The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is the trend setting event of the year here in Australia. The industry is displaying plants of future interest, tempting customers in the hope of spurring sales into the forthcoming season. If there’s a plant on display, people will be coming in and asking for it tomorrow. Three standout exhibits this year were inundated with punters wanting to know what the latest and the greatest in the plant world is. Of these three displays there was no doubt a concentrated focus on natives.
‘Cooling the Planet One Backyard at a Time’ – Tree Shrub Growers of Victoria
Highlighting plants by planting en masse, this display utilised a variety of species selected for their ability to ‘cool the planet’. For example shade trees (Fraxinus excelsior ‘Aurea’) were used to complement the variegated privet which stood over the exhibit and stage. Lawn was included, but so too were small ground covering plants such as the new release Dianella ‘Petite Marie’ and the strong selling and popular Banksia ‘Birthday Candles’. Other tufting beauties such as Libertia ‘Gold Fingers’ and Lomandra ‘Seascape’ (or ‘Silver Grace) add further colour and interest to the design. Structural plants were also significantly featured, and Xanthorrhoeas continue to be used as stand out features in garden designs.
Aloe plicatilus added further interest with their succulent bodies and unique architectural forms. Three other notable plants featured within exhibit included Yucca ‘Silver Sword’ and Acacia ‘Fettucini’. Espaliered citrus and olives from Merrywood Plants also created a bit of a storm with many questions on the stand focused on these trained plants.
‘Imagine’ – A joint garden by Humphris Nursery, Dirtscape Dreaming, Austraflora, Arbor Constructions and Swinburne
I spoke briefly to Barry Humphris of the ‘Imagine’ garden, a joint initiative between Humphris Nurseries and Swinburne University. Barry pointed out that grafted natives were incredibly popular, and that the public who know their natives, generally know their plants. The result of this is that there is a knowing expectation that a ‘grafted plant is a better plant.’ With these plants increasingly being used within designs, they are being engrained in the consumers psyche. With this in mind and demand high at the show, we will no doubt see this trend continue within garden centres post MIFGS – it seems everyone is going to want a grafted Eremophilla or Corymbia cv.
Another plant featured in the garden includes the newly released Eucalyptus cladocalyx ‘Vintage Red’ which has deep red juvenile foliage, potentially an ideal plant for coppicing – an increasingly popular horticultural practice here in Australia.
A wide range of other plants were featured including the ‘King in the Garden’ Range such as Acmena ‘Moonlight Flame’ and the increasingly popular fluffy pink heads of Ptilotis exaltatus ‘Phoenix’. Some other more unusual plants included in the large planting scheme were Pimelea physodes ‘Qualup Bells’ and the silver foliage of Marieana oppositifolia ‘Dwarf Silver Shadow’ and the Acacia cognata cultivars with their graceful weeping lime green foliage are proven winners.
Habitat – ‘Phillip Johnston’
This garden won not only Best in Show, but a Gold award for Best Show Garden. It was an incredibly impressive piece, and certainly stopped people in their tracks with their interesting selection of plants and massive feature boulders, intermingled with the key environmental messages about living a sustainable life. The garden itself comprised of a diverse plant selection, incorporating not only edible gardens (vegetables, fruit and citrus) but riparian vegetation including sedges and ferns and xeriscape plantings – the entire design wassegregated by ecological zones, with the water as the fluid entity and life
blood of making the site work. This is something which Phillip Johnston Landscape Systems designs around – building a sustainable habitat to be enjoyed.
To mention just a few of the stand out plants that stood out in the landscape – Bachychiton specimens, no doubt chosen for their spectacular structure, their ability to conserve moisture is also a drawcard. Doryanthes excelsa, the spectacularly large flowering Gymea Lily was also utilised in abundance, their phenomenal size and impact within the landscape added scale and stirred interest amongst the visitors. Other plants such as a number of cultivars of Anigozanthos, Dampiera, Eremophilla and a wide variety of fern species were utilised to create this impressive display of Australian flora.
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