Why Havana Cigars Are the Toughest, Most Useful Screening Plant in Mission Beach There’s a plant that looks like it belongs in a five-star resort garden, thrives on pure neglect, and does more jobs than almost anything else in a Wet Tropics garden. Meet Calathea lutea — better known as the Havana Cigar. If you’ve […]
Category Archives: Buying Guides
Not sure what to choose? Our tropical plant buying guides highlight favourites from the range — feature plants, screening solutions and specimens worth seeing in person at our Mission Beach nursery, alongside or recommended pics that can be purchased for mail order.
I Ivory Cane vs. Golden Cane: Why Pinanga coronata Wins in the Wet Tropics The Golden Cane Palm (Dypsis lutescens) has long been the default screening palm across tropical Queensland — and it’s easy to see why. It’s fast-growing, widely available, and reliably lush. But if you want your garden to feel genuinely luxurious, like […]
Attracting Nectar Feeders to Your Mission Beach GardenCreating a wildlife‑friendly garden in Mission Beach is incredibly rewarding, especially in a region where warm temperatures, high humidity and regular rainfall support lush, nectar‑rich tropical plants. By choosing species that thrive in the Wet Tropics, you can build a garden that attracts bees, butterflies, moths, sunbirds and […]
Foliage in the Tropical Garden The most important element in any tropical garden is foliage. You could easily create a gorgeous tropical garden without flowers, without hard landscaping, or without garden art — but never without lots of lush, sensuous foliage. A good tropical garden works like a symphony, with each plant acting as a […]
Mini Cordylines for Australian Gardens Mini cordylines are smaller, more compact cordylines with dense foliage and an upright growth habit, generally staying under 1.5 metres. Their compact size makes them ideal as an edging plant, mass planted along a border, in courtyard gardens, or in pots. They offer fantastic versatility in landscaping and beautifully colourful […]
How to get a Bali Style Garden in Melbourne It would be nice if everyone could live and garden on a tropical island, but unfortunately we can’t. With good species selection and an understanding of how to create a good microclimate, though, even gardeners in Melbourne and southern NSW can give their gardens a resort-style […]
How to Choose Tropical Plants for your Climate The single biggest factor in whether a tropical garden thrives or struggles isn’t how much you spend on plants — it’s whether you’ve chosen the right plants for your actual climate. Get this step right and everything downstream gets easier. Get it wrong, and you’ll be fighting […]
Designing a Tropical Garden: Principles, Practical Zones and a Planting Template A genuinely great tropical garden isn’t just a collection of impressive plants — it’s a space that’s been thought through, from how it looks to how it actually gets used day to day. This guide walks through the design principles that make a tropical […]
Buying Guides, Grow Guides
Cordyline Varieties: How to Grow and How to Use Them in Your Tropical Garden
Cordyline Varieties: How to Grow and How to Use Them in Your Tropical Garden Few plants deliver as much colour, versatility and year-round impact as cordylines. With hundreds of named varieties available — from towering full-sun stunners to compact minis perfect for a courtyard — there’s a cordyline for almost every spot in a tropical […]