Out now: holiday reading for green thumbs

If you’re looking for holiday reading or gifts for the green thumb in your life, this year’s crop of garden books has been a good one.

Off the telly: Hannah Moloney. Picture: Chris Kidd

If you’re looking for holiday reading or gifts for the green thumb in your life, this year’s crop of garden books has been a good one, with a high standard of information and images.

The Good Life

Anyone interested in growing food has plenty of choice. The Good Life (Affirm Press, $40) by Tasmanian-based Hannah Moloney is subtitled How to Grow a Better World. The Gardening Australia presenter uses her experience in permaculture, urban agriculture and community projects, as well as her personal story, to inspire us to lead a more sustainable life.

Garden like a Nonno

For practical tips on growing food and keeping chooks I love Garden Like a Nonno (Affirm Press, $25) by Jaclyn Crupi. It’s an amusing but practical distillation of her two Italian grandfathers’ wisdom.

Backyard Bees

And Australia’s No.1 bee book has been revised and updated; Backyard Bees (Murdoch Books, $37) by Doug Purdie is the ideal guide for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

Soulscape

If you love coastal landscapes you’ll be moved by Soulscape (Melbourne Books, $60), which presents 10 gardens along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road by designer and landscaper Peter Shaw. These are thoughtful, sustainable gardens, intimately connected to the natural landscape. Shaw is one of the speakers at Land Escapism, an event to explore new ways that garden designers, artists and writers perceive and work with nature. Held at Willinga Park on the NSW south coast on February 8-10, 2022, it will have a stellar line-up of speakers; see landscapeconference.com.

The City Gardener

Another garden design book, Richard Unsworth’s The City Gardener (Thames and Hudson, $50) is full of inspiration for smaller garden spaces, featuring 20 of this talented designer’s Sydney gardens.

Green Thumb

Stuck for gift ideas for younger people? Green Thumb (Plum, $45) by Craig Miller-Randle is subtitled “A practical guide to winning over your indoor plants”. The Instagram hero shares his styling, care and propagating tips to guide everyone from beginners to fellow indoor plant addicts.

Paul Bangay’s Guide to Plants

For outdoor plant inspo, you’ll want Paul Bangay’s Guide To Plants (Lantern, $60). The feted designer presents his personal A-list of plants, aided by Simon Griffiths’ gorgeous photography, in this book best suited to those in cold to warm temperate climates.

Finally, Diggers Club founder Clive Blazey’s We Speak for the Trees (diggers.com.au/shop $45, members $35) encourages us to fight climate change by planting trees, with tips for growing ornamental and edible varieties.

Q&A

A friend gave me some yellow and red clivia berries. How do I germinate and grow them? How long before they flower? Patricia Cowley, by email

Clivia fruit colour reflects flower colour. Remove the seeds from the flesh and membrane, wash clean, then dry. Half-bury in pots of seed-raising mix; keep warm and just moist in a shady, well-ventilated spot. Once shoots emerge, apply liquid fertiliser to speed growth. Clivias need to produce 12 leaves before they flower, which takes three to five years on average; yellows take longer.

We’ve noticed recently many agapanthus with flower heads that are small or not opening properly, and oddly twisted stems. What’s happening? Felicity Chadwick, Sydney

Agapanthus used to be pest free but over the past decade mealybug infestation has become almost normal, at least in Sydney. These fluffy, white, sap-sucking insects live down in the centres of the plants and on the roots where they go unnoticed until the plants become stunted and twisted. Immature plant cells damaged by sucking develop abnormally. Organic Eco-Neem is most effective but you need to direct it into the plant centres, repeat at least twice and possibly drench the roots. Severely infected plants should be binned.

Organic Gardener

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. The best question for December/January wins a year’s subscription to ABC magazines Gardening Australia and Organic Gardener, worth $109; abcmagazines.com.au.