Glen unmasked…

Glen Heyne is the eldest fourth-generation member of Adelaide’s leading nursery, where he worked until his two younger brothers finished school.

Realising that he could make better use of his communication skills in more conducive surroundings, he packed up his battered old typewriter and left home.

Now, after 60 years of freelance journalism, radio, TV and PR agencies, you’ll find him here, in Daylesford, ancient, retired and having a ball. Dredging up almost lost memories to entertain himself and (hopefully) help in your garden.

I only hope that my mentor, great-grandfather Ernst Bernhard was sitting in ‘The Garden’ when the first copy hit the streets. I know he would have smiled to see the Heyne name at the masthead of ‘his’ garden page of The Chronicle, South Australia’s Weekly Times counterpart – almost 100 years from his final edition on July 5, 1974 – my birthday.

E.B.H., the second son of Meissen surgeon, Carl August Heyne and Marianne Tierof, was educated at Leipzig University where he received his Diploma of Botany.

He was also an accomplished linguist and mathematician. E.B obtained a position at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Leipzig and was appointed to lead a party of noted botanists to seek new orchids in South America.

That was cancelled due to the political uprisings in Europe of that time. His brother Carl, involved in politics in Hamburg, had just shot and killed a military officer in a duel and was obliged to flee to America.

Although E.B.H. had played no part in the duel, other than hold his brother’s coat, with the political situation ready to boil over, he decided to emigrate.

He left Hamburg on October 2, 1848, on the sailing ship Godefroi and accompanied a family to Victoria, as a tutor.

He wrote on his journey and arrival in Melbourne, in a series of letters and included detailed observations of the climate, soil and vegetation, the habits of the colonists and gave excellent advice for prospective migrants. Much of which is still relevant.

E.B.H. was appointed chief plantsman and draftsman at Melbourne Botanic Gardens (pictured above) and drew up one of the earliest designs, under the direction of Dr von Mueller, for the layout of the Botanic Gardens.

E.B.H. then travelled to South Australia in 1868 on a plant-collecting expedition. He is credited with making a collection of the tree fern, Dicksonia Antarctica, in its natural habitat, possibly the last collected in the Mt Lofty Ranges.

In 1869 he moved to Adelaide, bought a house in Norwood and established a small nursery on an adjoining property to supply the shop he had opened on Rundle Street. He married Laura, the daughter of publishers/booksellers Edward and Laura Hanckel.

In 1871 his books, The Amateur Gardener for South Australia and The Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Garden, were published and eventually ran to four editions – the first of their kind in South Australia.

E.B.H. was commemorated by the naming of two species he discovered on the several plant-collecting expeditions into the outback with von Mueller during the 1850s – aster heynei F. Meull and Cyperus ornatus heynei.

He was secretary of the Vignerons’ Club which, in 1876, presented him with a gold watch as a tribute to his work with the wine industry, especially in the eradication of the vine-killing plague, phylloxera.

As an aside, I recently discovered the list of phylloxera-resistant wine grapes he produced had been taken up and published by the wine growers of California helping somewhat, one would presume, to save their industry.

It has been more than a century since E.B.H. put the Heyne family on the Australian botanical map. I am delighted and proud to have heard and answered the call, through my broadcasts and writing

Then and now

A brief glimpse back into the growth of Australian nurseries – specifically South Australia and Victoria. I’m most familiar with those, having been born into one of the earliest and still thriving, nursery families in Adelaide.

One of the earliest forms of business set up in the colony of South Australia was that of the nurseryman. It was imperative that the colonists grew their own fruit and vegetables as the nearest greengrocer was three to four days away in Victoria.

The place to find a supply of seed and young plants was their local nursery. Several such businesses date back to 1860, only 14 years after the first free settlers arrived at Glenelg Bay.

Among them was a young German botanist who, having drawn up the initial plans for the newly built Government House and Melbourne Botanical Gardens, decided to join with the others to be “his own man” and so began the Heyne dynasty.

In those early days, all business was conducted from the nurseryman’s backyard, where he would be self-employed (not counting his wife and kids), growing and tending his young plants, his only tools being shovel, rake and spade.

His only means of watering the tender young plants was by watering can, no doubt filled from a rainwater tank or well.

Anyone needing advice on the best plants and the best way of caring for them was still being given friendly and helpful service from their nurseryman’s experience.

Gardening must have been a real effort in those days when the only fertiliser was dried cow or horse manure and the best way to deal with aphis was to scrub them off with a stiff wire brush and no doubt leaves, skin and buds as well.

Plants were relatively expensive. For example an araucaria (Norfolk Pine) would have cost between a shilling and sixpence.

“Not bad”, you may say until you remember that a good wage was about 30 bob a week. The same plant today would cost you at least $15 – $20, so you can see plants have really increased little in price from those days, when compared with the great proportional increase in wages.

Throughout the development of each state, the nursery industry has kept up to date with all modern trends and is now a very different business from that of 60 years ago, when I left the family business.

In those days all soil and potting mixtures were moved with shovel and wheel barrow, soil was sieved and mixed by hand, usually by throwing it through an old bed spring base.

Today, in most cases, the soil is moved by front-end loader and mixed by power-driven machinery. Even the containers have changed. In the early days, the pots were made of clay and advanced plants were grown in wicker baskets.

After World War II, to help overcome the dire shortage of clay-made products, the nursery industry took to growing their large plants in metal cans and drums.

Then, after years of trial, the plastics industry came to the rescue and now finally, plants of all shapes and sizes come resplendent in colourful, hygienic plastic containers.

My youngest brother, who took over the nursery business with his daughter and son, passed away recently – another victim of that dreaded Alzheimer’s disease.

Naturally, Peta and I were at his funeral where we met up with, not only lots of long-lost family, but most of Adelaide’s nursery industry identities.

Peta wanted to have a probably final look at the original house and nursery on our way home to see all the developments since our last visit some 10 years ago, hence my pose in front of the relatively restored glass house – the black and white 1930s shot is of my grandfather Carl Heyne.

Got a gardening query? Email glenzgarden@gmail.com

Hi Glen,

I am sure you are the one who can tell me whether those beautiful moth orchids really do live and flower for years, and if so, what am I doing wrong? Because mine flowered just once with two blooms on the same stem. Then after a couple of weeks they just shrivelled up and fell off, leaving behind a bundle of dry sticks amid a rosette of large green leaves.

Should I just grin and give up? Or can you point me in the right direction for success? This was my second year of failure but when I am confronted by those magnificent living carpets in the stores I can’t resist their call of “take me home, I’m yours”.

Hoping to hear positive words of encouragement, or should I just give up and plant some geraniums? Can’t wait for some good news. – Miriam, Kyneton

Hi Miriam,

As much as I like and grow geraniums, not really, the answer is quite simple – it is a patience and confidence. Moth orchids, phalaenopsis, are probably the most favourite orchids because of their multi-coloured, long lasting flowers.

They are sturdy and need little care in our climate and, as long as they are planted in a sheltered spot, they make ideal indoor plants when grown in a well lit window but out of direct sunlight.

When grown out of doors they will bloom just once, either spring or summer, but they can usually be encouraged to bloom several times a year if they are treated kindly and allowed to rest in a state of dormancy in-between time.

Moth orchids bloom along slender flower spikes which can often bloom more than once, so don’t be in a hurry to remove the spike because you can often encourage the plant to have extra flowers. So always keep an eye out for the buds on any healthy looking spikes but remove any that are starting to turn brown or wither.

Clip them off at the base with a pair of clean and sterilised flower scissors or sharp secateurs to conserve energy.

It is easy to confuse the flower spikes with aerial roots but these can be easily spotted – they are lighter in colour and have rounded tips. Their appearance is usually a signal that the plants’ root system is getting a little crowded and nourishment sparse.

There’s little need to remove any aerial roots unless they are overcrowding the plant and then it is maybe time to consider repotting them into larger homes. This will improve their health and make flowering more likely, especially if the plant is still in the pot your brought it home in.

Store-bought moth orchids are usually potted into various types of moss and placed into plastic containers which retain too much moisture which can cause roots to rot. This can be avoided by being repotted into a larger pot with drainage holes and using a bark-based orchid mix that allows the water to drain freely.

Fertiliser, especially developed for orchids and similar plants, can help maintain the health and growth of the plant, as can most organic liquid fertilisers made with kelp or fish emulsion, when diluted to one quarter strength with water. – Glen

Got a gardening query? Email glenzgarden@gmail.com

Whenever the topic of bringing added fragrance to our gardens our thoughts go naturally to the old faithfuls – roses, daphne, lavender etc.

We usually overlook the many varieties of trees and large shrubs that could also bring added fragrance as well as shade and shelter for the smaller, less hardy varieties.

And we sometimes also forget about them for the protection they offer from the direct rays of our summer sun and the bonus of perfumed flowers or aromatic leaves.

This group is all the more important, particularly where you are anxious to have shade and, at the same time, perfumed flowers and/or foliage.

Despite the relatively small size of ground left to the garden after the carport or garage, clothesline and the all-important sandpit are given pride of place, there still should be space for at least one large, multi-purpose tree, and in my books that’s the Lisbon lemon.

They are evergreen, fast-growing, with thickly spread lush green leaves, a glorious fragrance and white blossoms, and best of all, they work their magic in drinks, salads and many other culinary delights.

For those who simply don’t have room for the Lisbon, check your local nursery and see if they stock smaller-growing varieties.

The diminutive size of the tree does little to the quality of the fruit or perfume of the flowers. If you wish to grow a Lisbon lemon but your backyard vegetable plot is already overcrowded there’s nothing in the rule books barring you from making it a front garden feature.

Another highly scented, scaled-down choice with miniature oranges for fruit is the cumquat. Highly perfumed flowers are followed by leprachaun cricket-ball sized fruit.

And according to young Paddington Bear it can produce impossible to beat marmalade. If you can’t find a suitable spot in the front garden beds there’s always room for a large potted citrus on a pathway somewhere, especially if it’s a cumquat.

Scented blossom

Amongst the trees which produce scented flowers probably the citrus varieties are the best known but least planted for that purpose.

More than likely that is because citrus have always been regarded as production units and belong in the kitchen garden.

Whilst the ordinary orange, lemon or grapefruit are a bit too large for the kitchen garden, they could certainly find their place in the front garden as a bonus to their lush, green foliage as their white flowers fill the air with a magnificent scent when the tree is covered with bloom.

A tall-growing deciduous tree, tilia, classically known as the Linden tree, is well known for its scented flowers and while perhaps a little large for small gardens (depending on the variety chosen) it is great for open spaces and park plantings.

The heart-shaped leaves, which depending on species, can vary from 5-12 centimetres in diameter, are followed by pendulous trusses of small, yellow, scented flowers. Despite the size of some species it is an attractive tree and deserves to be more widely planted.

Outstanding amongst the scented flowered trees is magnolia grandiflora, a beautiful, highly perfumed tree with large glossy leaves and in summer a profusion of large, bowl-shaped, sweetly scented, ivory-coloured blooms.

Got a gardening query? Email glenzgarden@gmail.com

Get to know your garden’s friends
From the time Peta and I took over the drought-ridden property that became
our home, we were determined to “practise what I preached” in all my writings and
broadcasts – throw away those chemicals and let nature take its course.
The resultant health issues through growing up and working amid a chemical
saturated, family nursery taught me that simple message.
Rachel Carson’s terrifying treatise on the destruction of wildlife through the use of
pesticides, Silent Spring, was the final decider.
In the 15 years since we moved in, we’ve been delighted with the steadily
increasing number and varieties of the avian and predator insect life. Thankfully it has
also coincided with a dramatic decline in sap suckers and leaf chewers.
The bug hotels and other residential attractions and spider-web tolerance are
beginning to pay dividends, it’s now our second year of aphid-free roses and our
birdbaths are in constant demand.
The parrot nesting box has, for the third year, become a weekend retreat for a
ringtail possum, and our slug and snail population is taken care of by Lennie the
neighbourhood shingleback lizard.
So let’s all learn to identify, protect and encourage our resident predator insects to
administer their own form of biological pest control. In some countries people have
to buy them commercially to help keep their gardens and crops pest-free.
Believe it or not, one of the most effective of all predacious insects is that dainty,
little, red-spotted ladybird beetle with a main diet of soft-bodied insects like aphis,
mealybugs, scale and spider mites. Best of all, they begin their feasting while in the
larvae stage and, if times are tough and food supplies are scarce, they’ll turn their
attention onto the larvae of many beetles and weevils.
Next on the list is the praying mantis – that ferocious-looking grasshopper-like
fellow with enormous eyes and two arm-like forelegs which are always ready to grab
anything moving. It is an insectivore and won’t harm any vegetation. But is always
ready to grab anything that flies or moves close by.
They don’t stray very far and stay localised in the same area so if you can gather a
few they will serve you faithfully for a long time. They lay frothy egg cases with 50 or
more eggs in each, several times a year, so can build up numbers quite quickly.
Lacewings, those fragile greenish, large mosquito-like creatures, just love aphis
and similar soft-bodied insects. Their larvae, which some call ant lions, live in the
sand in funnel-like holes and eat any unsuspecting ant or bug that might stumble in.
The hoverfly, pictured, is so named because of their striped abdomen and
formation hovering habits and are quite harmless, mainly thriving on nectar. Their
larvae feed on various larvae.

I am also compelled to mention spiders, because they play a major role as pest
destroyers in the garden. I say ‘compelled’ because I confess to being a practising
arachnophobe due to a somewhat embarrassing and terribly painful encounter (you
guessed it) in my early teens. God bless modern internal plumbing.
I am more than comfortable in having our garden draped with spider webs as
long as they continue to help keep the garden pest-free. I’m also quite comfortable
with Peta naming the occasional huntsman that takes up residence in the house, as
long as they stay away from our bedroom – and the toilet.
Huntsman spiders belong to the international tarantula tribe and are, on the
whole, quite harmless as long they are left alone including, the golden huntsman,
pictured, which prefers the outdoors, finding their food among the bark of large tree.