This weekend I’ll be at the Brisbane Gardening Expo and would love to see you.  I’ll be appearing on the Ask It, Solve It stage Friday and Saturday at 11.20am.  See you there!

http://www.abcgardeningexpo.com.au/

EXPO INTRO   

The Expo is spread over 92 hectares and contains 14 Pavillions each with a different story to tell. Most stories revolved around advancements in horticulture, connecting with nature and environmental issues. It was great to see people learning about plants, realising how important they are to our everyday life and even how they can be part of the solution to the current environment pressures our planet is facing.  

There are approximately 32 millions plants used on the site in a myriad of ways and I did my best to see them all! Following are just some of the photos I took.  Enjoy!   

Masses of colour and people

The Expo Dome with its Flora Rainbow was once a sporting stadium

Walking across the green roof of the Pavilion of the Future

Display Garden & Planting Features   

There were 22 Global Gardens representing countries and cities from all over the world.  Some were truly amazing like the Thailand display below.   

The ceremonial boat was planted mainly Alternathera ‘Exhibition Border’, whilst the elephant and Buddha were miniature pilea (Pilea depressa), earthstars (Cryptanthus bivittatus), dwarf mondo grass and more Exhibition Border.  

Philippines display (left) with its mass of bromeliads  

Shanghai display garden (note the building in the background on the right – its exterior is made solely from recycled plastic bottles)

Cavorting Whales

Giant pineapple and watermelon

Dragon fruits

 Of course there were orchids everywhere including the stunning purple vandas (above left) and moth orchids (above right and below).  Interestingly the common name they use for the moth orchid (Phalenopsis) is the butterfly orchid which I thought was much nicer.  

550 year old bonsai

I instantly fell in love with this begonia (B. symsanguinea  cultivar) and am on the hunt to see if I can find it in Australia.  Don’t you think it’s just fantastic?    

And for a complete change of pace there was a huge display of cacti and succulents which the locals absolutely loved. My favourite was the ‘tortoise’ swimming through the display.  

Something told me it had been sometime since this cactus was last on the dancefloor.

Me with some new buddies - two of the Expo Mascots.

All up I thoroughly enjoyed the Expo. It’s always great to see what other countries are doing with plants.  The Expo finishes April 25 so you’d need to be quick if you want to catch it.  However even after the Expo closes there’s still plenty of interesting stuff to see in Taiwan – especially the orchids!  

PS Don’t forget to check out The Plant Addict Shop while you’re here.     

You’ll find great gift ideas for garden lovers and fellow plant addicts!

In three days time I will be heading to Taiwan to enjoy the Taipei International Flora Expo.  It’s been open since November 2010 and finishes up 25 April 2011. Already 4.7 million people have visited the site spread out over 92 hectares and 14 Pavillons!

The overall theme of the Expo centres around gardening and the environment and looks at combining gardening, culture and art in an eco-friendly manner.  It’s hoped that attendees will improve their relationship with nature and implement some of the ideas and in turn help to protect the environment.

Sounds pretty serious hey!  Well don’t let that fool you.  I’m expecting to see cutting edge garden design and amazing plant specimens.  Watch out for the photos when I return.

Go to www.2010taipeiexpo.tw to learn more.

PS Don’t forget to check out The Plant Addict Shop while you’re here. 

You’ll find great gift ideas for garden lovers and fellow plant addicts!

It’s that time of year – Spring is in the air and the garden shows are ramping up.  Recently I went to the Gardening Australia Expo in Sydney and got to see plenty of interesting things, like this beautiful desert rose (Adenium obesum hybrid).

This was the first year the event was held at Rosehill Racecourse and the new location didn’t put the crowds off!

I was pretty excited to see that the new carnation ‘Green Trick’ has now been released for sale to the public. It’s pretty unusual and perhaps not to everyone’s liking but I love it.  Naturally I bought one.

  I was also taken with the South African bottlebrush (Greyia sutherlandii).  Unfortunately I don’t have space for a large shrub otherwise I would have snapped one up too.  

This show always has a strong floral design element as well and I loved the simplicity of these ‘shoes’ and the sheer exuberance of the ‘flowering shell’.

 I also smiled when I came across a glass bowl of baby’s breath (Gypsophila).  Finally someone has done something nice with baby’s breath!

And while these rather large animal sculptures had plenty of people talking…

                                                                … I was content to stick to more traditional purchases – PLANTS!

Obviously I had no trouble finding things to buy and that really is the whole point of going to these shows.  You often find plants you rarely see in your nursery and get to talk directly with the grower.  So do some investigating and see what shows are coming up in your area.  The Garden Australia Expos are continuing in other cities (see www.abcgardeningexpo.com.au) and many plant societies put on a Spring or Autumn show.  Just remember to turn up early to get the best plants – competition can be fierce!

Bondi garden designed by Brendan Moar

 The first garden was designed and built by Brendan Moar.  You  may have already seen this one if you get Foxtel as Brendan hosts his own landscape design show called ’Dry Spell Gardening’. This garden featured in the very first episode.  Brendan took a very overgrown small garden and created an interesting and modern landscape.

Out went a lot of plants and in went some pretty cool structures like the steel hoops and artificial grass mound seen in the first photo above.  A firepit, custom-made white ‘dinosaur eggs’ and whimsical artwork on the wall are featured in the back half of the garden (see below).

What impressed me the most is not just the clever design but the fact that it’s over two years since the garden was built and it still looks great.  A lot of make-overs done for TV only plan to look good for the final shot with seemingly little regard to how the garden will evolve over time. A lot of thought has gone into the design of this garden and it really shows.  It was particularly lovely to meet the owners and hear how much they still love Brendan’s design.

The second garden I fell in love with from the moment I stepped into the front yard.  Whilst the photos don’t really do it justice I hope you can see what the attraction was for me.

The owners had very cleverly used the small space at the front of the house to create a patch of Japanese inspired tranquility.  Stepping off the street and into this garden I instantly felt transported into another world.  Raked pebbles and a few feature rocks were complemented with a restrained planting of clipped Japanese box (Buxus microphylla japonica) and Orange Jessamine (Murraya paniculata).  I particularly liked the murraya being clipped into ‘clouds’ – a technique more commonly seen with cypresses.

The back garden was completely different again.  It was a fairly small paved courtyard split over two levels.  Its theme was obviously a tropical garden, packed full of wonderful exotic specimens including: bromeliads, heliconias, angels trumpets, succulents, gingers and more.

I was particularly impressed (and jealous) with their flowering Heliconia rostrata, seen above in the bottom right hand corner.  This coastal garden (in Clovelly) was obviously warm enough to allow the heliconia to thrive.  Following are a few other flowers which caught my eye…

Globba winitii

Globba schomburgkii

I’m just back from the Spring Show of the Bromeliad Society of NSW (www.bromsocnsw.org.au) and as expected I’ve been bitten by the bromeliad bug again.  Whilst enviously eyeing off the  prizewinning Tillandsia tectorum and T. duratii I had to contend myself with purchasing less exotic tillandsia types as the others had already all sold.  I never seem to learn when it comes to these flower society shows.  You need to be there on the first day jostling for pole position before it opens if you want to buy any of the unusual varieties.  Honestly its more competitive than the post-Christmas sales.

I’ve had numerous bromeliads (broms for short) over the years but had to give them all away when we moved to Canada in 2007.  Now that we’re back in Sydney, and after seeing today’s show, my broms passion is back.  I bought six different tillandsia as I have never tried them before and also a couple of earth stars (Cryptanthus).

There’s such a huge variety when it comes to broms that there’s something for everyone to love.  The diversity on display at today’s show was simply extraordinary.  Best of all many of them require very little care yet deliver stunning foliage and flowers year after year.

Garden shows are great places for getting excellent growing advice.  You’ll often get to talk directly to the grower and learn all of the tricks specific to that plant.  None of the incredibly vague (and unreliable) label descriptions you get on a store bought plant.   On top of this plants are usually cheaper, higher quality and available in a wider range than you’ll ever see in your local nursery -just remember to arrive early if you’re after something rare.

PS Don’t forget to check out The Plant Addict Shop while you’re here. 

You’ll find great gift ideas for garden lovers and fellow plant addicts!