The Rebel Gardener

How to Prune Alyogyne Huegelii and other Australian Native Plants.
From time to time I get emails about pruning Australian Native Plants and the feeling I quite often get is that there are many gardeners that have a misconception that Australian Natives don’t like to be pruned.
And this really couldn’t be further from the truth. Banksias, [...]

Agaves are plants that lend themselves to be easily grown in pots and Agave attenuata is no exception. Because of it’s drought tolerance it’s a plant that won’t drop dead if you forget to water it every second day over summer. Another great thing about Agave attenuata is that it’s really easy to propagate from [...]

When I first came across Eremophila Big Poly (E Bignoniiflora x E Polyclada) I thought of it more as just another addition to my collection and just grew it in a pot for about 2 years. It wasn’t until I planted it into the ground though, that it actually came into it’s own.
The first thing [...]

Rain Barrels are these days becoming very popular with gardeners as they come to realize the benefits of using rainwater in their garden as opposed to tap water. One important fact about rain barrels is that they can fill quite quickly with rainwater and then overflow, so in some respects they aren’t the most efficient [...]

Growing a windbreak can help drought proof your garden and one of the quickest ways to achieve this result is to water the plants you’ve selected as your windbreak much as possible. So what I’m doing is using water and in the case rainwater to ultimately save water in my garden.
One of the things that [...]

In my article about “How to Bonsai Australian native plants” I wrote about my Brachychiton rupestris, aka the Queensland Bottle Tree, that I’d been growing in a pot for sometime. I was contemplating turning it into a Bonsai.
Now as I’ve said before I’ve always liked Bonsai but never had the patience to do it properly. [...]

Agave potatorum is the first Agave I ever bought, as I remember I was attracted to the bluey coloured leaves. The great thing about this Agave is that it is really easy to propagate from. It grows lots of pups and has been propagated from now about 3 times.
In the photo above the original Agave [...]

Agave attenuata certainly is an Agave that has become quite popular in Australian gardens in recent times. It’s large fleshy leaves really are quite attractive. The only problem with this plant is that as it grows a trunk it tends to fall over. Because of this though it is probably best to give it some [...]

Transplanting Plants – How to do it Correctly.
A while ago I wrote an article about how I transplanted a Grevillea Caloundra Gem and despite doing nearly everything wrong, still got a successful outcome. Today though I thought it might be much better to write about transplanting plants the correct way.
Now before I start I need [...]

How to Bonsai Australian Native Plants
The art of Bonsai is something that has always interested me but was something I was always reluctant to take up mainly because of my lack of patience. Recently though I came across a gardening blog with a video of a Banksia Ericifolia Bonsai. It was amazing to hear how [...]