BIRK'S BACKYARD
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And veggies by the fence all in Burke's Backyard.
In Burke's Backyard.
G'day and welcome to Burke's Backyard.
Well on tonight's program we've got some superb details for you
on a whole series of different backyard jobs.
For a start we'll look at how to establish a cottage garden
underneath one of these, a dirty great big gum tree.
We'll look at how to grow plants in hanging baskets.
And if all else fails we'll look at how to fake it with an illusion garden.
We're going to road test the guinea pig and our celebrity gardener is Janine Haynes.
See what it comes to when you leave politics? It's come to this.
I'm Janine Haynes and I'm on Burke's Backyard this week.
When most people think of garden sculptures
they would probably think of something made either out of concrete
or for that matter made out of metal.
But there's many living sculptures which you can use in the garden.
And this entire group of plants here are all living sculptures.
They all belong to one single genus, the genus Talansia.
They're bromeliads and believe it or not they're quite closely related
to the common pineapple.
And they are true air plants.
Most of them in the wild derive all of their moisture and sustenance
from the atmosphere.
They don't grow in soil at all.
Most of them look somewhat grassy, may have silver foliage.
And many of them being true bromeliads tend to blush a pink colour
when they're having sex.
And in fact this one, Talansia ironanthra, has purple flowers.
That's in fact what the name means.
They're all very curious plants.
They grow through most of Central America.
From the driest deserts where they often are seen hanging on a piece of rock
or clinging to the side of a cactus right through to the rainforests.
And for those of you that have seen those spooky Hollywood movies
in the Florida Everglades, in the swamps,
have you noticed those spiderweb things hanging from the trees?
This is it here.
It's a thing called old man's whiskers, Talansia usnioides.
For most of its life it has no roots at all, but it is a Talansia,
it is a plant, it's not spiderweb.
It was used as a packing material in Central America
where it's often found growing from telegraph wires.
And also the T model Fords had their seats stuffed with this material.
It was under the upholstery.
Fascinating plants.
The question arises of course,
if you're going to grow these around your own home, how do you do it?
Well, they can be grown from a piece of rock,
growing much as they would in nature.
Some people would choose to grow them on a piece of cork.
After all, cork is just the bark of a tree.
And others, perhaps with a more artistic bent,
would festoon them along a piece of driftwood.
All of these things are really very attractive.
The question is, where do you grow them inside or out?
Well, they're best grown outside in a semi-shaded position.
They basically love shade cloth
or perhaps being grown under the shade of a deciduous tree.
But for those purposes you can divide them into two groups.
The group over here would be the ones with silver foliage.
They'll take more sunshine.
In fact, they'll tolerate full sun
and basically will take slightly less water.
You stick the hose in them when you think of it.
The greener foliage group of tilandsias require rather more moisture
and probably do best under about 50% shade cloth
or a rather denser tree.
Indoors, well, they need a very bright room.
Either a very bright kitchen because they love humidity
or a particularly bright bathroom.
Now, how do you treat them indoors?
Well, there's a number of simple things.
If they dry out excessively, and this is for that matter,
indoors or out, and they would then become rather grey
like this one is here, simply dunk them.
Probably 10 minutes would do.
And then bring them out and let them dry off.
In between, and particularly indoors,
I would use one of these, an atomizer,
just a cheap one from the local store.
Just give them a squirt like that a couple of times a day.
Normally you would water these plants,
and you would water them maybe twice a week in the warm months
and once a fortnight during the dry period of the year.
What about fertilizer?
Well, since they don't get much in the wild,
you could use African violet food or nitrosol,
but only at about one quarter strength.
They don't like strong fertilizers.
In fact, strong fertilizing will kill these plants.
They're available at the moment from woolly stores all around Australia.
That means not in Tasmania and not in Victoria.
Glued to a piece of rock.
Now, anyone who's grown and loved plants will be saying right now,
how horrible.
Well, you're wrong.
They'd far rather be growing like that than in potting mix.
And in fact, you can use either of these glues.
One of these hard as nails type glues or MaxiBond, whatever,
is fine for them.
Stick them on the rock and away you go.
So there you are.
Think of those plants.
They're called talansias.
And even when they're too dry, they'll tell you.
Look at this one here.
Curly, it's too dry.
When it's properly watered, as with that one, it looks fine.
Fabulous things.
Check out woollies.
Now, coming up after the break,
we're going to road test cavies.
Tonight's road test is the animal that every kid wants.
Sarah, do you want this?
Come over here.
Do you know what it is?
Do you know what it is?
What is it?
A guinea pig.
Darling, you sent me.
I know you sent me.
Darling, you sent me.
Honest you do.
Honest you do.
Honest you do.
Whoa.
Obviously, they're good children's pets.
Yes, mostly because they're small.
They don't bite.
They do scratch a little, but they don't kick
and really give deep wounds or anything like that.
And they do tame quite well.
With a lot of handling, they become quite quiet.
Children can lug them around everywhere,
take them inside, watch television with them.
Terrific pets, I suppose, for disabled
because they're easily held.
You don't have to have them jumping all over you
and they're very, very quiet.
But you probably should issue a warning
about their breeding potential, shouldn't you?
If you put males and females together, yes,
they will breed, and they're quite precocious.
They'll breed from a very early age, three months.
What do they eat?
They eat a huge range of things, most vegetables, grass,
some of the weeds in the garden like dandelions.
They love wandering dew.
Really?
Absolutely love it, yes.
So this could be a major breakthrough
for getting rid of wandering dew.
Yes.
Mine ate everything that was in the last house we lived in.
Cavies are basically vegetarians,
but there are some foods you shouldn't give to them.
Rhubarb can kill them in a matter of moments.
Oxalis also can cause paralysis.
And fatty foods like potatoes, white bread, cakes, and sweets
are definitely a no-no.
In general, you can give them grasses and so on,
but make sure they haven't been sprayed,
and any garden shrub or tree which exudes a milky sap
is best avoided.
Dry bran, if followed by water, can prove fatal.
They virtually explode.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
You thrill me
I know you, you thrill me
Darling, you, you thrill me
Sometimes they're called guinea pigs and sometimes cavies.
Guinea pigs is a general name they're known as.
Within the breeding exhibition world,
we've called them cavies just to differentiate them slightly
from the average pet animal.
But it comes from the scientific name?
Caviar pocella, yes.
For the average child or home hobbyist,
how would you keep them?
You can keep them just in a rabbit hutch,
pretty similar to a rabbit hutch if you wanted to keep them in your backyard.
You can either bring them indoors at night
or make sure the cage is covered
so that they don't get too cold or don't get wet.
They don't like being wet.
People can keep, you can keep them in flats,
in a smaller hutch, one that doesn't have a run.
Keep any old food out of the cage, they don't smell.
They're quite clean.
What do you put on the bottom of the cages?
I use rice hulls because they're extremely absorbent.
I often have to buy those in a wool bale.
You can buy a smaller one, but it's usually too much
for the average family that just has one animal.
You can put them on wood shavings or straw
with a lining of newspaper underneath.
Basically the guinea pig or cavie is pretty much a defenseless animal.
Its only defence is that its coat comes out
and if something grabs it, it grabs a mouthful of hair,
that hair will come out without damaging the cavie.
It runs away with nothing more than a bald patch.
Now the colours, can you run us through this huge range
of colours and coat types and all that that's available?
They're basically grouped into six different groupings.
The long hairs, the rough coated varieties,
which are the Abyssinian and the Rex.
Then we move into the selfs.
All the animals in the selfs are the one colour.
Then we have the ticked variety, also known as agouti.
The crested varieties are virtually any of the short hand types
with a crest on the forehead.
The marked varieties are any animal that isn't one self colour,
including the Himalayan, tortoiseshell, rones, that kind of thing.
Now I find myself wanting to marry you and take you home.
So basically they're a tailless rodent.
Yes.
Sort of a fat rat with no tail.
A fat rat with no tail, yes, and a much nicer face.
Why do you keep guinea pigs?
They're cheaper than horses.
Garden design is a very conservative area.
In fact, in the last 100 years there's almost been no new styles of garden.
Well, we're here in Melbourne to look at what is definitely
a very different style of house and garden.
Peter!
Hey!
Hi!
Sorry I damaged your...
Oh, right.
Nice flowers.
Yeah, they're nice. They're all artificial.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
All the marbles, Glorious.
You like my real marble?
Yeah.
Mock on wood.
What, that's fake?
Mm-hmm.
Oh.
Yep. Yep.
All the hydrangeas have got to be real, haven't they?
Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but they're not.
How did you get the wonderful colours?
I know, they're lovely, aren't they?
Yeah.
All the autumn colours. Just sprayed them with spray paints.
Fabric spray paints.
How do you do that?
Let me show you.
All right, so these are the standard ones.
Mm-hmm.
Well, you can see you sprayed that one a bit, but they're the standard ones you're buying.
That's right, yep.
These are straight out of the box.
And then you can spray them with different colours.
I use about four or five.
Rusts, greens.
What's the spray?
And this is a fabric spray paint, which should be available at any craft store, Remy.
What a great idea.
They look wonderful, don't they?
Now, I'm not going to trust anything now.
This is a bit of gold and bronze spray on this one.
And she's just been sprayed all over once again with those fabrics, but with paints.
Gosh, a standard garden statue.
This is the garden statue.
Wonderful.
Brought indoors.
And look at these fake statues of kittens, look.
I painted those last week.
Well, I can guess. It's got to be a fake cactus, hasn't it?
You're right.
Right.
Oh, and an imitation cat, isn't it?
Um, well, not quite. Not quite.
The dog is?
His name's Charlie Fiberglass.
Charlie Fiberglass.
Now, are they fake irises?
Guess.
Real.
They're real?
They're real.
I can't pick these.
No, that's not lettuce.
And that's all?
That's all artificial.
Goodness.
It's all an illusion.
That's wood and I can...
Goodness.
Goodness.
So, Don, this is the swan screen I'm painting at the moment.
Oh, that's beautiful. What sort of paints do you use?
Acrylics.
That's crazy.
All done in acrylic.
Fabulous. Oh, what a wonderful room.
It's lovely, isn't it?
Glass roof and everything. Now, what do I trust here?
You've got painted pots on the wall next to real pots.
Mm-hmm.
That's a fabulous thing.
But you haven't...
There's no actual curtains.
I thought the place needed a curtain.
See, it painted it rather than...
And I know I can't trust...
Yes, I thought so.
So, it's a real strawberry plant, but you've put...
That's right.
Fake strawberries, right?
Surprise strawberries.
I'm not touching anything there. I'm not eating anything on that table.
Is that real?
No, that's all artificial.
It is. That's for later.
And this is my lemon tree.
With oranges on it.
Mm-hmm.
Now, the surprise outside.
Ah.
Goodness, you can see all the way to Tuscany.
Isn't it wonderful? Shall we go for a walk?
It's a good day for a walk, isn't it?
You would swear that was real.
That is incredible. It's wonderful.
But this is old, isn't it?
This is old. It's about a month and a half old, actually.
What, you've painted all that age on?
That's right.
A little bit of sponge and a bit of paint and over we go.
Right. I just bet you're going to tell me the agapanthus.
Well, they're actually real agapanthus, but the flowers aren't.
The flowers are not?
No, the flowers aren't.
Now, all right, so you've got this strange technique of...
It's almost the surreal in the garden.
I mean, do you think it has a lot to offer for Australian gardens?
Um, well, put it this way. You can do anything you want.
Hey, come on, bottom line, what would I pay?
If I had a rotten little pond in the backyard and I went to put that behind it,
what's that going to cost me, two lumps of fibre, I like that?
A couple of thousand.
A couple of grand.
A couple of thousand.
Well, it's cheaper than the pillars, I suppose.
You can create any illusion that you want at all.
After the break, how to make your own hanging basket.
Fennec Aminni, I'm going to wrap you round this clothesline when I finish with you.
Have a look at it, will you? Just have a look at the dock.
Absolutely putrid, second year auto mechanic, I reckon, being underneath the car,
changing the oil, checking other things.
Just filthy.
How are we going to get rid of all this grease and dirt and muck that's on the dock?
We're going to wash it. That's what we're going to do. Wash it.
Well, the range of dog shampoos and washes is incredible.
But I mean, you can start off with something pretty basic
that you could get at the supermarket. Just good old sunlight soap.
And what about these?
A medicated shampoo and one with built-in conditioner.
And this sort of thing you could buy at a pharmacy.
And what about for those that don't have a conditioner?
Well, this is very safe, just a Decor-A brand.
And then the sort of stuff you're going to get from your vet.
Specialised shampoos for treating dogs with skin problems.
And this one, try and sell an excellent product.
But what am I going to use today? On Mini? Zinc O-Medine.
One of the best and most reliable.
Can use it on horses and dogs and it'll clean Mini up.
I know that for a fact. Come on, Min.
Come on, Min. Come on.
Can't avoid this any longer.
Now, why do you wash your dog?
Well, there are many reasons, I guess.
One's just cleanliness and that's Mini's reason.
But perhaps the dog has some sort of skin problem.
You need a specially medicated shampoo for that.
Or maybe you just do it to prevent attack from external parasites.
Fleas and ticks, that sort of thing.
And how often do you do it?
Well, Mini would normally get bathed about once a fortnight, wouldn't you?
In the summer and perhaps once a month in the wintertime.
If you've got a pampered poodle, you might do that sort of dog on a once a week basis.
And farm dogs, well, they might be lucky to get a bath every six months when they jump in the dam.
But for you, with your dog at home, I think in the summertime,
once a fortnight and in the winter, once a month. That'll do.
Now, before you get up around the head region of the dog after you've wet this area here,
a good idea, I think, take a bit of cotton wool,
tease it out and put it in the dog's ears.
If you've been paying attention to me,
you'll know that dogs getting water in their ears constitutes a major problem
and a major source of ear infection.
So you can protect that with a bit of cotton wool.
Now, you can wet around that area.
And then the shampoo. And the easiest way to do it
is to simply pour a line straight down the back of the dog like so.
A bit thick, this stuff.
Particularly good if the dog suffers from any low-grade skin infection,
but a good shampoo anyhow.
And work it up to a good level right down both sides of the dog.
Work it all in. Don't forget to get underneath between those legs as well.
And be careful when you're up around the head area.
Try and avoid those ears.
That's a good girl.
Well, that's got you pretty well soaked up, hasn't it?
Let's get you over to the hose and get you rinsed off.
Come on. Turn on the hose, will you?
Now, it's very important that we get all the soap off Minnie.
So there's absolutely nothing left.
And then we can think about using some sort of flea or tick rinse
or maybe even a conditioner.
But I think conditioners are best, really, for long-haired dogs.
Well, I've just given Minnie a rinse with a suntil
to protect her from fleas and ticks,
and all the other things that are over there drying in the sunshine.
I think this is the best product, but there are others.
Products here with pyrethrin in it.
Two products here contain diazonon,
and three products on my right contain melathion.
All will work for you.
You know, we humans often complain about a dog's life,
but have a look at it, will you?
That's a better life than I've got.
That segment was shot on a warm, sunny day,
but, of course, with winter approaching,
it's a good pay to rinse the dog with warm water.
And also, if you are using a flea rinse,
don't forget that they are poisonous to man.
Wear a pair of rubber gloves while you're doing it.
Now, I promised you earlier in the show
that we would take a look at hanging baskets.
Well, Kay Stammers has some excellent information for you right now.
Whether you've got a house or a unit,
there's always room for a hanging basket or two.
Oh, this could do with a trim.
Hmm, this one's not looking too good either.
I wonder when I last watered it.
I think it's time for a refresher course in hanging baskets.
They do take a lot of maintenance, but they're well worth the effort.
And, of course, you don't have to stick to the old favourites
like ferns and other greenery.
You can use herbs or pot of colour like we're going to do today.
Just a word first about the type of basket.
The common plastic ones with drip trays are practical,
if you're going to use them inside especially,
but they're usually too small to guarantee a really healthy plant.
You need a big basket to fit in as much potting mix as possible.
So the large wire ones are best, especially if you're using them outside.
This is a more expensive one than we normally choose.
It costs about $30, but it's going to look great.
We also picked up some sphagnum moss for around $6 a bag.
That's to line the inside.
Of course, you can also use coconut fibre or bark,
but we chose the moss because it looks good.
Spread it round nice and thickly, firm it down,
and at the end you can damp it down with a bit of water.
Now we'll put some plastic inside this.
I've already punched in a few holes for drainage.
This will help contain the water and stop it drying out so quickly.
Use a good quality potting mix, one that holds moisture but drains well.
Look for the Australian standard logo.
What we're going for today is an instant pretty effect
with a mixture of potted annuals, and don't they look gorgeous?
We've chosen some pansies, snapdragons, lobelia, some ivy,
and seedlings to fill in the gaps.
Just sit the plants on top and arrange them in a way that pleases you.
Then you can top up with a bit more potting mix.
As we said before, the more potting mix, the healthier the plant.
And fill in the gaps with the seedlings.
We've bought some melissum and some English daisy.
They'll look terrific and add lots of extra fullness and colour when they grow.
Finally, a bit of the leftover moss over the top to cover the potting mix.
Doesn't that look fantastic?
And this is going to stay in bloom for a couple of months.
Now the watering, remember that hanging plants need much more watering
than ordinary pots because the air circulating around them dries them out.
The golden rule is overwater rather than underwater in this case.
Now this constant watering will wash away the nutrients,
so you must fertilise regularly.
Nine month osmocote or nutricote once a year in spring,
and boosts of a liquid fertiliser like nitrosol every couple of months.
Now just a couple of hints, nip off any dead flower heads from your annuals
to prolong their life.
And if a climber or trailer grows too vigorously,
you can trim that to thicken it up.
Finally, don't hang your basket too high, you want to enjoy the view.
These are Muscogee ducks.
Now the drakes really can't fly very much and there's no worry,
but when you've got young ducks, when they get to just their first stage of maturity,
they will fly away with the idea of going to nest.
And if you don't trim their wing when they fly away, of course a fox will eat them.
So the shot is to grab them, trim one wing, and then they'll settle down in your yard
and hopefully not fly away.
So Rory, if you wouldn't mind holding this duck, I know you're trying to give them up,
I'll do the job.
Now all you do, only trim one wing by the way, and this doesn't hurt the bird at all,
it's purely a way of getting the bird to adjust to your own backyard.
You're well clear of the bone here, just enough so that the bird can't fly easily.
And we can now let her go.
And she's now going to settle down and live here.
Coming up next, you'll discover what animal lives inside this.
Music
In my opinion, the oleander is the hardiest single shrub for most areas of Australia.
But there's one fascinating area of the oleander that most people are unaware of.
Oleanders like this lovely pink one seem to be going out of fashion a little bit these days,
and they've always been favorites of mine, not just for the flowers,
but for a certain butterfly that might also go out of fashion if we ever stop growing oleanders.
Insects are a little bit like people.
When you get to know them, the plainest ones sometimes turn out to be the most interesting.
Take this common crow butterfly.
For a butterfly, it's no great beauty, but it makes up for that in two quite remarkable ways.
We'll have a look at them a little later.
Where oleanders come into it is that the common crow butterfly has adopted these garden shrubs as a larval food plant.
This egg was laid on a flower bud.
The caterpillar itself is easy to recognize.
Here's a big one feeding on a leaf.
And if your first thought when you find one of these is to get out the spray can, don't, for two reasons.
Firstly, you won't find a whole lot of these caterpillars defoliating your tree,
and secondly, you might see something quite spectacular later if you keep an eye on your early andabush.
Even Jim Frazier's camera can't really do justice to the common crow pupa because the metallic surface acts like a mirror.
It reflects whatever's close by, usually green leaves.
It can even reflect the photographer.
That's me inside trying to get out.
And there's my finger just to show it's an illusion.
You can even reflect the name of this program with a bit of fiddling about.
So much for that spectacular pupa, but what happens to the gold when the butterfly comes out?
Well, shortly before the emergence, the inner layer of the pupal skin, the reflective layer, is dissolved away.
All you see then is the fine, transparent outer skin that splits open to set the butterfly free.
But the butterfly, if it's a male, now goes for gold in another way.
If I were to be born again as a butterfly, I think I'd choose to be a common crow female.
Imagine a courtship in which your suitor showers you with gold dust, centered with the most heady perfume imaginable.
That's what happens when a male common crow goes courting.
Those golden feather dusters are known as hair pencils, and only the male butterfly has them.
While he hovers above the female, he uses the hair pencils to dust the female with his own special sex scent or pheromone.
It's actually tiny particles of the golden hair that carry the perfume down to her.
How could any female resist a romantic approach like that?
Oleander leaves are known to be poisonous, so you might wonder how the caterpillars that feed on them can survive.
Well, actually, the poison in the leaves helps them to survive because it makes them unpalatable to insect-eating birds.
One experience with an upset stomach can put a young bird off its grub for life. That particular kind of grub, anyway.
Are you wondering how those insects get that metallic mirror-like look on the pupil case?
In fact, there's no metal there at all. It's an optical illusion.
We don't know exactly what it's caused by, but it's possibly caused by fine crystals of a chemical called guanine,
which is one of the things that forms DNA, with a basic black color underneath, and it creates the optical illusion of a mirror.
Well, the builders have finished. They've put in the new driveway, hand of course left a bit of mess and so on.
But the people who own this area want to put in sort of an English cottage-style garden in here.
Now, as a bonus to doing all this, we've dug up a few rocks, so they look rather nice.
But we've got a budget of around about $800. Well, yes, we can do it for that,
but the first thing we've got to do is bring in a bit of soil, because all that we've got here is the clay subsoil dug up in the process of making the drive.
It's amazing in the course of building just how much rubble accumulates around an area,
and it's very important before you do anything else to rake up and remove all of that rubble.
The next thing is we're bringing in soil. You can't put too much soil around the base of a tree or you'll kill it,
but we've brought in about five tonnes of soil for this area,
and of course we're having it deposited in three different piles so that the spreading is not too difficult.
By the way, always put it uphill where you want it eventually to finish up.
Then it's not too difficult to start shoveling the soil and sculpting it in the various areas around the rocks and the trees.
The tree in the centre here is a Eucalyptus scaparia or a Wallangara white gum. Fabulous thing for a centrepiece.
Now what we've done is to sculpt the soil around here to make it look interesting, and I think it does,
but also of course this is fairly steeply sloping, and the sculpted soil tends to inhibit erosion.
Lastly, sweep off your rocks.
Well, we've placed most of the plants in position in their pots and we're having a bit of a look.
Around the rocks it's always interesting to put reed in things like this. They just sort of look natural.
No matter now of standing back and having a bit of a look.
Yeah, that looks pretty good to me. We've colour coordinated all the plants. I think it's now time to shove them in the ground.
When you're putting the plants in the ground, particularly in a situation like this,
where the ground's been compacted by builders and their equipment, very important to dig a large hole and loosen the soil up.
Well, we're now ready to put in our centrepiece of the whole display. It's a red variety of Japanese maple.
Now, it's worth around the $100 mark, but really something nice like that will always just add that touch of class to what we've got here.
Let's hope it's going to come out of its pot easily.
This of course is a Desectum variety. Beautiful things, Desectum maple.
They're better in the cooler areas of Australia than the tropics.
Now, we've got to get this facing high. In fact, I think that's all right. That's fine.
So it's just a matter of getting it nice and upright and filling the hole. The next thing to do is to mulch.
Well, that's the job completed. We've used eucalyptus mulch to cover the soil.
And I think you'd agree that the whole effect looks reasonably good.
Now, be warned. Cottage gardens are lovely, but they're high maintenance, probably one of the highest maintenance of all types.
Many of these plants will live for one to three years. They require pruning through that time, and then you would have to replace them.
Now, we've come in on budget. You do all of this for $800. It would take two people about two days to do all of this work.
Now, I also mentioned that we were colour coordinator. What have we done?
Well, it's very simple. We've mixed purple, pink, blue and white flowering plants.
And the white is important because it complements the exquisite trunk of the white gum tree.
Now, if you're interested in doing this for yourself, your own home, when you write in for the fact sheet, there's two different lists of plants,
one for the warmer areas of Australia and one for the cooler areas.
So you can create this sort of effect almost anywhere in the country. So why not write in for the fact sheet?
Oh, by the way, I should mention a lot of the plants in here do last for many, many years, the basic framework.
And lastly, why would you bother to do all this? Well, to be quite honest, apart from the pleasure of having a garden that looks like this,
the sheer joy when the job is done of standing around here with a hose and watering it in makes it all worthwhile.
After the break, former politician Janine Haynes.
So do you sit around all day now pining with nothing to do?
Oh, absolutely. I'll sit here and I'll look at this screen and I'll just weep for what was really.
What is your life today?
Well, it's very busy and very enjoyable. I think the best thing is that I've got the chance to say no.
If I don't want to do something now, I can say no, I don't want to do it or I can't do it.
But I still fit in 50 speaking engagements a year.
Alan and Anwar have finally lent on me hard enough for me to agree to write a book not about myself, but about women in politics, mostly in Australia.
I'm doing some research work on palliative care for Flinders University.
These photos on the wall, do they evoke nice memories of politics?
What's your reaction to all these cartoons? I mean, were they biting, cutting? Did you get hurt?
No, no, I don't think you can afford to be very sensitive in politics really. I mean, it's a bit silly.
I enjoy them. I enjoy cartoons about other people. Why should I be hypocritical and object when they write one about me?
I thought that one was lovely showing after I'd become leader, sort of following the disintegration of our Don Chip, which was really beaut.
That's all new as a consequence of me being exceedingly bored by succulents taking the place over.
Let's see if you know your plants. What are a few of those?
That's acroia.
Right.
Very young. The Mexican orange blossom is the choice here. That's white, of course.
And the Erica behind it doesn't like the lime soil we have here, so I top it up with hydrangea blue and I hope, you know, I keep my fingers crossed that it will grow.
A little bit open here?
Yes, we had a big jacaranda where the Nandina is, and it was being a worry for the neighbours.
And we've got fabulous neighbours on both sides of us here and you like to maintain good relations.
So we took it out a couple of years ago, but it's only been within the last six months that I've had a chance to dig it all out. That used to be lawn through there.
It's a rather pretty gum tree too.
It is nice. The colours in the trunk are beautiful. It peels, obviously. You can see that.
But people say to me, why don't I get rid of the dead branches?
But particularly against a winter sky, I think the dead branches, even on a gum tree, are just as good to look at as a full deciduous tree.
The only things we kill here are redbacks, but that's obviously not. I don't know what it is, but it's not a redback, so we leave it alone.
I think it's a golden olive weaver. It's lovely though, isn't it?
It's beautiful. It's got, well obviously, the gold on the web. It's really beautiful.
It's been here for weeks and weeks and I just hope that the birds that we get around here don't get it.
It's a pet. We come out and say hello and shake it to see if it'll move every so often. It does, but it's not in the mood for it today.
Well, the rest of the garden here looks rather nice.
Well, we've tried to do as much as we can to be sort of environmentally aware.
The house faces west, so the pool is quite useful. We get a lot of westerly breezes. It helps to cool it down.
The begola keeps most of the inside of that area in shade during the day.
And with the plants around there, which we water with an overhead sprinkler system, which...
That's a great idea.
Well, it's good for a number of reasons. Of course, it waters the plants, except when I periodically shift them out of range, which drives my husband batty.
But it also provides, particularly in the summer, which is when you use the mist most, that extra evaporative effect to keep the inside of the house cool.
But it's basically pretty sheltered here.
You've become very house proud, I can see that.
Well, it's more garden proud. I don't take too kindly to housework. Never have, but...
You can see something for it in the garden. You can never see something for housework.
Somebody comes in the house and messes it up straight away, whereas it's in the garden. Keep them off with a shotgun, really.
After the break, one of the most unusual backyards you'll ever see.
In the past, Jim Pike has discovered some truly fascinating Australians, and tonight's couple are no exception.
One of the things you need to keep any garden happy and thriving is a decent supply of water.
And this garden certainly got that, and a picturesque one as well. Bit of Australiana thrown in too.
But the main feature that makes it really appealing depends on another liquid altogether.
There's so many backyards with waterfalls in them. Laurie, what prompted you to build that?
Yeah, well, we built this in commemoration of my mother and father and Helen's mother.
It was opened by Helen's father, which now he's gone to meet them.
But however, the whole structure was built to house the cairns.
The cairns?
Yes, my hobby is collecting cairns. And in here we have about 12,500.
It was a matter of getting them out of the house, out of the garage, and down here.
Let's have a look at the cairns then.
Well Jim, this is it. This is where part of the 12,500 cairns that we've got.
This is pretty impressive.
As you can see, the reason I had to move them out of the house and out of the garage, down into this area,
over here is what we call the visitor's wall, where people sign their names and so on.
Oh, instead of a book, you sign the cairns.
They sign the cairns. And of course we've got the oldest lady that ever visited the cave, which is Nana Kimberie.
This is of course some people over the road, Mrs. James's grandmother.
And we've got the Lest We Forget sign here. That was done by the son-in-law.
It was hung up out in front of the waterfall on Remembrance Days and Anzac Day.
This is only one part of the cave. We can go through here and just another part.
Oh, after you.
Now in here, Jim, we have what we call the big can.
Just watch your head as you're coming through. Like all caves, you've got to keep well down.
Well, this big can, we have got 22 cairns high and there's 115 cairns in each rung.
So if you like to multiply and work out how many cairns there is.
Now these cairns that we've got over here, on this main wall,
they were given to me by the sister, brother-in-law and their two friends when they went over to England.
That's a spectacular, was it, chandelier?
Well, we call that a chandelier, Jim. One of the few about, right?
Hey, you've got to drink the broth to get the beer.
Hey, you've got to drink the broth to get the beer.
Jim, what we've got out here now, we call it the garden cave.
And when did you start building this?
We started building about 1983 actually. We started building the main structure ready for the opening of that waterfall on the 13th of May 1984.
Where do you get all the cans from? From fellow collectors or people just drop them around?
Yeah, from fellow collectors, Jim, but also people drop them. Sometimes we get them dropped under the front door.
People that have been here before, seen them and so on and think that they've got a can that we may not have.
Well, it's a pretty impressive collection of cans, but you're like the only collector in the family, Helen, I believe.
You've got a fair size collection of cacti, is it?
Yes, I have. I suppose I have about three to three and a half hundred.
Been collecting them long?
About eight years.
What do you call this part of the garden here?
This one here, Jim, we call this the Bicentennial Park.
And of course it's got its name because it started all off in 1988 on the 26th of January for the big bicentenary.
And of course as the cans show there, 1788 to 1988, 200 years.
Well, all this business with the cans has made me a bit thirsty. I wouldn't say that of a little drink.
Well, plenty of tea and coffee.
Tea and coffee, huh? Tea and coffee. Fine.
A couple of months ago we looked at establishing a cool climate lawn from seed.
Now if you remember the segment, this is how the lawn looked before we began.
Well, we went back last week and this is how it looks now. I think you'd agree that's pretty magnificent.
The seed we used again was from jet turf and it was called Mowless.
Now would you like more information on Tullandsias or indeed anything else from tonight's program?
Well, if you would, why not write in for a fact sheet?
Simply mark on the back of your envelope the segment you're interested in and address it to Berks Backyard, PO Box 929, Willoughby, NSW 2068.
And don't forget to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
On next week's program we'll be looking at the very best varieties of fragrant roses.
We'll also be road testing the foreign white cat and our celebrity gardeners are the Four Kinsmen.
Next week on Berks Backyard, come and see us, the Four Kinsmen and some of our fabulous greenery.
Well, maybe not that one.
Oh, yeah.
Now also don't forget that this Sunday is Red Shield Appeal Day for the Salvation Army, so give generously.
Hope you've enjoyed the show. See you all again next week.
Hurrah.
Music
Channel 9 for adults only, a powerful drama of scandal, romance and mystery. Harry King, Valerie Bertinelli and Barry Bostwick star in Judith Krantz, I'll Take Manhattan.
Tuesday night, Channel 9 brings you the adult drama of Chances with a tormented father, a tragic mistake and a world that is falling apart.
Chances, Tuesday at 8.30.
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Berks Backyard was proudly brought to you by Mitre 10.
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