The Rebel Gardener

Pruning your Alyogyne Huegelii

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, [...]

Pruning your Alyogyne Huegelii is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Growing Agave Attenuata in a Pot

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 [...]

Growing Agave Attenuata in a Pot is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Eremophila “Big Poly”

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 [...]

Eremophila “Big Poly” is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Make your own Rain Barrel

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 [...]

Make your own Rain Barrel is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Eremophila Images

Eremophilas are a very variable genus of plants. They vary in size from prostrate ground covers to small shrubby trees, that vary in the colour of foliage from grey white to deep greens and also in flower colours which includes white, blue, purple, green, yellow, red, pink and apricot etc. Here’s just a few of the [...]

Eremophila Images is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Isopogon Formosus

Isopogon Formosus is a plant that you probably won’t find in many plant nurseries. It’s mainly restricted to Australian Native Plant nurseries probably because it can be considered in some circles to be difficult to grow. I’d successfully grown it before in my last garden so when I came across it about a year ago [...]

Isopogon Formosus is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

How to Grow a Windbreak

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 [...]

How to Grow a Windbreak is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Eremophila “Eyre Princess”

Eremophilas would have to one one of my favourite garden plants and one of my favourite Eremophilas would have to be Eremophila “Eyre Princess”. It’s now the beginning of spring in Melbourne and my Eremophila “Eyre Princess” is now at the height of it’s flowering season. At the moment it is just covered in purplely, blue [...]

Eremophila “Eyre Princess” is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Grevillea “Pink Ice”

Grevillea Pink Ice, a Gem amongst the Gravel. One of my favourite things to do where shopping for plants is to search through the “sale” plants at the back of the nursery. Not only because sometimes you can pick up a bargain but also because sometimes you can find a gem in amongst the rubbish. Back in [...]

Grevillea “Pink Ice” is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Alyogyne Huegelii

Alyogyne Huegelii, aka the Native Hibiscus, is a shrub that you see from time to time in nurseries but rarely see in home gardens. I’ve often found this quite surprising though as it’s has so many great things going for it. It grows naturally in sandy and gravelly soils in arid areas of Western Australia. This [...]

Alyogyne Huegelii is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Grevillea Petrophiloides

Grevillea Petrophiloides is a Grevillea that really breaks the typical Grevillea stereotype. When most people look at it for the first time they could quite easily be forgiven for mistaking it for a Bottlebrush or maybe even a Hakea. The plant itself is quite rounded and bushy but where it differs from the “typical Grevillea” appearance [...]

Grevillea Petrophiloides is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Brachychiton Rupestris, the Queensland Bottle Tree

The first time I ever saw Brachychiton Rupestris aka the Queensland Bottle Tree, was in nursery. I remember looking at the label and thinking it looked quite a bit like the Boab tree from Northern Australia and thinking that this wouldn’t grow very well with the cool winters we get here in Melbourne. I then pretty [...]

Brachychiton Rupestris, the Queensland Bottle Tree is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Bonsai Bottle Tree

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. [...]

Bonsai Bottle Tree is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Euphorbia

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Euphorbia is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Grevillea Rosmarinifolia

Yesterday a reader left a comment about Grevillea Rosmarinifolia on my article, Grevillea, How to grow. “I want to plant a fence line with the Grevillea Rosmarinifolia as I believe they are hardy and also have spiky leaves which will provide a barrier from unwanted people climbing the fence. I will require about 100 plants and [...]

Grevillea Rosmarinifolia is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Agave

It wasn’t until I started my new garden that I looked at growing Agaves. After I finished landscaping my front garden I decided I only wanted to fill it with plants that could survive only on rainfall and without any supplemental watering at all (once established). This was a tall order to place on most [...]

Agave is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Agave potatorum

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 potatorum is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Agave attenuata

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 [...]

Agave attenuata is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Transplanting Plants

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 [...]

Transplanting Plants is a post from: The Rebel Gardener

Silky Oak, what you really need to know

Grevillea Robusta aka the Silky Oak The Grevillea Silky Oak is not only one of the most popular Grevilleas in cultivation but it also does have some features that are quite desirable. It does tolerate badly drained soils such as clay and will also tolerate some phosphorus toxicity in the soil as I’ve discovered in my [...]

Silky Oak, what you really need to know is a post from: The Rebel Gardener