Our Library recently spoke to Jane Varkulevicius about her new gardening guide, Pruning for Flowers and Fruit, which has been published by the CSIRO. You will have the chance to meet Jane Varkulevicius at Hastings, Mornington and Rosebud libraries during October.
Meet Jane Varkulevicius at Our Library this October! Learn how to choose the best plant at the nursery and prune with confidence.
Jane Varkulevicius lives on the Mornington Peninsula. She has been a passionate gardener from an early age, and has worked in the horticultural industry for 30 years. Jane has developed, with her husband and two children, a garden that is not only a sanctuary for friends and family but also with an emphasis on ornamental food production. Making the most of every plant in the garden, no matter how small the space, has led her to believe that an understanding of how plants work and how they can be pruned is an essential garden skill.
In the lead up to her events, Jane spoke to us about her career in the horticultural industry, her writing practice and what compelled her to write her latest book.
You have worked in the horticultural industry for 30 years. What fascinates or inspires you most about plants and gardening?
I was indoctrinated into the joys of gardening from an early age. I have been blessed with a large extended family, and much of my childhood was spent visiting them. We were shooed outside so the adults could talk. I explored the wonders of an herbaceous border, played in thickets of melaleucas, made mud pies, climbed trees and marveled at a worm farm. Each visit ended with an adult tour of the garden. Problems and future plans were discussed, the bumper lemon crop, the scent of a rose, a blue tongue lizard or the first sign of the lilies arising were all noted, and duly discussed.
It was inevitable that I pursue a career in horticulture. I have worked in school and domestic garden design, propagation and production, horticultural journalism and taught courses on these subjects.
I am fascinated how humans interact with their surrounding ecological environment; the wild places, or the ‘second nature’ that they call their garden, park or public open space. The health and happiness of us all can be enhanced by an appreciation of the living world around us – how it relates to us, and how we relate and recreate with it. Despite my knowledge of the biological processes involved, I still marvel at the ‘magic’ of germinating seeds and the development of fruit from flowers.
'Pruning for Flowers and Fruit' by Jane Varkulevicius. CSIRO Publishing. RRP: $39.95 (paperback, 224pp). ISBN: 9780643095762.
What compelled you to write Pruning for Flowers and Fruit?
Many of my students and clients had no idea what pruning was about. It was something to do in winter to fruit trees, or something one did to foliage or flowering plants to ‘keep them in control’. There was no book that I could recommend to them that would show them how to sharpen their secateurs – an essential pruning skill, or that explained how plant biology worked. Bringing out the best in every plant so it related to its overall community of garden plants in its particular situation, was not mentioned by any pruning book I knew of.
Pruning books tended to be written for the Northern hemisphere. In Australia, the majority of the population live where Citrus, Avocado and other subtropical fruits thrive – yet they were barely mentioned in most publications.
As a young gardener growing daisies and French lavender, I was told to “cut them back after flowering”. This was completely useless advice as they never seemed to stop flowering! Pruning literature seemed to be dominated by clichés that explained nothing – just offered an unsubstantiated formula. My book Pruning for Flowers and Fruit sets out to remedy this situation.
Why is it important to prune?
It is with the knowledge that when you wield the secateurs or saw, you make your plants more productive, more effective or simply more beautiful. Just like gentle discipline for children, good pruning should bring out the best in every plant.
It is about how to bend plants to your will so you can make the most of every plant in your landscape- from fruit trees to groundcovers and grasses.
Knowing when to prune to maximise growth or suppress it means that your site can hold more species than you originally thought, or that a screening hedge can be hastened into growth.
Sharp, well-cared for tools are essential for the finest finish on well-groomed plants, and will ensure that pruning for plant health is as effective as possible. By learning how to prune, many disease problems disappear, so toxic sprays can be dispensed with just by enhancing the amount of light and air available to the leaves.
Encouraging flowering growth and therefore fruit-bearing wood can maximise home harvests. Pruning for fruit requires the gardener to identify what growth their plants produce on, and how to keep the balance between the food-manufacturing leaves that will feed the hoped-for harvest.
If flowers are the priority, the same theory applies. Timing the pruning and encouraging flowering wood, rather than cutting it off, will naturally promote the most floriferous of gardens.
Your book details step-by-step instructions to prune with confidence. What tips will people pick up at your special events at Our Library?
How the timing of pruning can influence the amount of growth made by the plant; also how it determines the type of growth that is produced. For example, when to prune so that strong vegetative growth is promoted, or flowering and fruiting growth is encouraged.
How to manage the different types of buds to fulfill certain gardening goals is essential for effective pruning; so knowledge of how buds ‘work’ is vital. Learn how to renovate fruit trees and ornamentals, and the best way to deal with hedges. Espaliers, coppicing and pleaching will be explained, and how these ancient techniques can be used for a more beautiful or more productive garden. In fact, any pruning problem anyone may have, I am very happy to answer any questions.
This is your second book. You also co-wrote The Australian Fruit and Vegetable Garden. What made you want to write when you started out?
I have always enjoyed writing since school days. However as my horticultural knowledge grew, I realised that many gardeners did not have access to the information I had picked up over the years. As any passionate practitioner, I knew enough to realise how little I knew, but also what meager information was available to those not lucky enough to work in the industry.
I am determined to remedy this situation as I believe a knowledge of horticulture/gardening is the most effective solution not only for our mental and physical health, but also for the health of the planet.
What’s your writing routine and where you usually write?
My ‘office’ is just an alcove off our sitting room, a table and a computer close to my ever-increasing collection of books. I start at about 8.30am and write until I need a coffee. If the light is right I may do some photography – we have a carport that has excellent light! Some more writing after lunch and then mid afternoon I would do some drawing until 5.30pm or 6.00pm when the rest of the household returned and expected dinner. I generally took the weekends off, but never travelled anywhere without my camera. It was amazing how much good and bad pruning there is out there that could illustrate a point I was trying to make.
Jane's writing companion, Zapp.
What project are you currently working on?
I am mulling over a few projects. One is a propagation book with a special reference to food plants in the home garden. Another idea is a graphic representation of succession planting for vegetable gardens, what to put in when and what to plant after a preceding crop. I find that a picture communicates so much more than words and it would give me an opportunity to do more drawing – I really enjoy it.
MEET JANE VARKULEVICIUS
Friday 15 October, 11am
Rosebud Library, McDowell Street
Free, but bookings essential: 5950 1230
Tuesday 19 October, 11am
Hastings Library, 7 High Street
Free, but bookings essential: 5950 1710
Monday 25 October, 11am
Mornington Library, Vancouver Street
Free, but bookings essential: 5950 1820
