Artist and garden designer Lily Langham tells Georgina Reid she was ‘was born in a garden’. Not literally, but figuratively. Her life began with plants, under the wing of her garden-mad mother, and continues today, in an incredible botanical wonderland embraced by 100 acres of bushland near the Victorian town of Daylesford.

Today, Lily and Georgina guide us through this bountiful, sprawling wonderland, that Lily has intuitively transformed with an artist’s eye over the past 13 years.

‘Think the world is ending? Grab a shovel, not a shopping trolley.’ That was the headline of  Adam Liaw’s recent Guardian op-ed that inspired the TDF office to spring into gardening action. (Clearly we weren’t the only ones, with multiple online seed stores reporting an overwhelming number of orders in recent days!)

If growing your own produce at home is new to you, we’ve compiled the following advice from those in the know to get you started. The one tip they all share? Start now – it’s easier than you think!

Like almost every major event scheduled for the year, the 2020 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show has been cancelled. It’s a devastating blow to the stallholders and designers involved – so much time, effort and resources are put into the show every year, with some concepts in development for more than 12 months prior.

Inevitably, our Instagram feeds were flooded with heartbroken retailers (including a particular post from Red Earth Bulb Farm and their entire flower crop) that wouldn’t be on display. In lieu of its cancellation, we reached out to some of the key exhibitors due to install their show gardens this week, to ask them what they had planned, what the show means to them, and who they were looking forward to seeing!

Winter is coming, in more ways than one. It sure feels ominous out there in the midst of a public health crisis, but – as always – Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s recipes are here to warm our hearts, and remind us to slow down.

With a brand new baby on deck (!), Julia is still whipping up autumnal recipes in a frenzy of new season excitement. Laced with cinnamon, sugar and tart cooked apples, this buttery tea cake is the perfect rustic confection to usher in the cooler months.

Some people are just born plant people. Jac Semmler, Ornamental Category Manager at The Digger’s Club is one of them! After spending years experimenting in the gardens of various rental homes, Jac finally has a place to really let her plant-freak flag fly: in the garden of her own home in Frankston, where the outside space is almost as big as the house itself! It’s the perfect place for experimentation.

Georgina Reid of The Planthunter chats with Jac about her ‘botanical laboratory’: getting it wrong, getting it right, and embracing the art of the process.

Beatrix Bakes is the Beyonce of baked goods. The teeny tiny North Melbourne cake shop opened in 2011, and has since grown exponentially – not in size, but in crazed fans! Every weekend (and some weekdays!) Nat Paull’s sweet little shop has rockstar-level crowds, lines wrapping around the side of the store and down the street waiting to catch a glimpse of the famous cake stand housing the selection of treats for the day. Prices and descriptions are written on doilies, and daisy chains of cake beaters hang cheerfully from the ceiling. It looks like a cute country bakery, but its fans are hardcore!

FINALLY, after much anticipation, Beatrix’s fearless founder Nat Paull has released THE definitive cookbook and bakers companion, imbued with as much love as one of her epic coconut shag cakes. Ahead of its release this Sunday, here’s a sneak peek of the goodness inside!

The stalwart characteristics of the Australian dream present an outdated concept for new architectural prospects. A terrace, two car garage and pool for a suburban nuclear family doesn’t fit the bill for cutting-edge residential design these days.

And yet a collaboration between Kieron Gait Architects and Dan Young Landscape Architect delivered a complete innovation of that brief, complete with one of the best pools we’ve seen in a while.

Julia Busuttil Nishimura is the queen of using simple, minimal ingredients for maximum flavour. And this rustic roasted tomato soup is the perfect example!

Also, in case you haven’t heard, Julia’s NEW cookbook A Year Of Simple Family Food is only a couple of months away! Julia’s first cookbook Ostro was an instant classic, and has become a beloved cooking companion for people all over the world. We could not be more excited for book number two and of course, will be revealing more as the time comes closer. Watch this space!