8 Brilliant Ways To Grow Flowers In The Garden | Great Home Ideas

With the weather warming up, spring is the perfect time to get out in the garden and start planting. This is where I'm going to be working today. These are my brand new veggie patches. But like all veggie patches, as the harvest comes and goes, there's going to be times when they're not looking their best. So I'm going to be building a brand new feature bed in the middle that I'm going to pack with loads of flowers. Now this is going to give me year-round interest and bring in beneficial insects for my veggies. I'm just measuring up for my new garden beds. Now I'm going to make them 1.2 by 1.2 meters. And that's because I'm using hardwood sleepers that come in a 2.4 meter length. So by making them half of that, there's a lot less wastage. But really, for your garden, it could be any shape or size that suits. So now I'll just go check here. Now I know I said I was going to do these at 1.2, but I've actually taken 75 mil off the measurement. And that's because as the sleeper comes in, I've allowed for the thickness of the next sleeper to sit next to it. So the external dimensions are 1.2. And that's all our bits cut. Now it's really important to get your set out spot on. So I'm going to run a string line between my beds and measure off that. That way, it's going to look nice and square and even between my existing beds. With our sleepers set up perfectly on our string line and our garden bed and nice and level, it's time to screw them together. But this is a bit of a process because we're using hardwood. So first of all, I'm going to countersink in here. Then I'm going to change bits and do a pilot hole all the way through into our second sleeper. I'm going to use a 125 mil bugle and drive that all the way through. So we get lots of purchase and this isn't going anywhere. And that gives us a really nice base to build up from. So for your next layout, it's pretty much drill and repeat. But what you want to do is as you place your sleepers on top, you want to make sure you overlap your corners because that gives you extra rigidity. And the last piece on, all it is now is to drill it all together and repeat. To tie all our sleepers together, I'm just popping a post in each corner, which I'll screw in to hold this all together. And this will stop all our sleepers from moving around. So that's all our screwing done finally. Now, before we put soil into this bed, I'm actually going to line it with some core flue. So these are hardwood sleepers. They'll last outside, they'll look lovely in silver, but I want to protect them so they last a little bit longer. So just some core flue cut will do the trick. I'm using RichGrow's new Black Marble potting mix. Now this has got an Australian standard red tick, which means it's got all good quality ingredients. It's got the right amount of nutrients and the right amount of pH. It's also Australian made. It's really important when you fill up your garden bed not to use garden soil. You need potting mix because you need it to be free draining. And with that done, we're just going to finish it off with a lovely capping piece, which goes all the way around to match in like these ones. And that turns these raised planters into nice seats as well. And that's the construction done, which means we can get on to the fun part, which is the plants. And look at this great array of colour we've got. Now, I'm going to be putting in some lavender. This is amazing at attracting bees, so it's going to be great near the veggie patch. I also thought a nice colour to tie in is these lovely African daisies. Now, these can take pounding heat and they're just going to flow over the edge of the garden bed to really soften it and make it look nice. Now, as a companion plant, I'm just going to plant these little nasturtiums. I'm going to plant those around the edge as well, because they're going to spill over. And actually, these attract pests, so they keep them off my veggies. Then just for a bit of colour, I've got some snapdragons and these lovely ranunculus. Now, all these plants need quite a lot of feed, which is why this potting mix is really good, because it's high in iron and potash and it's got a controlled release fertiliser, which means it's going to be kept fed for up to six months. Right, where are you going to go? Keeping your flower bed watered is so important, especially when you've got as many flowers as we do in here. But this black marble potting mix is great, thank you, mate, because it's got a soil wetter in it, which means all the water is going to get to the roots and they're not going to dry out. Also, because it's got the controlled release fertiliser, heat and moisture activate the release of nutrients, so it keeps your plants fed as well. Now, say you didn't have the space for a raised bed, you could just do this in a nice big pot. But before you put your potting mix in, you want to put a layer of aggregate down and some geotextile. That's going to stop the holes from blocking up and give you optimal drainage. Whether it's building a raised garden bed or revitalising what you've already got, you can add some more colour to your patch and get started on your spring garden this weekend. A cutting garden is just a spot where you allocate space just to grow flowers. Now, it might be to cut and put into a posy or to fill the house and all the vases with some cheery colour. Now, I've allocated six of my garden beds here in the veggie plot to growing flowers, but I've still got plenty of cucumbers growing up, vines and tomatoes and herbs. But the flowers have just been so exciting. I haven't grown zinnias for years. I sowed these from seed. Look at them, they're just going nuts. So successful, I've sowed another batch of seed and they're already starting to come up, bud up and just starting to open. So I will have flowers for months. But I must admit, I've had the greatest success this year with growing dahlias. Dahlias have got to be one of the best perennial cut flowers you're going to ever grow. They're so reliable. Now, they can be grown pretty much all year round depending on where you live in Australia, especially from seed. So if you have a look at the seed at your local garden centre, you'll see that depending on where you live, you might be able to sow the seeds now. You can also buy seedlings at your local garden centre. And I've noticed you can get these all year round as well. But they're little short, squat little fellows, perfect for the garden. But if you want these big show dahlias, you'll need to go mail order. And now's the time to get those catalogues, get online and get them posted to you because by the time they arrive, you can pop them in. This is what you'll get, a whole heap of tubers. Now this is a potato, but it's also a tuber actually, it's a type of bulb. But you must have these little eyes. If there are no eyes, you don't get any plants. Now when they have eyes, this is what they do, they grow like the dickens. When they're this sort of height, you should actually prune them back. So get your secateurs and cut them in half because that develops two stems. If you pinch those back, you end up with four and you end up with flowers like behind me here and lots more to come. There are lots of different flower types. For example, this they call a cactus variety because it's sort of a spiky flower. It's a beautiful white. Then there's this fellow here, which is a lovely soft colour. This is Anne's Delight, white with this beautiful soft lavender around the outside and lots of buds to come. It's a little bit later than the others. Clarithura is this beautiful plant here, a really big flower, can get even bigger. And the more you cut, the more you get. But notice the strength of the stem. These are excellent for cutting. And this fellow here is called Gange. It's a beautiful, formal, rounded shape, also producing lots of flowers. Again, the more you cut, the more you get. Have a look at this colour. This is Black Nugget. I think it's probably one of the darkest you could get. A beautiful, deep, ruby red. Not as many flowers yet, so I'll see just how it goes. But gee, you wouldn't need too many of those in a vase anyway. There's one thing about dahlias, is that they're very brittle. The stems grow really well and strong. But if they're exposed to wind, they just snap off and you lose the whole top of the plant. And you've got to protect them all the way up. So as they grew, I crisscrossed and you can see the cabling all the way through there. But then on the outside, to hold the plants up gently, I've used this jute webbing. Remember, you don't want to crowd them in, so don't pull them in too tightly, because that creates high humidity and you end up with diseases. Well, there you go. The cutting garden is back, and dahlias must be number one on the list. Seeds, seedlings, or have a look at the catalogues, because now's the time to order all your tubers of these beautiful varieties. You know the old saying, roses are red, violets are blue. When it smells this good, you should grow them too. Well, no, I don't actually think that is a saying, and I don't think anyone has ever said it. But there we go. I'm here at Sydney's Flemington Flower Markets, where they have some of the finest roses in the country. And there are plenty of varieties you can be growing at home with great success too. Michael, good morning. Charlie, good morning. How are you? This is absolutely spectacular. It's like walking amongst a field of jewels. Thank you. It's great. These are your roses, I believe. Yes. Well, these are Glasshouse grown varieties. We've got our Pink Cottage here, which has got a great perfume. They open up like a really fluffy looking rose. These are your White Avalanche. Yes. If you don't have a climate controlled sort of setup, which most home gardeners don't, how do you grow such beautiful roses like this? Because you probably could without that, just not all year round, right? So obviously, through winter, they're going to go dormant. A lot of people will prune their roses back to bare trunk. And as spring's coming now, they'll start shooting. Normally, we always say October, your roses will start coming out. And what kind of soil do you give them? Look, you want a good soil, but also drainage too. You don't want the water just to sit there, otherwise they're going to root rot. Look, as long as they get their nutrients, you know, all your iron, your potassium, all that kind of stuff, they want the nutrients. That's what basically a rose wants. Well, they look absolutely spectacular. Thank you. You're going to send me broke though, because I can't go home without a bunch of roses for my wife. I'm sure we can help you out, Charlie. You're in the right place, mate. We can easily help you out. Good stuff. Not all of us get to go out to the flower markets and bring home a lovely bundle of blooms, so why not grow your own at home? Now, the homeowners have had a bit of a crack at this bed, but let's be honest, it's not doing very well. They've transplanted some clivias, but it's far too hot for them, so they're just not growing. Flowers though, they love a bit of sun, so this is the perfect bed for roses and some other blooms. The first thing I'll do though is clear it all out. Before you plant anything, it's really important to get rid of the weeds out of the garden bed, because they're just going to be competition for your flowers. Now, flowers like a lot of sun. That's what produces the blooms, but they like free-draining soil as well. Now, I know this spot is going to be really well free-draining, because it drops off here. The soil, however, is a little bit powdery. It's always good when you get the chance to improve the soil if you can. You could use compost, any organic matter. I'm just using some well-rotted manure that we'll sprinkle through and dig through before we get on to planting. With the layout of this garden bed, I started with the gardenias, and I've snaked them through the bed to give us a bit of a wave. What that's done is created pockets for planting extra florals. In the back and the front, actually, we've got different coloured roses. Then in the front, we've got things like bacopa, which is going to spill over the wall to soften it. Now, these plants like similar conditions. They like a bit of sun, because that's going to promote the flowers, and they like it free-draining, which they're obviously getting from the wall. They're going to grow really well together. The only thing they'll need is a lot of food. Roses are quite well-suited to so many parts of Australia, all apart from the top band in the far north, Queensland sort of area. I've actually selected iceberg roses, because we're here in Sydney, and the one thing roses don't like is humidity, whereas the iceberg can handle a bit of humidity. It's going to get a little bit taller, so it's going to stand proud of the gardenias, and it's probably the most pest and disease-resistant variety of rose you can be growing. Now, roses and gardenias love lots and lots of food, so you need to give them a very specific fertiliser. I've gone for Rich Grow Black Marble Rose and Flower Food. Now, this is high in iron, which gives lovely glossy green leaves, but also helps the roots. It's got lots of potash, which will make your flowers bigger. It's also got trace elements in it, so it takes care of all the other little bits and pieces that your plant needs. Now, I'm applying this in early spring. I'll do it again in spring and twice in summer, twice in autumn, but you don't need to fertilise in winter. Now, I have noticed that the gardenias have got a slightly yellow leaf, so I'm going to give those a liquid version of this food, because it works a lot quicker than the granular. Your new plants are going to need watering in whilst they establish. Once your roses are established in a couple of seasons, they'll be incredibly drought-tolerant, but when you are watering them, make sure you keep it towards the base of the plant and keep the leaves dry and water in the morning. That way, you're going to combat any humidity problems. Now, the fertiliser we used, the Rich Grow Black Marble, that has a wetting agent in it, which will combat hydrophobic soils, but it's also good to put into the soil to make sure the water goes in nice and evenly. In a couple of seasons, you're not going to have to wake up at four in the morning to get to the flower markets. You're going to be able to come out and enjoy them in your own garden. Oh, wow. Can you feel it? A beautiful warm breeze is coming through the air. Yep, spring has finally arrived, and that means a little bell rings. Yep, it's time to spruce up your garden for a whole new season ahead. I'm in the Anglicare Retirement Village in the northern suburbs of Sydney, and these beautiful gardens here are an essential part of the lifestyle of the residents. Now, I think we can find a little spot that we can really brighten up and introduce some fantastic spring colour. Lottie, you're the gardener. It must be a fantastic opportunity to meet the locals and introduce them to the garden. Yes, absolutely, and now with spring coming, it's so beautiful to have some more colour in the garden. What do the people think about the garden? They absolutely love their garden. This is their home. This is where they are every day, so yeah, very important. Now, we've selected a little spot here. It's nice and sunny. Do you think we've chosen the right spot? Absolutely. This is a very in-focus spot. The community hall is right here, and they come here all the time. There's quite a lot of area there. I've got to do some planting. Yes. Would you mind if I shoot off and get some plants and bring them back? Okay, yes, thank you. Thank you, Lottie. Be back soon. Bye. You know, when you arrive at your local nursery or garden centre, it can be a bit overwhelming. You look at all the different options that you've got, so have a look at the colour, yes, and mix and match those colours for your garden, but have a look at the foliage. Have a look at the textures of those. Have a look maybe at perfume as well as colour. All the plants are just a little bit different, and then of course you've got the option of annuals and perennials. Now, the annuals you can buy really cheaply, like these beautiful violas, and then you've got the perennials. These are the plants that last for years in the garden or in a hanging basket, like this Bellus perennis, the English daisy. Aren't they beautiful? And you can do the same thing in a garden or in a These are fairly new varieties over the last couple of years, but the excitement is with those, they're going to last maybe two, three or four years. Now, I'd better get planting, but I might just take this one with me. Just the thing I'm looking for. Well, will you look at the colour? Isn't it fantastic? But before you start planting, you've really got to get the soil right. Now, we've had one of the wettest years on record, so a lot of the nutrients and the plant foods, if you like, that were in the soil, they've been washed away. So getting the soil prepared is our first task. I just need some of my mates to give me a hand. Oh, here they come. Well done. Well done, team. Fantastic. So you can get all this stuff at your local hardware, the garden centre, and it's basically really enriched soil. The team are planting the taller daisies in the centre. Daisies are an interesting term. It's just a loose term related to anything that's got a daisy-like flower. Now, many of these come from right around the world, but interestingly, these tall ones that Josie's planting there actually were bred here in Australia, so they call them Federation Daisies. But we do have, and these little fellows here, will you look at those colours? Aren't they fantastic? This is Brachycombe. This is an Australian native daisy. So I'm going to plant these just behind the bigger daisies in little groups. Just tear up the roots there if it's getting a little bit tight, and then pop it into the ground. Oh, look at that. And across the front here, I'm just planting some beautiful polyanthus. They're actually part of the Primula family, and these dark blue ones with a little red eye, aren't they beautiful? So dark blue in this little clump just here, there. Just look at these frilly petals. I've not seen these before, and of course, all of these beautiful daisies and flowers, fantastic colour for spring, and the bees are going to love it. Aren't the team doing a fantastic job? Look at this colour. It's just brilliant. Look, I've grown cinerarias all my life, and I didn't think you could improve on them, but they have great colour range, more compact, more flowers, and when you look at the stems, more branching, so you get a lower, more compact plant, and the colours, well, they're just brilliant. Have a look for cineti at your local garden centre or nursery. You'll love them. Well, we're not quite finished, but we're certainly getting there. Remember I mentioned earlier with the perennials and the annuals back at the nursery? So the perennials, like the kangaroo paw, the daisies, and the bulbs, they're going to last for years. The annuals are giving us this instant colour, and they'll last for another three, four, or five months, depending on the weather. It's looking good, and most importantly, I hope the residents love it. Now Lottie tells me you're her garden helper, so this is pretty much your area. Yes. So what do you think of this new garden? It's amazing. Marvelous. Wonderful. We're so thrilled. What about the colours? They're very modern, strong colours. Do they suit you ladies? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think they're lovely. The daisies at the back, and I love the relunculus, and these hanging baskets look fabulous. The baskets are. Yeah. You can't beat flowers. From all of us, just enjoy. We will. We will. Thank you, Graeme. Thank you. Let's take a look at these bulbs. They are super stunning. Have you ever been to a place that has resonated with you so much that after you've left, you just know you have to come back? Well, the seasons have changed, but I'm back here at Truitt's Bulbs in the Dandenong Ranges, which is about an hour outside of Melbourne, to see thousands and thousands of hippie-astrums, or hippies as they're affectionately called, in full bloom. So let's meet the man behind these beautiful bulbs. Isn't this typical Melbourne weather? The sun's out now. Hey, good to see you, Tim. How are you going? Yeah, good. I'm amazed by these hippie-astrums. How many bulbs have you got here? A little over 60,000 are in this planting. Gosh, that's amazing. And a bit of an old-fashioned flower that I think is making a comeback. Definitely. They're kind of like a lot of things. They go in and out of popularity, but hippie-astrums, they're just so easy to grow, people are starting to realise they're really good value for money. These are all new releases that haven't been in the country before. They're actually bred to handle colder temperatures, and most of them are rated down to minus eight. So if you get those harsh frosts, you can still grow these in the garden, whereas previously, a little bit harder to grow them. I have to say I'm a little bit in love with this white one here. One of my personal favourites is this hippie-astrum alfresco. One of the really unique things about this hippie-astrum is its fragrance. Not many hippie-astrums are known for their fragrance. It has a lovely, subtle scent, and on a centrepiece in the table for Christmas, just really, it's a superb talking feature. Yeah, that's amazing. It's definitely not a trait I think of when it comes to hippie-astrums, but I'm looking forward to seeing what else you've got to show me. Cool. Let's have a look. Let's go. Now that isn't a colour I would normally associate with a hippie-astrum. No, definitely not. It's really unique. It's new breeding again. This is lemon sorbet, which I think is really aptly named. What a great name. I love it. And just a single, pure, beautiful flower. Definitely. Traditional trumpet style. One of the classics. And tell me, when you've got a bed like this, would you leave those bulbs in the ground or would you lift them? We wouldn't lift them every year, but in the garden, like honestly, 20 years, 30 years, they just multiply and multiply, and they continue to flower freely with little effort and little care. Amazing. Not having to lift them, that just makes them easier to grow. Yep. Now this is one of my favourite varieties. Check this out. This little beauty is called Merry Christmas, and you can see it's got big, bold red blooms, and the flowers can get almost the size of a dinner plate. I think it's aptly named because you get the bulbs in the ground in early spring, and they flower just in time for Christmas. So they're not all massive. This little beauty is amazing. Yeah, this is a Hippiostrum juniper. It's actually part of the Sonatini type of Hippiostrums, or the class of Hippiostrums. Smaller flowers. They have quite a lot of them normally. It's unique in that it's a very starry or spidery type flower, but it can also repeat bloom throughout the year. So instead of just that one flowering around Christmas, it can throw flowers whenever it feels like it. That's amazing. All right. Well, you've inspired me. You know I love my pot growing, so I think I'm going to take some of these Hippiostrums and create a beautiful display. Awesome. Hippiostrums like full sun, or you could get away with part shade, and they look fantastic in containers. Now normally, if I was telling you to plant a bulb, I'd probably say to plant it about twice as deep as it is wide, but Hippiostrums are a little bit different. They like to have their neck poking above the soil. I'm actually planting that variety that's called Alfresco. Remember the double white-flowered one with that beautiful fragrance? Well, that'll look just beautiful poking up at the centre there. Now the other tip I've got for you is to make sure that you use a succulent and cacti mix, so something that's a little bit more open, free-draining. The hippies will love that. And I like to combine my Hippiostrums with some of those annuals or perennials, the flowers that will bloom at the same time. So I'm planting some petunias here. They'll bloom through the warmer months, and I'll put a little bit of Silverleaf Cineraria in there just to provide that beautiful contrast. Or you could do a red-hot combination and use one of the scarlet-coloured Hippiostrums at the centre and surround it with gorgeous chillies. So in a matter of months, that freshly planted bulb will look something like this. And remember, with Hippiostrums, a lot of those bulbs are quite big, so they like their food. So keep up that fertiliser for a beautiful display. Well, today's been all about hippies, but look at these beauties. It has. This is one of my favourites. You can't go past the Dahlia Cafe au Lait with its massive blooms. That is incredible. I tell you what, you're pretty good at leaving us wanting more. I think we might have to come back. So thank you so much for having us. Thank you for coming. You're always welcome. Brilliant. Roses would have to be the most popular flower in the world, and they have been for centuries. And when you look around and see this, it's easy to see why. You know, and now is the perfect time to give them some love and attention. Now, if you've never grown roses before, let's see if we can find one that'll suit your place perfectly. I love coming to this place because you can virtually see all the different types of roses that you can choose from. For example, if you want a hedge and you want flowers, then you couldn't beat the flower carpet rose. And now you've got all these different colours. There's apricot, there's yellow, and the original red one is just over there. But maybe you like to grow a rose because it's got a single beautiful flower that you can cut and put into a vase. Or maybe you want a whole bunch of flowers in one cut. They're called Or maybe it's to grow over an arbor, an archer or pergola. Look, all of those different varieties of roses you can choose from. But let's find the gardener who looks after all these roses. He's somewhere here. Champion, how are you? G'day Graeme, how are you? I'm well, Adam, yourself? Oh, very good. Always good. These are looking fantastic. Oh, thank you. It's been a good start to the season, definitely. It has been, hasn't it? You know, they're sort of liking the drier conditions. They enjoy the heat. I keep them well watered. We have the pond water to keep them irrigated. So, Adam, what are really the essential tasks for getting a beautiful rose? It's important to keep them well watered, well fed. Deadheading throughout the flowering season is very important to continue the flushes of flowers. Monitoring and managing pest and disease. Weed suppression. And I notice you've got a whole heap of secateurs in there, so obviously pruning is important. Yeah, pruning's important. Keeping tools very clean as well. Any favourites? I'd have to say the Merry Maker's just behind us here. Look at the flower. It's a beautiful flush, isn't it? It's amazing. In fact, you can barely see a leaf because of the quantity of flowers. I love the beautiful apricot colours. They're sort of lower maintenance than some of my others. They're very user-friendly, I'd say. And it seems to have low disease, no disease problems? No, almost none. Pest and disease, they're very resistant. Isn't that good? So that's Merry Maker. That's one to put on your list to start with. I might catch up with you later. Okay, thanks for coming by. Good on you, mate. Cheers. Thanks, Adam. Now, as Adam said, a little bit of pruning now, especially deadheading, which is basically removing the flowers that are finished or that are burnt off like those fellows. Another one here. What it does, of course, it puts the energy into more buds and more flowers. It's also a good time to remove dieback, which are black stems cut below where the black stem is and put it straight in the bin. Adam has very generously allowed me to come into his rose garden to do a bit of weeding. Now, given that this beautiful rose garden was established here in Centennial Park back in 1908, I'm just one of a long queue of weeders that have come into this little garden rose patch here. And we remove the weeds because they're a thief of nutrients, water, and space. So they take up all the things that the roses need. So get rid of those weeds and get them before they seed. And for aphids, I like to use a pyrethrum spray. But always remember, spray early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Okay, they're the best three jobs done, but there is one more, even more important one to do. Now, my final essential tip, without any doubt, is we've got a mulch, not only for roses, but for every garden in Australia at the moment with this incredible drought is mulch. Now, there's lots of mulches around, but this one is really quite special. It's called hoo-flung dung. It's a great name. It's chicken manure from a chicken coop mixed in with the straw that's on the floor and then composted. Now, it's composted for three, four, five months. So it's not like a fertilizer. It's actually a mulch that benefits the soil. Like all good mulches, hoo-flung dung actually retains the moisture, stops the sun and the wind from drying the soil out. When you water them, it keeps all that moisture in the soil, stops the evaporation, which is great. The other thing with a lot of mulches, as they break down, like the timber and the woody ones that are grey in colour, they actually draw nitrogen out of the soil, depriving the plant of an essential nutrient. And now, these roses have had an absolute fantastic start for the next flush. Why not plant a beautiful rose from a container into a beautiful ornamental pot? Let's give it a bit of a tap. Look at those roots. Aren't they beautiful? They are ready to go straight into that container. Don't disturb them too much because they've only just grown since winter. And then fill it up with really good quality potting mix. Great. There you go. Nice little trio of pots. But our rose is the real feature. I hope I've given you some tips on how to look after your roses this weekend and maybe grow a beautiful rose in a pot. Whatever, just enjoy gardening this weekend. I challenge you to walk through a field of sunflowers and not smile. They really are the happiest of flowers. And I've got a real soft spot for sunflowers because they remind me of my childhood. So we used to have a family competition to see who could grow the tallest one. And no one's still been able to beat my grandma, who holds the record of about 4.5 metres. That is one giant sunflower. So if you'd like to try and beat my grandma, now is the perfect time to get your sunflower seeds into the ground. And what better place to come to for inspiration than the bloom barn? Hi, Ivan. Are you in your happy place amongst the sunflowers? Yes, I am. Quite amazing to see them growing en masse like this. How long have you been doing it for? I've been growing for 12 years now. It's just a family farm. So it's been in the family for over 40 years. So how many do you estimate are in here? There are 70,000 planted in here. 70,000? Yes, we've planted them all by hand. So you're growing them all from seed? Yes, I am. Gosh, well the effort's been worth it. They look just amazing. So Ivan, why do you like growing sunflowers and why do you think people should be growing them at home? Because they are the happiest flower, really. They definitely are the happiest of flower. And I tell you what, these ones are not just happy to look at, but they're also happy growth-wise. So have you got any secrets? Yeah, the main tip I use is we have our own worm farm, so we use the worm juice and they seem to love it. And the soil's obviously pretty good too. Yeah, we've got sandy soil here. We're very fortunate and great growing conditions, really. And would you be growing all these for harvesting for cutting? I do. So we do pick your own sunflowers on our farm and it's generally year round. So for people at home that are wanting to cut sunflowers for the bars, what do you recommend? I'd recommend picking them when they're relatively closed where you can still see some yellow in the head. So show me an example. Yeah, sure. So something like this is ideal. So you can see the yellow inside. So we just generally pick it from here, give it a strip. And then as you can see, you've got the yellow. It won't be damaged in transport and it'll last for ages in the bar. Of course, you can buy sunflower seeds from your local garden centre. But once you start to grow them at home, you'll have a heap of seed to harvest. Now, I always think that collecting and harvesting seeds, great project to the kids. Now, obviously, this field is nearing the end of its flowering season. But if you look at the flowers here, all those black things that you're seeing right there are the sunflower seeds. You can either let them dry in the sunflower field or in the garden like this. But if you do, you'll need to protect those seeds because unfortunately, they're as attractive to the birds as they are to us. So just get your hands on a bit of pantyhose or even a bit of netting like this. And what it'll do is keep those pesky birds away, but it still allows that airflow through, which is really important. You can also cut off the drying heads and put them somewhere like, I don't know, the shed, somewhere cool and dry for a few more weeks just to get them nice and dry. Once those seed heads have dried out nicely, you can begin to harvest the seed. So you might use, say, a fork or even a spoon to help you out, but I find the thumb works really well. So quite simply, push your thumb along the seed head like this just to release the seed. So if you're growing the giant or larger types of sunflowers, then you can direct sow the seed into the garden. But there are also some great dwarf types which are perfect for pots. So you quite simply pop those seeds in, push them down with your thumb a little bit, cover them with some mix, water them in, and in about 10 or so days, you'll start to see those little sunflowers emerge. So they'll grow happily for 12 or so weeks and then burst into bloom. And honestly, you will have so much seed going around that you'll want to package some of it up beautifully like this and give it away to your family and friends. I love a roadside stall. It really is a bit of an Aussie tradition, isn't it? Sure is. So I thought I would bring you some little gift packs of seeds that you can add to the collection. Thank you very much. It's just what I need. It must be nice for people though to meet the farmer behind the flowers. Yeah, we get that a lot. We go to farmers markets every weekend and we have been for the last like nine years or so. We often give a random gift, which is a bunch of flowers every market to somebody as a random act of kindness. And today we've decided that you are the person that we're blooming. So you've been bloomed by the Bloom Barn. I've been bloomed. Isn't that cute? Well, thank you, Ivan. Thanks for having us. You've really made my day. Magnificent magnolias. It doesn't matter where you live in Australia. When they come into bloom, you know that spring has arrived. In all the different shades of pinks, purples, white and yellow, I'm about to show you varieties you may never have seen before. And I'll give you some tips on how to get them to really fire up in your garden. The magnolia you might be most familiar with is Selangiana with its iconic pink and white flowers. They are the first to bloom across Australia. And what a showstopper. And just as you think the late winter magnolias are finishing and it's all over, then the hybrids take over. And this is what we call in horticulture, a colour break. Something completely new that we've never seen before. Vulcan. Look at the colour. It starts out as this sort of beautiful sort of tulip shape and then explodes into this fabulous flower. Look at these ones here. It's really breathtaking. I've never seen anything like Vulcan. It really is quite an incredible plant. Only grows to around about four to five metres. A lovely rounded shaped tree. Over the years, the flower colour gets more intense and the plant just gets bigger and bigger. But if you think that's where it finishes, there's a lot more to come. Hybridising of the evergreen magnolias, the ones that hold their leaves and don't become deciduous in winter, has also been very complex. And the results they're coming up with, have a look at this. Unbelievable. This is one of the fairy magnolias and they've got evergreen foliage, as I mentioned, but look at the flower production. It is quite spectacular. The reason it looks so spectacular is that it has two, three, sometimes four buds at the one union. So you get this terrific display of flowers. The fairy magnolias also have a beautiful perfume. It's a real knockout just standing right next to them. The bees just love them as well. And they grow into a beautiful rounded shrub. You can even grow it in a large tub if you like, a half barrel. As for a formal clipped hedge, stunning. When these come into flower, they are just beautiful. And then the big daddy of them all, Magnolia Felix. Look at the size of the flower. Even the bud is enormous and this beautiful tulip eventually explodes open. Again, that same beautiful hot pink on the inside and the outside. It's a stunning hybrid. Black tulip, just look at that. It's just like a black tulip flower. It's quite a tight bud, but the most intense deep purple of any magnolia on the market at the moment. A smaller plant and because it has less petals and it's tighter, it takes full sun and much more wind than some of the others. Those open petals tend to get a bit damaged than some of the bigger ones. So for my money, black tulip at the moment, when you want something smaller and a dark purple, would have to be a winner. When it comes to magnolias, they're not only incredibly beautiful, they're also very low maintenance. And as far as pruning is concerned, leave your secateurs in its holster or back in the garden shed because they really don't like pruning. In fact, what you get if you prune the branch, say somewhere here, you get this ugly regrowth. It's sort of a witch's broom and it ruins that beautiful teardrop shape that the tree develops naturally. Now, if you really, really have to prune them, take the branch right off back hard up against the main trunk. But when it comes to planting, a couple of more important tips. If you've planted a new magnolia, pay close attention in the first few years. If it hasn't doubled in size by the second year, be careful, it could be in trouble. Plant them, give them really good, rich soil, lots of compost and manure. In the second year, make sure you feed them up and feed them up every two months. Keep the fertilizer going to get that growth so they don't sulk and they get growing and then they'll get flowering. My final tip with growing magnolias, if you're really taken in by these big, blousy flowers, keep them out of the wind. Protect them with a house, a fence or some other trees because they get easily damaged. Magnolias always were spectacular, but the plant breeders around the world have taken the new hybrids to a totally new level. So, it doesn't matter whether you want evergreen, deciduous, tall, short, flower display or perfume, the magnolias have them all. The biggest problem you have is deciding which ones you want.