Christine and Bob (Manly West, Queensland)

Christine and Bob Brimson are passionate about their garden in Manly West, Queensland.

Bob describes Christine as the green thumb and at Neutrog, we hear that a lot. One partner describes the other in that way; but at Neutrog, we know it’s team work. Someone dreams and plans and someone brings those ideas to life.

Christine is an ardent follower of Graham Ross, listening to him every weekend, taking on board his advice and also travelling on Graham Ross Garden Tours with either Graham or his crew. Last year they visited the Chelsea Flower Show and also visited some wonderful gardens around the south of England including Prince Charles garden at Cornwall. Christine also enjoyed a visit with Graham early this year, to India.

September Birth Flower

Much like birthstones, birth flowers signify the month someone is born. Many people believe the flowers reflect certain personalities. September babies are lucky to have a few options as their birth flower.

First is the gorgeous Aster which is well recognised as the September birth flower. Asters are a group of perennials and annuals with starry-shaped flower heads. They bring delightful colour to the garden throughout late summer and autumn when many other summer blooms may be fading. The name Aster comes from the Ancient Greek word άστήρ meaning “star”, referring to the shape of the flower head. There are many species and varieties, all of which are popular garden plants due to their attractive and colourful flowers. The Aster flower comes in many shades of pink, purple and white. Various butterflies and moths will find the flowers a great food source.

Why natives need fertilising

A really interesting story appeared recently in the world’s top science journal, and it comes from a group out of Western Sydney University. Putting it simply, the level of CO2 around various trees in an old growth forest was increased. These plants have been there for centuries undisturbed by farming or other practices. They wanted to show that increasing CO2 leads to increases in plant growth – the idea being that this is a way of offsetting CO2 emissions.

Exploring the Wonder of Australian Native Plants

There are numerous benefits to growing natives – they attract bees, birds and butterflies to your garden by providing diverse habitats and food sources. They can combat climate change by storing carbon dioxide, and once established, native plants generally require little maintenance. Most importantly, they require far less watering than non-indigenous plants, saving you time, money and our precious resource, water.

To encourage everyone to plant more indigenous plants, we asked Australia’s leading native plant expert, Angus Stewart for some of his favourites so we could share them with you.

Tag: bush tucker