Plants in the Araceae family, colloquially known as aroids, are usually pretty easy to identify, especially if you can see “one” of their “flowers” (actually an inflorescence). Monstera deliciosa is an example of an aroid with an edible fruit, however it’s important to note that the fruit must fully ripen which can take up to a year, because under-ripe monstera fruits can be toxic.
Continue reading 
On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much that holds this family together as a group. It certainly wouldn’t seem obvious that figs and mulberries belong in the same family at first glance, at least not to me. Description Members can come in all shapes and sizes including vines and shrubs, but this family is generally associated with trees.
Continue reading 
The Ficus genus is home to around 850 species of plants in the dicotyledenous Moraceae family that come in a range of shapes and sizes, but can most easily be recognised by their round or pear-shaped fruit or infructescence (inflorescence before pollination). Plants in this genus can be sensitive to location change; perhaps if you’ve ever taken a rubber plant home from
Continue reading 
Members of the dicotyledonous protea family largely originate from the southern hemisphere, especially Australia and southern Africa. Even though we tend to lump them all in as “natives” in Australia, some of them originate overseas, most notable proteas. The banksias, grevilleas, waratahs and macadamias are examples of Aussie natives, though there are many other truly native branches of the family
Continue reading 
Named after Proteus, the Greek god who could change his form at will, the variance of forms within this genus is impressive. Protea is the type genus of its family, Protaceae.
Other members of the family include waratahs, grevilleas and banksias. Like those genera, protea are often pollinated by birds, small marsupials and invertebrates. Unlike those genera which originate in Australia, the proteas are from southern Africa.
Continue reading
Banksia is a genus of shrubs, trees and shrubby trees within the Protaceae family, along with warratahs, grevilleas and proteas. Like many other members, these plants provide great food for pollinators such as lorikeets, rosellas, bats, possums and invertebrates.
A fluffy or fuzzy inflorescence called a spike or candle exists at the terminal tip on the branch. As the bisexual flowers (in pairs of 2) are pollinated and age, they brown off and a number of dehiscent seed pods appear.
When we begin the process of identifying an unknown plant, we are like detectives looking for clues in any places we can find them. The more clues we can find, the stronger our case is of matching the plant we see to its correct scientific name. Once we have this information, we have everything we need to do some background
Continue reading Let’s face it: mowing lawns can be a chore. Especially if you don’t have a basic skill set that professional operators pick up along the way. It’s the sort of task that can drag out all weekend, but just know that an average Aussie suburban lawn takes 20 minutes for two pros to whippersnip, mow, blow and go. My favourite
Continue reading 
Gardening is such a wide topic and humans have used hundreds of tools to varying success throughout history. These days, you can fit everything you need to run a modern gardening business in a ute/van and trailer. In this article is a pretty comprehensive list of the basics you’ll eventually need in the truck, but if you’re just starting out
Continue reading 
Have you ever wondered if there’s more to life than grinding away at your boss’s dream? One of the options available to you is starting a lawn care business, for which you don’t need any formal training and you can start on the side while you continue to work full or part-time. I won’t lie to you and say it
Continue reading