Australia’s number one monthly gardening resource, ABC Gardening Australia magazine is packed with step-by-step advice and stunning design ideas from its popular team of experts. Whether you are a novice gardener or have a green thumb and years of experience, you’ll find the advice you need.
welcome
Gardening Australia
December • News and happenings for gardeners and nature lovers nationwide
PLANTS • A selection of new releases to add to your garden
BOOKS
tree change • Living Christmas trees are a welcome alternative to the usual choices and bring joy beyond the festive season, writes HELEN YOUNG
Star ATTRACTION • Displaying festive colours, the long-lived New South Wales Christmas bush brings show-stopping magic at the right time of the year, writes CLAIRE BICKLE
familiar friends • Bringing pops of colour to your indoor plant collection, gesneriads might be more recognisable than you first realise, writes STEVE FALCIONI
Summertime AND THE LIVING IS... • We asked Gardening Australia’s TV presenters and magazine contributors to share their favourite summer memories, gifting ideas and gardening moments
Gifts dig they’ll dig • Spoil the green thumbs in your life with a gift that keeps on giving, writes TAMMY HUYNH
blooms view with a view • What began as a lockdown journal for flower farmer and florist Helen Leighton has evolved into a book celebrating rural living and floral design. Here is a snapshot of her life on Riverdale Farm near Albany, Western Australia
invite nature to the table • Seeking ideas for your festive table? Look to foliage and fresh blooms to help kickstart the celebrations
festive tweets • Extend the tree decorating outdoors, says JACKIE FRENCH, and give your feathered friends a holiday treat, too
OXLEY PARKPUBLIC SCHOOL DEERUBBIN COUNTRY • The phrase ‘from little things big things grow’ would serve well as the motto for this award-winning school in Greater Western Sydney, writes SALLY FELDMAN
SITTING pretty • Ideally, a garden will draw you outside for more than its good looks, says MICHAEL McCOY in his new book, Dream Gardens
IN THE PATCH • Whether you have 15 minutes or an hour to spare, you can make inroads in the vegie patch. Here are our suggestions…
capsi-CAN! • You can’t beat capsicum for adding colour, crunch and sweetness to summer dishes. Here are some top varieties and tips for growing a bumper crop
HOE handy • A wire hoe is great for removing weeds. If you have an old rake handle, a bit of wire and a few other bits and bobs, you can make one yourself! PHIL DUDMAN shows how it’s done
MYTH or FACT? • Does watering at midday scald plant leaves? The science is in, and you might be surprised…
FEELING sluggish? • If your fruit trees are looking lacklustre, pear and cherry slug is a likely suspect
DECEMBER a month in the GARDEN • More than 50 seasonal jobs to do
MAILBOX
take a break! • Put the kettle on – it’s time to relax! Solve our puzzle to be in the running to win a Wolf-Garten garden tool pack
YOURS FOR GARDENING
the big picture • ‘To plant or not to plant?’ As weather patterns get harder to predict, seasonal planning has become more of a dilemma than ever, writes MICHAEL McCOY