Gardenig in Australia. Tips & Guides

Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Fizzy Pink’'

Don’t know How to grow macadamia nuts? The Macadamia tree is native to Australia and grows up to anywhere between 2-12 m ( 7 to 40 feet tall) and is mainly cultivated for its fruits. Keep reading this article to learn everything about Growing Macadamia Nuts.

Header image: Lupinus albus (altramuces o chochitos), by Calapito via Wikimedia Commons.

If you are looking for an easy-to-maintain plant, then Button Orchid can be a good choice. Here are all the details on How to Grow Dischidia nummularia.

 Botanically known as Rhaphiolepis indica, these plants belong to the Rosaceae family and are popular for their attractive, glossy leaves and fragrant flowers, which bloom in the spring and summer. Let’s have a look at the best Indian Hawthorn Varieties!

Nature’s marvels often come in unexpected forms, and butterwort plants (Pinguicula spp.) are a testament to this. These captivating botanical wonders are visually appealing and boast a fascinating insect-trapping mechanism. This article will delve into growing Butterwort, uncovering their secrets and providing insights!

Here are all the details you need about Baltic Blue Pothos Care!Make this stunning plant a part of your houseplant collection.

Get ready for launch, it’s time for the latest edition of Gardeners off World!

Header image: Andrew Taylor. Spud Fit/Facebook

Header image: Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right). Jonathan Clarke personal collection, Author provided.

Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma recaps the latest space plant news and then talks about some of the seeds with space stories.

Myrtle (Myrtus communis) is a plant that has been on my ‘to grow’ list for years now, although it has yet to make an appearance in the garden. In the UK it is often grown as an ornamental plant, an evergreen shrub up to 3m in height and width. Given a spot in full sun and well-drained soil, it produces pink buds that open into white flowers with multiple gold-tipped stamens, followed by blue-black berries. It is hardy down to -10°C, and in mild areas can be grown as a hedge as it tolerates regular clipping. The species has the most frost tolerance; some of the named varieties are less hardy, but there are also smaller varieties that will tolerate being in a container long term, and so can be moved into more sheltered accommodations for the winter.

There’s a lovely article on BBC Nature today about how ants sow the seeds of the Cape. Researchers have been investigating the Fynbos habitat of the Cape region of South Africa and the climatically similar south west of Western Australia. These biodiversity hotspots have a large proportion of plants that are myrmecochorous – their seeds are dispersed by ants.

The red planet. It may hold no life, but is it dead? [Image credit: NASA/JPL]

The role downunder played in helping track the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.

Last weekend, as the temperatures soared, I found a certain amount of solace in learning more about how plants are being grown in Antarctica – the coldest place on Earth. 

Lauren Samuelsson, University of Wollongong

Header image: One of the Vanguard satellites being checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958. NASA

I was talking recently about the way different cultures put their own spin on space exploration, using the example of the UAE’s desire to grow palm trees on Mars. Their first step was to send some palm seeds to the International Space Station (ISS) for a germination test.

Header image: Melburnians admire the first primrose to arrive in the colony, transported by a Wardian case, in Edward Hopley’s A Primrose from England, circa 1855. [Bendigo Art Gallery, Gift of Mr and Mrs Leonard Lansell 1964]

Header image: St Canice’s rooftop garden, where a horticultural therapy program demonstrated its benefits for mental health and wellbeing. Author provided

By Heidi Zimmer, Southern Cross University and Catherine Offord

Header image: George Frey/EPA

This is one of a series of posts looking at what we might eat on Mars, where most food would have to be shelf-stable, tinned or freeze-dried. You can find other posts on this topic under the Martian Meals tag.

Hello and welcome to Meals on Mars, your weekly imaginarium devoted to the future of food on Earth and beyond!

Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma takes the time machine for a spin to explore the early history of seeds in space. Plus you’ll find out which plants will be best for terraforming Mars, why greenhouses may soon be made from solar panels, what’s included in a Russian space tourist package and more!

One of the things that fascinate me is how astronauts from different cultures take different foods into space. When French astronaut Thomas Pesquet blasts off to the ISS later this month, for example, he’s taking four French meals specially created by a Michelin-starred chef. (Including a truffled pie of potatoes and onions from Roscoff, slow-cooked beef with mushroom sauce, almond tart with caramelised pears, and a freeze-dried cherry tomato dish. Heston Blumenthal created the first space bacon sandwich for Tim Peake.)

In 2021, One Giant Leap Australia sent golden wattle seeds into space, as part of a nationwide STEM project to explore “What’ll Happen to the Wattle??!”. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks to Jackie Carpenter about how the seeds got to space, and then back home again, and what’s next for the space-flown wattle seeds.

Header image: Prof Shuo Wang/Shi et al., 2022, Author provided

Header image: Asteroid Ryugu, from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Image credit: ISAS / JAXA, CC BY

By Sara Webb, Swinburne University of Technology and Rebecca Allen, Swinburne University of Technology

The Australian National University (ANU) is one of the organisations working with space start-up Lunaria One to grow plants on the Moon by as early as 2025.  

Header image: Steve Gale (pilot) and Gail Iles (right) next to the Marchetti jet. Kieran Blair, Author provided

In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks with Dr Jenny Mortimer from the University of Adelaide, one of the scientists involved with the new Plants for Space (P4S) project. Jenny currently has a bit of an obsession with duckweed, a plant with superpowers that could be right at home in space!

Header image: Space Salad, credit: University of Adelaide

In episode 50 of Gardeners of the Galaxy, I spoke with Amy Padolf and Carl Lewis from the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden about Growing Beyond Earth, the education program in which students collect data about plants for NASA.