Backyard and Outdoor Living

It’s cooling down now, but that’s no reason to abandon your outdoor space. In Best Of this edition, we take a look at the hottest outdoor heating options (pun intended) that will help you make the most of your outside area year-round. Potted plants are all the rage at the moment and this trend is ideal if you have a smaller garden or simply want to add life to a bare space. If you’re still on the fence, turn to Snapshot to see some perfect pot plant inspiration — you won’t be disappointed. When I was a kid, the backyard was often just a patch of grass, a trampoline and a few plants. These days it’s so much more. It’s a captivating view to look out on, the entertaining hub of…

THE HEALTHY GARDEN Kathleen Norris Brenzel, Mary-Kate Mackey, Abrams, $39.99 Part gardening bible, part call to action, this publication by award-winning authors Kathleen Norris Brenzel and Mary-Kate Mackey presents advice, tips and howtos for gardeners seeking better health, increased happiness and stronger communities. The Healthy Garden combines practical advice for starting a garden, with a rare view into how home gardening builds resilience, personal happiness and community strength. Filled with savvy tips from dozens of experts, each chapter celebrates the many ways gardening works to build health. These professionals and passionate plant people offer lively insights into landscape design, soil science, nutrition and plant choices. COUNTRY: FUTURE FIRE, FUTURE FARMING Bruce Pascoe, Bill Gammage, Thames & Hudson Australia, $21.99 For millennia, Indigenous Australians harvested this continent in ways that can offer contemporary environmental and economic…

LITTLE GREEN FINGERS Getting the kids involved in gardening couldn’t be easier with the Mt Elephant gardening kit. The Spring Gardening Kit contains little seedlings to grow deliciously juicy strawberries, as well as Mt Elephant’s Pancake Mix, which has been created with mindfully chosen ingredients to make the ultimate gluten-free, wholefood pancake made with almond meal and buckwheat. Each Gardening Kit contains: strawberry seedling packet, planter box, gardening tools, colour the rainbow activity, chalk pens, and Mt Elephant Pancake Mix. Planting seeds, growing vegetables or fruits and then harvesting them and turning them into delicious foods kids will love, is a big step towards teaching them about the natural world and wholesome nutrition. Mt Elephant’s plant-based and nutrient-rich mixes are an easy way to incorporate more plant-based goodness into your family’s…

1. CREPE MYRTLES If there was a tree that could be classed as an overachiever, it would be the crepe myrtle. Their crinkly summer flowers, which come in multiple colours including white, purple, red, mauve and pink, last for several months and are a magnet for bees. The smooth bark is also attractive, with interesting patterns and mottled colours. And then comes the vivid autumn leaves in shades of purple, red, yellow or orange. We’re spoilt for choice with crepe myrtle varieties, which range from medium-sized shrubs (ideal for growing in pots and small gardens) to 8m-tall trees, and some have stunning dark burgundy foliage continuously from spring to autumn. Watch out for powdery mildew disease on crepe myrtle foliage, which first appears like a light dusting of talcum powder. To…

PONTI TAKEN Innovative pots are wowing designers for a host of reasons. The best designer is mother nature, and with a vast array of plants that offer sculptural beauty, fragrance or coloured blooms, showcasing them in a designer pot can make a dramatic difference in your outdoor entertaining space. Anthony Spon-Smith from Coco Republic says plants are natural, subconsciously soothing and perfectly imperfect. As such, any way we can frame them as heroes, inside or out, is very important. The right planter, pot or urn can do just that. Anthony’s advice is to pick a planter that juxtaposes with the plant. Prickly or complicated shapes for plants are often complemented by simple pots and vice versa. He likes texture and simple shapes when it comes to pots and planters, and his…

01. FIRE AS ART Designed by acclaimed Barcelona-based designer, Hiroshi Tsunoda, the multi-award-winning EcoSmart Stix is a visually striking firepit combining contemporary styling with exceptional practicality and safety. The dramatic and sculptural ethanol fire is crafted from weather-resistant stainless-steel tubes of varying lengths. It creates a modern twist on the traditional campfire. The firepits are portable and freestanding, which means they can be easily positioned almost anywhere to create a stunning centrepiece or to define a zone within an alfresco or indoor space. Stix firepits are fitted with compact, clean-burning ethanol burners, they offer easy, safe operation, don’t require connection to electricity or gas, and create a captivating golden flame for hours. They are available in two sizes — the larger original Stix, which holds an AB8 burner producing a larger–scale…