REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney, streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au  and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network. www.realworldgardener.com
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The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition.

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Do flowers play the starring role in your garden, while the greenery gets relegated to backstage?



Foliage makes a garden. photo M Cannon



 The greenery, or foliage if you like, are the mainstay of gardens and garden design because they’re there all year when the flowers fade.

Think of the delicate fronds of ferns or the fountain like effects of many types of ornamental grasses. The leaves of these plants don’t just serve as a lovely background for flowers, because they have their own attraction. There are some really beautiful foliaged plants that could be used as a dominant feature alongside your flowers. Remember, foliage will carry your garden through all seasons, long after the flowers have faded away.

I'm talking with garden designer Louise McDaid.

Coloured leaves photo M Cannon

If doesn’t hurt the pocked to update your garden in this series, because we’re not doing the crazy make-over.

There should be plenty of ideas to get you thinking about updating the foliage in your garden.

REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney, streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au  and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network. www.realworldgardener.com
REALWORLD GARDENER NOW ON FACEBOOK

The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition.

LIVING PLANET

What happens when an ecologist from Australia, packs up and leaves to work in Namibia for a couple of years?

Some of the wildlife found in Namibia are big cats, Cheetahs, Elephants, Zebras, and Giraffes.

Let’s find out.. I'm talking with Katie Oxenham, a Consulting ecologist who now lives in Sydney.

Katie's role in Namibia was conservancy and natural management support. She was employed by the Namibia Nature Foundation and worked with communities in the north of the country to manage natural resources such as the harvest of Devil's Claw. Devil's Claw is different to the Australian weed by the same name found in the Top End.

Help with how to sustainably harvest the Devil's Claw was important because it prevented the plant from becoming regionally extinct.

Katie also helped the indigenous population with entering into contracts with private companies of eco-tourist lodges whereby they would acquire jobs thus giving them a reason to conserve wildlife.

Namibia has unique landscapes and is home to a vast diversity of wildlife found nowhere else on Earth.

There are approximately 4,000 plant species, over 650 bird species and 80 large mammal species.Namibia is a pretty special place and a must see destination for tourists wanting to see African wildlife.

If you have any questions about Namibia or have some information to share, drop us a line to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675