Roadside Plantings
Episode: # 10 09/06/07
Presenter: Neville Passmore
No doubt you have heard the statement, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. What a fantastic illustration of that principle right on the busy roadside of plantings in New South Wales.
There are a couple of strap leaf plants that are absolutely copping it sweet and when you look at the drought conditions that they basically have to put up with because there is no watering, and then on top of that the amount of heat that is generated off the road in the middle of summer, you can see that they are really doing a fantastic job.
The clincher for Neville is that the two varieties, Lomandra Tanika and Dianella Breeze, haven’t been artificially watered since they were planted two years ago. All they have had is the rain and during that period there has been precious little of that.
The light green foliage is from Lomandra Tanika (Lomandra longifolia ‘Tanika’). It is related to grass trees but the foliage is softer.
Dianella Breeze (Dianella caerulea ‘Breeze’) has fresh green leaves and it can also handle occasional flooding.
Ozbreed’s Dianella Little Jess (Dianella caerulea ‘Little Jess’) also shares the same sort of roadside environment on the verge. It is a more compact form and grows as a terrific ground cover and will out-compete weeds. In the home garden, you will get a fantastic show of pretty purple blue flowers.
Don’t forget the amazing ability of plants like these to absorb and hold pollutants. Just imagine the quantities of car and truck exhaust gas that the plants are forced to absorb because of their proximity to such a busy road.
The planting system is ultra simple. A hole is drilled into the soil, a fertiliser tablet is dropped in, plus some water storage crystals and then the plants are dropped on top.
We can’t afford to give up planting these amazing green organisms and apart from the well being you get from being surrounded by living greenery there is also the fact that it is pumping oxygen as well as moisture into the atmosphere.
Neville hopes that the planting of these tough plants as a living hall of fame of tough plants, has inspired you to plant out some of these amazing, Australian bred strap leaf plants.
Ozbreed
www.ozbreed.com.au
Presenter: Neville Passmore
No doubt you have heard the statement, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. What a fantastic illustration of that principle right on the busy roadside of plantings in New South Wales.
There are a couple of strap leaf plants that are absolutely copping it sweet and when you look at the drought conditions that they basically have to put up with because there is no watering, and then on top of that the amount of heat that is generated off the road in the middle of summer, you can see that they are really doing a fantastic job.
The clincher for Neville is that the two varieties, Lomandra Tanika and Dianella Breeze, haven’t been artificially watered since they were planted two years ago. All they have had is the rain and during that period there has been precious little of that.
The light green foliage is from Lomandra Tanika (Lomandra longifolia ‘Tanika’). It is related to grass trees but the foliage is softer.
Dianella Breeze (Dianella caerulea ‘Breeze’) has fresh green leaves and it can also handle occasional flooding.
Ozbreed’s Dianella Little Jess (Dianella caerulea ‘Little Jess’) also shares the same sort of roadside environment on the verge. It is a more compact form and grows as a terrific ground cover and will out-compete weeds. In the home garden, you will get a fantastic show of pretty purple blue flowers.
Don’t forget the amazing ability of plants like these to absorb and hold pollutants. Just imagine the quantities of car and truck exhaust gas that the plants are forced to absorb because of their proximity to such a busy road.
The planting system is ultra simple. A hole is drilled into the soil, a fertiliser tablet is dropped in, plus some water storage crystals and then the plants are dropped on top.
We can’t afford to give up planting these amazing green organisms and apart from the well being you get from being surrounded by living greenery there is also the fact that it is pumping oxygen as well as moisture into the atmosphere.
Neville hopes that the planting of these tough plants as a living hall of fame of tough plants, has inspired you to plant out some of these amazing, Australian bred strap leaf plants.
Ozbreed
www.ozbreed.com.au
AS SEEN ON 
