I thought I posted this on the gardenweb forum. Now it's houzz? Had to sign up for a new user name. Anyway soo - you can get the Naked Gardener Compost or Debco Premium Potting Mix from Masters (closing soon). Course Perlite is from The Perlite & Vermiculite Factory Myaree (much cheaper than anywhere else). Sand I got from a bulk landscape place (lawn mix) but you can get 10 or 20kg bags of builders sand at Bunnings. Zeochlor is in the pool section at Bunnings. Rock Dust I got from the manufacturer direct somewhere in Bibralake (called Natural PK) but I think but you can now get a similar product from Waldecks (in Myaree at least). Waldecks also sell bentonite clay. I still want to try the gritty mix but getting my hands on all the materials has proved very difficult when I tried last year. I found a Queensland company that makes course DE (for mopping up oil/chemicals) but they didn't have a distributor in Perth. Nobody I could find has pine bark in the right size - and even if they did I'd have to by a cement mixer and modify it with a fine wire to screen it. Honestly, if an agricultural company were to produce the gritty mix and sell it in bags I think they'd make bank - even considering how long it lasts.

yes any sort of fig tree grows fast and is easy to look after but may outgrow your tubs(they dont mind being root bound or having there roots pruned and make great bonsai's). What about a bay leaf tree(can use it in cooking also). A citrus treeS good(need more fertilising/pruning though). Yeah frangipani but they loose all there leave so are'nt very good for screening. There would be heaps you could plant in a sunny,sheltered court yard with no frost..maybe ask your local nursery.

Hi Alison - thanks for that - it's a good article - more info than I've found elsewhere. I don't really have much choice other to prune, so like with most things in this garden, I guess I'll just do it and see what happens. My last garden was in Perth, where I struggled to keep things alive as we had nothing but sand, and gardening consisted of continually improving the soil and watering. Here, you can stick a cutting in the ground and it grows really fast and really big - once you've finished the planting, gardening in Mauritius consists of continually thinning plants out and pruning! It's virtually impossible to kill anything. Much better! Thanks again, Veronique

Hi Sheila, In Victoria and cooler climates any time from June to August. Bush roses flower on new wood so you encourage new growth by cutting back to a healthy five or seven leaf. Just cut on a light slope with a bud pointing outward. (The new thoughts are you can cut a rose back anywhere and it will still grow, which is also true) I am an old fashioned rose grower so cut back as described above but it is true no matter where you cut them they will make up their own minds where to sprout. As long as you cut off all the old dead wood, weak little shoots, try for about a pencil thickness but I have cut them back up to half inch thick. You MUST cut them back however to encourage the new growth. Climbers are different, they flower on last year's wood so you must leave the branches that have shot this year, they form the new wood to flower on next spring. Mini roswes can be pruned with shears in a good shape.