you can just get a bucket of water each, scoop right down the bottom so that you get some dirt and some of the grassy stuff there.
41:04You see floaty things?
41:05I've never floated down.
41:06Yeah?
41:07Well, let's come and have a look under the microscopes.
41:11Got it.
41:12You got it?
41:13Okay, take a photo.
41:14Oh, take a photo.
41:15And take a video as well.
41:16That is brilliant.
41:18What are you up to here, girls?
41:20We're trying to find macroinvertebrates in the water and there's one swimming there.
41:26Oh, I see.
41:27So through that lens you can see what it is.
41:29Yeah, so this attaches to the camera and then magnifies the image so we can see it better.
41:35So what's this chart about?
41:37So once you've got a picture like that, you see which one it looks like most and then these dots we've already seen before.
41:46So what do you think it might be?
41:48I reckon it might be a slide swimmer or maybe a freshwater slater.
41:52Or a slater.
41:53Wow, that's so cool.
41:54I think it's either one of these.
41:57Your involvement in the creek has been written about in a book that's coming out but I also know that you guys just won a prize for the restoration of the creek.
42:06Yep.
42:07We got the SA Junior Landcare Award and we won $1,000 from our creek restoration.
42:13How does it make you feel knowing that you started a group of students that give up their lunchtime and they go down and they help to make the creek as good as it is?
42:22Absolutely amazing to know that that's how it's come.
42:26Yeah, really good because we were just a couple of students. We didn't know it was going to actually turn into something really big.
42:35So this morning when you were looking into the boxes with the camera, what did you see?
42:41A possum.
42:43And anything else?
42:44Well, we've been seeing like birds nesting and possums.
42:49And have you had birds nesting there other years?
42:51Yeah.
42:52Oh yeah.
42:53Yeah.
42:54Now why do you think it's important to check out what's living along the creek line?
42:58Well, it's good because like we know what animals are there so we know how to like look after them and we know like what to do around the creek.
43:07And we also know how successful we've been in restoring the vegetation stuff if animals decide to live there.
43:15Absolutely.
43:16What do you like most about Creek Club?
43:19The fact that we're doing something to help the environment.
43:22Yeah, that we're actually like helping the environment like getting better and like the animals, it's good that like they're around as well like and we're helping them too.
43:32So what do you think the future is when the kids are learning this at a young age?
43:38It's looking pretty good.
43:39It is.
43:40And I think that they, I hope that they learn that they can do anything in terms of conservation, that they can see a space and they can make a difference.
43:49And you know, everybody can plant a tree and grow a garden and these children are learning that they can do that even though they're little.
43:57That's wonderful.
44:02I love plant collectors.
44:07There's something special about people who combine their passion for particular plants with a desire to know and grow as many as they can possibly get their hands on.
44:20Our next story is with an expert in Melbourne, who's going to have you rushing to your local plant nursery for more plants.
44:27I think what's unique about my approach to gardening is that it's an expression of me.
44:46My collection very much reflects who I am.
44:53My name's Randall Robinson.
44:55I'm fully retired now.
44:57So I get to play with my plants all the time.
45:00I live in an area called Dunmoochin.
45:04The property I live on is about 12 and a half hectares.
45:08It's just northeast of Hurstbridge in the far northeast of Melbourne.
45:12What's so special about this property to me is that it's one of my goals in life was to have conservation areas and work in conservation areas.
45:23And we have an endangered orchid species here that I look after.
45:28It's on neighbors properties as well.
45:30And they look after their areas as private nature reserves.
45:33What I love about this collection is the diversity and the fact that every season and every day something is different about it.
45:42So I can come out and work on one group of plants today.
45:47I can go out tomorrow and work on a different group of plants.
45:50And it's like having a whole new experience every day in the garden.
45:54It keeps someone like me constantly fascinated.
45:57In the collection of plants here, it's hard to estimate how many I've got.
46:07But it would be probably close to about 10,000.
46:10As far as species go, probably about 8,000.
46:14I have a huge number of rare and endangered plants.
46:17But for me, it's all about the collections and making it suitable for me.
46:24So everything's very ordered.
46:26So it's kind of systematic in many ways.
46:29But that's the way I like to keep track of things.
46:32So it reflects my scientific background.
46:35This is one of my special little plants.
46:37This is Pelargonium cotyledonus, one of the Pelargoniums.
46:40Many people call them geraniums.
46:42It comes from a little tiny island called Saint Helena.
46:45It's only 11 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide.
46:49In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Angola and Brazil.
46:54And the locals call it Old Man Live Forever because it can live for hundreds of years.
47:00And it gets thick, corky bark.
47:02It doesn't look anything like a Pelargonium.
47:04It's got regular white flowers.
47:06But one of the fascinating things about it, besides it living for a long time,
47:11is that its nearest genetic relative is actually this little tiny pink one here,
47:17which is Pelargonium australii, that occurs in southeastern Australia.
47:22It's fascinating that this little tiny speck in the middle of the ocean
47:26can have a plant that's so closely related to it thousands and thousands of kilometers away.
47:32I was originally born in Philadelphia.
47:38When I was about four is when I first really got interested.
47:42What originally got me into plants was I grew up next to a trial garden
47:46for the United States Department of Agriculture.
47:49So they trialed all sorts of new plants being introduced to the USA.
47:53So I got to see an amazing array of plants that people didn't normally get to see.
47:59And I just became interested in them and was over there all the time.
48:04And then studied horticulture in Philadelphia.
48:08And it just went from there.
48:12Here is a Serapegia, or snake creeper.
48:16Now, most people would know that this strange and odd twisting plant
48:21is actually related to the normal kind of string of hearts that most people know,
48:26with the little brown flowers.
48:28This grows in the forest as the stems are really thick and fat and camouflaged.
48:34So it looks like the undergrowth.
48:36And it creeps along the ground, as you can see with this big plant here,
48:40these long, thick stems.
48:42And then when it goes to flower, it sends up these twining stems.
48:47They climb, and they're much thinner.
48:49And they get the flowers on there.
48:51There's a couple of flower buds coming on here.
48:54And they're quite stunningly beautiful, spotted like a giraffe's neck.
48:58And then these seed capsules form that look like a couple of bull's horns
49:03that are also camouflaged to protect them from being eaten.
49:07Easy to grow.
49:08Extremely drought tolerant.
49:10One from South Africa.
49:12the Macbosic Arts Council.
49:13I worked for a program in the The Americans of New Zealand
49:16After I graduated, I applied for a program in England called the
49:20Eric Young Orchid Scholarship.
49:21And as part of that, I got the opportunity to go around the world
49:24wherever I wanted to go to observe orchids in the wild.
49:28So I chose the Eastern route and went through South Africa up through the Pacific Islands,
49:34Asia and India, and then coming to Australia. The ability to travel the world to see orchids
49:43in the wild was well beyond my wildest dreams. So at the Royal Horticultural Society I learned
49:50how to grow plants but at Kew at the herbarium I learned how to propagate plants but also got
49:57involved in taxonomy and the botany of orchids in particular and it was an immense opportunity to
50:05delve into the heart of the orchid world right into the center of it where all the plants of
50:11the world are recorded at Kew Gardens in London. One of my favorite plants at the moment is this
50:20little Sarcocylis and it represents a breeding point as far as the industry goes. There's an
50:28increasing need for novelty and prettiness in plants and plants that flower well and abundantly.
50:39The wild species of Sarcocylis are usually white or have a little red ring in the center of the flower
50:45but the breeders have taken these plants and completely converted them into something that's
50:50a really desirable plant and as you can see there's all sorts of colors here yellows and oranges and
50:56reds and pinks and whites but this is the ultimate at the moment which is a white that is completely
51:02blotched with pale purple just a stunning little plant flowers really well they're quick growing easy to
51:09grow small growing perfect for the houses and apartments and units that we now have.
51:20What fascinates me about orchids was my original experience was an edition of National Geographic
51:26that featured orchids and I think I read that article about a hundred times and looked at the pictures a
51:32hundred times and the shapes the colors the intricacies and they were just I don't want to use the term odd
51:40because I don't now view them as odd I view them as endlessly fascinating in their complexity their
51:48pollination mechanisms the way they attract their pollinators and the extreme habitats that they occur in.
51:56The secret to growing a good orchid is to not necessarily fully mimic its growing conditions
52:04in the wild but to be really observant as to what conditions it actually likes. I'm a firm believer in
52:11growing only plants that fit into the conditions you have instead of making heroic efforts to try to
52:19grow something so with my collection I grow things that grow under the conditions I have on offer. You
52:26can waste a lot of money killing plants. This plant represents the kind of ultimate in horticultural
52:35conservation. It was first created in 1911. This particular form was picked out from a batch of
52:41seedlings because it was incredibly large compared to the others and it was exhibited first at the Royal
52:48Horticultural Society in 1922 and was awarded. It went on to breed a lot of plants so as a first
52:57generation hybrid an immediate parent of hybrids it was used over 450 times that's a lot and all the
53:06progeny created from those hybrids and it now total over 15 000. Flowers that last for a long time and
53:14just its beauty spurred a whole industry and it's still used to this day.
53:24I think gardens like mine are extremely important as far as plant conservation
53:30but also to maintain collections of plants that are grown commonly. We have a real issue in society at
53:39the moment of limiting options as far as plants go. Almost recreating my childhood experience of having
53:47a trial garden. I almost see it as my role to make sure that people see these. The main life lesson I've
53:54learned from plants is that my personal desire is less than the individual need of the plant.
54:01So I have to treat each plant individually or at least as groups and see what their needs are.
54:10So it's a humbling experience that it's not about me, it's actually about the plants.
54:15Well that set our inspirational wheels turning and we hope it did for you too. If you need a little
54:29bit more of a kick start here's your list of jobs for the weekend. There's plenty to do isn't there?
54:34In cool temperate areas increasing rains mean more slug and snail activity. Peel back malts from
54:47around your seedlings to give them less cover. If you've got chooks give the coop a good clean out
54:54in anticipation of winter. Scatter around some garlic skins to help deter mites. Endive seeds can be
55:02sown in punnets now for planting out in about three weeks. Warm temperate gardeners native everlasting
55:09daisy seeds can be sown in place now. Prepare a bed and rake in the seed with a bit of extra sand
55:17and get ready for a colorful spring. Autumn leaves are falling fast. Mow over them before adding to the
55:24compost and they'll break down faster. Clumping natives like lomandra and fascinia can be tidied up
55:32and cut back now. They're tough plants so get stuck into them. In the subtropics forget autumn leaves you'll
55:40know it's the turning of the season when you see the beautiful flowers of the black wattle or acacia
55:46concurrence. If your basil's going to seed cut the ripe heads off and store in a brown paper bag.
55:54The seed should fall out in the coming week and you can save it for next year.
55:59Native to New South Wales and Queensland rainforests, Davidson's plum is in full fruit now and ready to harvest.
56:08The flesh of the sour tangy fruit are red when ripe. In the tropics remember to mulch your chillies
56:15to keep them cool and to prevent flower drop. Put some compost down around your passion fruit but don't
56:22overdo it. Too much nitrogen will lead to all vine and no fruit. Parsley can be planted out now. Remember to
56:31harvest regularly to stop leaves going coarse and bitter. To bully anyone? In arid areas olives are ripening
56:39and can be picked when green or black. The darker the colour the riper the olive. Soak, salt, preserve and enjoy.
56:48Now's a good time of year to plant native trees like eucalyptus and brachychitin. Parsnip seed can be planted now
56:56but remember they can take four weeks to germinate. So keep the soil surface damp. Enjoy the weekend,
57:04gardeners. And if you get carried away out there, remember you can always catch up on what you missed on ABC iview.
57:11Well, that's all we could unearth for this week. But there's plenty more germinating for next time. Here's what's in store.
57:25I'm gonna eat-
57:27I'm gonna eat-