Plants

Perth's public botanic gardens are a riot of colourful, climate-tolerant flora, the product of a year's planning and detailed scientific work to source plants from across the state.

Tree pollen season is already triggering hay fever in the national capital, and the start of grass pollen season could be just weeks away, according to experts.

Brandan Espe goes to great lengths — and occasionally puts his life at risk — to collect rare plants due to their environmental importance.

While cancer doesn't affect plants like it does us, it can have costly implications for farmers and other growers.

Some of our favourite indoor plants are tropical, so cold weather and heating can make their lives harder.

What do you do when the traditional turf lawn isn't quite cutting it anymore? Rip it out and start again — this time with something other than lush green lines in mind.

The typical Australian lawn is under threat but, as Grand Designs Transformations host Anthony Burke argues, that's actually a good thing.

Caretakers of a Hobart war memorial are looking beyond aesthetics in their management practices to preserve species that may have otherwise died out.

Suppliers of garden plants to Australia's biggest hardware chain are reporting treatment from the company allegedly so severe that the resulting stress on nursery owners has broken up marriages and left some feeling like "slaves" and "serfs".

The filtered limestone environment of the Ewens Ponds provides the perfect condition for plants that don't usually grow fully submerged in water. This is one of the sinkhole's many unique aspects.

Bunnings' monopoly over the gardening sector has prompted calls for the retail giant to face the same scrutiny as Australia's two major supermarkets. 

Pacific Island nations are preparing to stake their claim to naming rights for kava, as demand for the product grows outside the region.

Researchers say pollen is becoming more potent, and seasons longer, as the climate changes. Hay fever sufferers, brace yourselves. 

The border collie is one of a precious few canny canines whose elite sense of smell can pinpoint a single specimen of the smothering, scrambling Chinese violet across a large area with minimal impact on the environment.

An amateur photographer has been looking across two states for almost a decade for a small orchid resembling a flying duck. Then a tip from a friend finally ended his long search.

Indigenous horticulturalists have taken 21 cuttings of the first known purple Banksia spinulosa. But it remains to be seen whether they will flower, and what colour the petals will be.

Seed banks say they need more government funding to plant native orchards to ever hope to reach regeneration targets.

Environmental groups are calling on VicForests to abandon logging plans in the state's alpine region after endangered native plants were found near the earmarked sites.

The south of the state is shimmering with a golden flowering plant — but biologists say it's a very attractive pest.

Queensland scientists say artificial intelligence can play a role in feeding the world by helping farmers produce more sustainable and profitable plants.