Story: Neville’s Weird and Wonderful Plants #1
Episode: 3
Presenter: Neville Passmore
Air Date: 16th March 2024

Neville takes us on a tour of his garden in Canning Vale, showcasing some of the weird and wacky plants he grows.

• The Giant Saguaro cactus, Carnegia Gigantica, which is famously featured on tequila bottles, faces endangerment as landscapers often cut them for garden planting.
• Darwin's Orchid; when Charles Darwin visited Madagascar, he had postulated that an insect existed on the island with a tongue 12cm long sufficient to pollinate a native orchid with a very long flower tube, and a century later this insect was discovered.
• White Monkey Tail cactus, a hanging basket superstar, boasts fluffy stems that can grow over 3 metres with a daily display of dazzling flowers during summer.
• Variegated Angel Trumpet is considered one of the best patio plants, emanating a sweet jasmine scent at night, attracting moths to its flowers.
• Queensland's bottle tree is a hardy and adaptable Australian native, part of the same family as the Illawarra flame tree, and features a trunk that can swell to over a metre in diameter, thriving in various climates including Perth and the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria.
• The Madagascar Palm, despite its name, is not a palm; it is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceaeit which is a stem succulent with frangipani-like flowers and a stately shape, adorned with a forest of forked spines.
• Golden Barrel Cactus, affectionately nicknamed “Mother-In-Law's Cushion", is one of the most iconic cacti in the world and utilises its prickles for sun protection and defence against nearby browsing animals.
• Named after British royalty, Queen Victoria is a small species of succulent flowering perennial plant; this showy plant is from the agave family and features short geometrical leaves with a stout spine, earning its place as a collector's favourite for decades.