The Rebel Gardener

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 [...]

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, [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 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 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 [...]

I’ve grown quite a few Alyogyne hakeifolias over the years. The best feature of this Alyogyne would have to be the deep purple tulip type flowers which occur on mass over summer. There aren’t many plants around that actually flower this well over summer so it may quite possibly be the only plant you may [...]

One of the main reasons I like Eremophila Calorhabdos is because it is one of those plants that looks great even when it’s not in flower. That is of course if you follow one golden rule. You have to prune it. Nearly all Australian native plants look a lot neater and tidier when pruned after [...]

There are several varieties and subspecies of Banksia Ericifolia that are available in nurseries today. Some are more garden worthy than others. In my last garden I grew two different varieties. The first was a variety called “Little Eric”. This was a great little Banksia that only grows to about 1.5 m in height with [...]