I also believe that any coverage of 'feature gardens' should be accompanied by:

a. Age - how long has it taken to get to this point
b. A garden plan, showing orientation.
c. An estimate of the amount of water needed to maintain the gardens current condition.

Each of the big magazines makes a noise about the need for 'waterwise' gardens, only to feature large cottage gardens (complete with lush lawns) and the like - something just doesnt add up. My tropical plants may need more water than many perennials (or not..), but I'll happily compare meter readings each quarter with anyone else in the country - its all about being *selective* in your use of thirsty plants, and leaving the grass to fend for itself. End of sermon :)

I think local provenance is crucial for projects such as LandCare, and I applaud their efforts, but the groundcovers shown on GA, while endemic to Melbourne and important for re-vegetating degraded sites, left me cold.

While I will make very effort to seek out as many plants from Central Queensland as I can, many of the plants in my new garden will be North Queensland natives (and some of the smaller plants will be exotics) : I'm creating a *garden*, not re-vegetating North Rocky.

I accept that I have a reponsiblity to ensure that I purchase plants which arent prone to escapology, and that my garden will upset a lot of conservationists, but I refuse to ignore species such as Xanthostemon Chrysanthus because its not a true local. Similarly, if the Byfield Grevillea doesnt look happy in my front garden, it will be removed - I'm not creating a nursery, I'm trying to create a garden filled with healthy, lush rainforest species.

GA showed a lot of promise with the early stories in Gerry's new home in Brissie and his vision for a tropical paradise, but we havent seen a whole lot more of his garden since then (he did install a lawn in one edition - anathema to my own aims) - I would like to revisit Gerry's place and see how that soil of his is coming along :)

who is the old guy from queensland? something campbell?, he used to do some great stories but you dont see him much anymore and he seemed to have a good understanding of the differences in climate you find around australia, from qld to sydney to wa. He would be a good choice to do some native segments because he often went in to detail about growing conditions in his stories no matter what he was talking about, and didnt just confine his knowledge to the qld climate. I dont want to see stories that tell me how good a particular plant is then I find out through my own research it's just unsuitable for where I live, which is why I always like that fellows stories, I never felt excluded because he is obviously such an experienced gardener that he knows there are huge differences in climate from state to state, some of the others dont even really go into that detail, I think he would perfect to do a native section.

OK, on to my crazy ideas re gardening and the media:

1. I believe that the time has well and truly come for a 'Tropical Gardener' magazine, covering the area from Coffs Harbour north. Apologies to Dee and the rest of the Southern contingent, but many of us live in areas which couldnt be *further* from the English ideal in terms of climate. Even within the area I've prescribed, there are huge variations in climate - the temperate New England climate vs the Sunshine Coast's mild abundance - but the majority of the region will support plants from the subtropics. What do others think ?

2. Les Hiddins has been absent from our lounge rooms for far too long. I know that he shuns the spotlight, but I think he has a lot more charisma than DB and his delivery is priceless. How about a 12-episode series which puts Les into a slightly different setting (everything from rainforests to suburuban gardens), documenting the many positives that natives offer in the noughties, for gardeners, conservationists and survivalists. 'Bush Tucker Man' was a great series, but it had a limited focus, IMO - I want to see entire native gardens, listen to their owners talk about the wildlife that they attract and hear Les recount the natural history of an area in his inimitable way.

OK, enough of my fantasies - as DB found out, there is a lot more to putting a TV show to air than having an idea. I do believe that 'Tropical Gardener' would sell like hotcakes, both in Oz and overseas.

Have we forgotten the endless posts that castigated Don Burke (some described him as virtually the Devil incarnate)!!

Personally I do not mind either Don Burke or GA. I work in the media and realise that any of these programs are going to eventually be repetitive and for us experienced gardeners, boring at times. In order to get sufficient ratings these shows have to appeal to the widest of audiences and that includes the 'mug' gardener who probably will never get his/her hands dirty. However occasionally we do get the odd interesting bit.

Regarding the preoccupation with exotics. I reckon it is just seasonal. Bear in mind that over the past months, exotics tend to be more in focus; what with Autumn colour, bulb planting etc. etc. (My two and a half acre garden is about 98% native.)

I bet that by the time Early Summer arrives we will have seen a few G.A.'s that have addressed native plants, the drought and a lot more interesting stuff along with the boring repetive stuff.

I know ive fallen into this trap myself and I have to keep reminding myself that I really have enough exotics and want to increase the natives in the garden, but it's hard to stay focused because all the magazines and shows usually push the exotics. I think GA could fit one segment a week in on natives and show us what is out there and what we could be growing.

That may well be the case, wattleblossom - as long as it sold well enough to stay in business, I could live with that. Subsequent issues would almost certainly have more local content, with everything from native rainforest gardens to 'dry gardens' for the arid tropics - its not all crotons and water features :)

I thought DB made an interesting point in 'Indigeneous' when he said that the SGAP judges weren't initially keen on Betty Moloney's rainforest garden, as it didnt look like a 'garden' in the accepted sense - this is true of many a 'bush garden' IMO. My profound hope would be that the staff at 'Tropical Gardener' would be a little more adaptable than that.

To GA credit they did bring a book on natives that did help me finish my native garden
Also love or hate don burke the guy is so passionate about native gardens his garden is living proof of that and have to give some credit to him with my inspiration to do natives
but we will never get a show just dedicated to natives until maybe my generation get of there backside and make one(I am only 25 so go easy)

a. He only has time for one point of view - his
b. He believes that he is 'right' all the time
c. He often is right :)

I have re-read 'Indigeneous' several times, and I have to say that Don's extremely self-opinionated style is both amusing and annoying. His recent appearance on 'Denton' only drove home the fact that he enjoys the public perception of himself as a bit of a mongrel. When the 'I'm Don-bloody-Burke' high-beam is dimmed, he's as knowledgeable and personable a guy as any on Australian TV, but he seemed to become increasingly painful as the interview progressed. I cant imagine Peter Cundall being so blunt about the fact that he has 'scores to settle', regardless of how poorly ABC TV may be treating him.

SO SAD BUT SO TRUE

I don't mind the Tasmanian veggie patch, the food growing segments are great, especially for the newbys but not every week. The exotic segments and minimalist gardens are a waste of space and I like to know how to combine plants, as there are so many Australian plants to discover. Australian gardens whether formal or informal to have Australian plants.
Weed recognition is very interesting as is water saving, (Only the pots and the birdbath need extra water in my yard and no phosphorous fertiliser is needed and very little of any other and I never dig unless it's to put tubestock in)