Story: Landscape - Breeding new growth
Episode: 1
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
Air Date: 5th August

Trevor checks in with Digby Growns at King’s Park Botanical Garden as he further develops the unique and colourful Kangaroo Paw Breeding Program.

• Kangaroo Paws are uniquely Australian flora that are revered worldwide for they velvety flowers that look just like the paws of our national fauna emblem.
• The plant itself is endemic to WA’s South west, and there are just 11 species which come from varying habitats and soil types.
• Digby Growns has led the Kangaroo Paw Breeding Program alongside collaborative partners Ramm Botanicals since 2010, and it has resulted in a range of beautiful and distinctive new Kangaroo Paw breeds.
• In 2013, a teal blue kangaroo paw started flowering from a cross-breed done in 2012, and Digby started to target the process that created that particular kangaroo paw to make them more disease tolerant for people’s gardens.
• The King’s Park breeding program is the only breeding program in the world focused on the environment, aiming for plants that use less water, have less disease and provide habitat for local fauna.