Discover plants like this shrub, which is easy to     grow in Brisbane and has gorgeous flowers.

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Get Results Gardening is a weekly email publication from Calyx Horticultural Services. Something like a digital mini-magazine, it features reliable and easy to grow plants, seasonal advice, achievable and affordable design ideas, inspiration and motivation.

While focussing on South East Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, etc) and subtropical northern NSW, there'll be plenty of relevance to residents of other parts of Australia.

It's aimed at the typical suburban home gardener, but high-quality and topical information will also help nursery and garden industry professionals, property developers and real estate investors stay informed and on top of their game.

Get Results Gardening is presented in a concise and easily-understood way. It's for someone who wants to improve their home and lifestyle with an attractive landscape, but may be feeling overwhelmed or confused by all the information and opinions out there.

The gardening world abounds with myth, misinformation and "woo" that makes gardening seem more mysterious (and expensive) than it needs to be. Get Results Gardening is focussed on proven plants and scientifically sound practices.

Want a clumping palm that's not the predictable old golden cane?

Because many other media outlets already cover vegetables and fruits extensively, they won't be the focus here. However, much of the basic gardening knowledge covered will be applicable to edibles as well as ornamentals.

Practical issues that affect most homeowners today - such as privacy worries, lack of space, lack of time, water restrictions and budget limitations - will be some major themes.

We'll also be keeping an eye on research and looking for opportunities to use horticulture to raise the standard (and maybe even the value) of your property at an individual and suburban level.

International style trends in the garden and outdoor living arena plus other illuminating or amusing snippets from the world of plants will make an appearance, too.

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There's bound to be something of interest to most Australians each week, even if you don't live in SE QLD or even if you think you don't like gardening. Why not take a free, no-obligation trial and find out for yourself?

A new American study focused on middle-aged women has shown that green space in the vicinity of their homes is associated with better cognitive function.

This didn't appear to have anything to do with lower pollution levels or increased physical activity, but with a reduction in depression. The fact that both depression and cognitive decline are linked to the the development of dementia gives these findings added significance.

"Some of the primary ways that nature may improve health is by helping people recover from psychological stress and by encouraging people to be outside socializing with friends," said lead author Marcia Pescador Jimenez. "Increasing everyday access to vegetation across vulnerable groups in urban cities is a crucial next step to achieve health equity."

In an upcoming project, she will analyse vegetation in more detail to understand which elements (e.g. trees, grass) may be most effective.

Read more: Living in Areas with More Greenery May Boost Cognitive Function, Boston University

Using data from a northern Californian healthcare provider, a new study has shown that greener neighbourhoods produce better human health and lower medical costs.

It's possible that both could be a wealth effect, but the researchers says that income and other factors have been taken into account.

"Our findings are robust - the relationship between nearby greenness and medical care costs held for 13 years of costs, two different measures of greenness at each of three distances from home, and multiple categories of healthcare costs [e.g., emergency, hospitalization, etc.]," says Ming Kuo from the University of Illinois.

Read more: Neighborhood trees may protect against high medical costs, poor health, University of Illinois.

UK company Roofing Megastore has done a survey of prospective homebuyers to find out which garden improvements might add the most value to a property.

Bearing in mind how housing styles and tastes may differ in Australia and that the results are based on what people say they would pay, the results are interesting.

Not suprisingly, expensive additions like entertaining areas or studios added value, but not by as much as you might expect considering what they probably cost.

On the other hand, some basic enhancements performed relatively well, including established, well maintained lawns and gardens. According to this survey, just painting the fences could add a lot of value.

When it comes to things that could devalue a home, it's clear that damage and neglect are big turn-offs. Rubbish, weeds, broken fences and overgrown grass could lower offers by thousands of pounds.

Read more: The Garden Trends That Add The Most Value To Your Home In 2022, Roofing Megastore

Green residential court yards in Potsdam     Credit: Jan Michalko, University of Potsdam

A study conducted in Potsdam, Germany, compared four comparable urban spaces surrounded by five-story apartments.

They found that even small differences in the amount of greenery produced benefits for residents, particularly summer cooling. The presence of trees and shrubs reduced temperatures up to 11°C in these courtyards.

The maximum value recorded in the least-vegetated courtyard during the study was 45°C, demonstrating that even in northern Europe, humans can be at risk of heat stress.

If such events become more frequent, the need for sustainable mitigation measures becomes even more important.

It's well established that gardening is associated with mental health. A new study out of the UK has looked at the "dose" you might need.

The researchers found gardening 2-3 times per week was effective, but daily was even better at lowering stress and improving wellbeing.

High density of street trees in Leipzig city centre     Image by Philipp Kirschner

Consistent with growing evidence of the therapeutic effects of a vegetated urban environment, analysis of the population in Leipzig, Germany has shown that streets trees can improve mental health.

Here, researchers used the number of prescriptions for antidepressant medication in different parts of the city as the gauge.

They found that a high number trees within 100 metres of the home made a difference, particularly among socio-economically disadvantaged groups. These are also the ones most at risk, so planting of more street trees could help address inequalities in this aspect of health.

The species or diversity of the trees did not make a difference in this study, nor did the number of trees more than 100 metres away from home.

Read More: Street trees close to the home may reduce the risk of depression, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. Follow the link on that page to download the full study.

Here's some new research* that will be of particular interest to work-from-homers.

In one experiment, the gait of people walking towards a projected image was analysed. Speed and step length suffered more - a sign of increased "cognitive load" - when urban scenes were viewed compared to natural ones.

In a second experiment, the researchers gave participants a simple shape discrimination challenge while being distracted by the same scenes. Reaction times were slowed by presentation with the urban imagery compared to the nature scenes.

These results indicate that, quite apart from problems like noise or air quality, simply dealing with the visual aspects of a city can have a negative effect on the brain's ability to perform other tasks.

*Burtan D, Joyce K, Burn JF, Handy TC, Ho S, Leonards U. 2021 The nature effect in motion: visual exposure to environmental scenes impacts cognitive load and human gait kinematics. R. Soc. Open Sci. 8: 201100. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201100