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When it comes to their use in plantings and even in the wider landscape, Eucalypts cop a lot of bad press. As usual its often down to poor decisions and management on our behalf. The litany of complaints against the Eucalypt are numerous and include (but are not limited to the followi

Small furry creatures with sharp teeth, claws and beady little eyes get a lot of bad press in our culture, thanks to the feral rats that have followed us across the planet. However, we also have many native rodents and other small furry creatures that play important roles in our ecosy

by Spencer Shaw   To celebrate the single use plastic bag ban, this is an update of an article I wrote in 2006. However, looking back on the changes that have occurred over the last 12 years, I’m far from sure there much to celebrate yet… At last we have seen the removal of

Last month we talked about mulching your soil with traditional mulches such as baled straw or wood and bark chip etc… basically the stuff you have to buy in and that’s grown elsewhere. But what if you could grow your own mulch? Sometimes we do grow our own mulch and just throw it away

It is a little-known fact, that in Shakespeare’s Richard III, for the sake of a more dramatic narrative, Shakespeare mis-quotes King Richard III as saying “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” When in fact Richard III who was an avid gardener, knew that if he could just get a fe

by Spencer Shaw, June 2017 Recently I went for a walk on a property just out of Maleny to help the landholders plan and assist for ongoing bush regeneration on their property. This is one of those steep blocks cleared of native vegetation early last century, that was at best agricultu

If the extent of your interest in gardening is the perfect lawn and an immaculately pruned hedge (probably Mock Orange), then this article is probably not for you. That said, I aim for inclusiveness in my approach so bear with me and we’ll see if we can’t find some common ground and i

Some exotic garden plants are just too good to keep yourself and you can’t help but share them around the neighbourhood and bushland…Their flowers are just stunning, they’re not bothered by pests and disease and they’re so tough they pop up all by themselves and look after thems

by Spencer Shaw “Why on earth would anyone write about the prickly monster that is the Cockspur Vine” I hear you say “surely it’s not native, is it?” Well actually it is, and not only is it a local native plant, it’s one of those annoying natives who have the audacity to not only surv

by Spencer Shaw, October 2015. As the old saying goes “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound?” This often causes one to pause and say either “of course it does” or the eyes of the listener to wander as this existentialist conundrum confounds and