Queensland open garden is a Hidden Oasis

NOEL and Gail Tesch’s garden is tropical style, with a Bali pavilion as the centrepiece, surrounded by water features.

Hidden Oasis Garden.

NOEL and Gail TeschÂ’s garden at White Patch, Bribie Island.

DESCRIBE YOUR GARDEN: We’re about an hour’s drive from Brisbane, on half an acre overlooking Pumicestone Passage and surrounded by national park. The garden is tropical style, with a Bali ­pavilion as the centrepiece, surrounded by water features and lighting to enhance the sounds and atmosphere of a retreat.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL: We created the whole garden ourselves, from planning, improving the soil, choosing every plant, planting them, even designing the water features. We started before the house was built and did it section by section, transforming it from bare to soil to maturity in just four years. Both of us have always been keen gardeners. We wanted to create a garden that looks really ­attractive but is easy to take care of now we’re retired.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: We’re on pure sand. We added trailer loads of mushroom compost to each section, compost food scraps directly in the soil, and keep plentiful mulch cover. Now the soil is rich and full of worms.

ADVICE TO ASPIRING GARDENERS: Look around markets and stalls for bargain plants and ask friends for cuttings. Start in one area and when you see it’s thriving, it will encourage you to continue. Do a little bit of gardening each day so it looks good all the time and doesn’t become a big chore.

KEY PLANTS: Our neighbour, an arborist, supplied us with eight fully grown palms for strategic positions. We’ve used giant strelitzias, clumping bamboos, heliconias, frangipanis, tree ferns, gingers, crotons, coleus and many bromeliads.

EXTRAS: Plant sales, stalls and morning teas with biscuits and cupcakes that feature garden-themed decorations. On Saturday there’ll be Valentine’s Day cupcakes. In an outdoor room we will be showing a video of the garden’s ­development.

54 WHITE PATCH ESPLANADE, WHITE PATCH, BRIBIE ISLAND
Owners: NOEL & GAIL TESCH

Open: THIS WEEKEND 10AM-4.30PM, $8, UNDER 18s FREE

—————————————

FLORA

ON the theme of Valentine’s Day, observe below the luscious red lips of Psychotria elata , a shrub or small tree from tropical rainforests of Mexico and South America. Also known as Lover’s Lips, Hot Lips and, less elegantly, Hooker’s Lips, the waxy, pursed structures are not the true flowers but bracts, or modified leaves. Several true flowers, which are small, white and star-shaped, emerge from the parted lips.

Hummingbirds and pollen-feeding butterflies visit the flowers; the berry fruits turn dark blue or black when mature. This plant is listed as endangered, due to loss of habitat. Psychotria has some 1850 species and is in the large Rubiaceae family that includes coffee, gardenias and ixoras.

—————————————

TWIG

Q: Our ‘Dutch White’ runner beans are flowering fit to bust but setting very few beans. We’ve seen few bees this summer. How can gardeners help our poor bees?

ELIZABETH DE BURGH, WATTLE GROVE, TASMANIA

A: Runner beans, unlike other beans, need cross-pollination to set pods. They also won’t set when it is too warm or dry. Cropping from late summer into autumn is usual, so it may be timing. Bees are the usual pollinators — plant lavender, borage and thyme to attract them and avoid using pesticides.

Q What could I plant that is fast growing and low maintenance to create some height and shade around our rented house?

JO HARRISON, SYDNEY

A: The fastest small trees are often short-lived with small root systems, which may be suited to a rental where you need the landlord’s consent. Natives include wattles (Acacia fimbriata), grevilleas (G. ‘Honey Gem’, ‘Moonlight’) and bottlebrush (Callistemon ‘Kings Park Special’, ‘Candy Pink’). Butterfly tree (Bauhinia) and tree-in-a-hurry (Virgilia) may also suit.

Q: How can I control the pesky white butterflies that love my vegies?

ASHLEIGH EMERSON, PERTH

A: The green caterpillars of cabbage white butterflies and moths love chewing leaves of broccoli, kale, cabbage and related plants. Prevent butterflies laying eggs with row covers of exclusion fabric that act as a barrier. Scattered eggshell or white plastic pieces fool them that the territory is taken. Treat caterpillars organically with Dipel or use Success Ultra with a 3-day withholding period.

Q: New to gardening in my first home, I’m driven insane by my lemon and lime trees that have plenty of flowers that don’t go anywhere. Help!

JONATHON, BY EMAIL

Citrus bear thousands of flowers but only about 2 per cent will evolve to mature fruit. Regular, even watering from flowering to final fruit set is critical. Water stress will cause young fruit to shed, especially when smaller than marble size. Citrus have shallow roots; keep the area around trees well mulched and free of weeds.