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Portfolio: Consult Figtree
I have been busy this week planting out a consult design in Wollongong, it has been very satisfying cleaning up an aged garden, digging up weeds and tree roots and planting fresh natives. The bones of the garden were already there, pathways, existing large trees and a brand new renovation and deck, what was needed…
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CAD and a clean slate
This is a very large garden that is an ongoing project at the moment, yesterday was the first plant out day. I would say about 85% of the plants went in yesterday and today, Phew! it was a beautiful day for it too. The main site is on a large slope with a winding pathway…
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Try growing Actinotus helianthi, its not so hard…
Yes, it was only a matter of time before I finally sung the praise of Flannel Flowers, how could I resist? I have so many photos of them in my database, however mainly of them in the bush, these were in a domestic garden in southern sydney, growing happily under some large Grevilleas. These are…
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Easy to grow WA species: Melaleuca incana
I would so love to have a garden in Western Australia, all the interesting natives I could grow Eucalyptus macrocarpa, Banksia coccinea, Macropedia fulignosa….ahhh but we always want what we can’t have…. So I continue to trail things in my heavy clay, coastal garden with our east coast humid summer and some WA species will grow…
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Australian Plants Society Open Gardens: Aitkin Garden Bonnet Bay
So over the weekend some of the members of the Australian Plant Society Sutherland Group opened their gardens to the general public, for me this is like a dream come true, theres nothing I like more than having a sticky beak in someon-elses garden especially if it is a native garden! Unfortunately I could only…
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Spring Yellow: Conostylis candicans
What better colour to welcome spring with than yellow! Goodbye winter! However it is feeling a little bit like we have headed straight into summer here on the NSW east coast, which I find a little bit frightening, it is looking like a confusing time for plants at the moment, anyway thats another topic altogether… This…
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Soft Feathery Grass: Baloskion tetraphyllum
I tend to use a lot of grasses in my gardens, I am not totally reliant on them and can manage without, however I mostly use plants with a weeping, soft appearance, and grasses are valuable in creating texture and contrast in a garden. This is Baloskion tetraphyllum, one of my favourites for its vibrant…
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Portfolio: North Bondi Garden Design
This is a very young garden, as it was planted out only 10 months ago, I think the establishment of the garden is amazing. This is a coastal garden, basically second line coastal, with strong salt laden winds and a very very sandy soil. The clients wanted a native ‘cottage’ style garden with plenty of…
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Winter Reds
I have been away a little bit lately, well more away from my garden than anywhere else. So I haven’t been noticing all the details, just madly rushing about planting, watering and spending more time in other peoples gardens than my own. So when I returned home on the weekend I was greeted by the…
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Grevillea Park pipes
I went to the Grevillea Park in Bulli on the weekend, I haven’t been for over a year and was delighted to find something new and exciting as always! They have created a big impact planting with a dozen or so concrete pipes, which are overflowing with a beautiful selection of natives. In the centre…
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Black Stump
This is a native garden I visited when it was open in April 2012, it shows you what can be done when someone with a lot of drive and passion finds a blank canvas. It truly amazes me that so many beautiful garden are created by one or two people. Black Stump Natives is located on the…
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Rainforest planting
With the excessive amount of rain we have been receiving over the last few days and with more scheduled to come I am noticing how the different sections of my garden are coping. Over half of my garden is in heavy shade and of that half again is planted out with rainforest and local shade…
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Prostrate Woolly Bush
This is the Albany Woolly Bush or Adenanthos x cunninghamii, it is a most apt name for it as everyone is drawn to the soft feathery looking foliage to feel it and see if it feels as fluffy as it looks.
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My favourite Acacia cognata dwarfs
I used to be completely devoted to Acacia ‘Mini Cog’, one of the many dwarf shrub forms of Acacia cognata or the River Wattle. This image is of ‘Green Mist’ weeping over the edge of a large stone retaining wall, I couldn’t think of a better use for it. Acacia cognata has very narrow long lime…
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Westringia spheres
This is a rather striking entrance garden planted in front of a picket fence, right next to the footpath. There is a row of Westringia spheres followed by the contrasting soft weeping habit of Leptospermum ‘Pink Cascade’, it works so well. It give the more private garden behind the fence a sense of intrigue and…
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Groundcover grass: Themeda ‘Mingo’
I am slowly discovering all the different forms of Kangaroo grass, trust me there are more than you think! This is a blue form which is so weeping it is basically like a ground cover. Native ornamental grasses can fulfil so many rolls in the garden, they can be borders, edging, provide habitat, food for…
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The benefits of salt bush: Rhagodia spinescens
There are several species of salt bush that I like to put in gardens, this one is one of my favourites Rhagodia spinescens, it comes in varying shapes and forms, some a little more silver leaved some a little more compact. It is growing here as a pathway and garden edge and does a great job…
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The double flowers of the Swamp Banksia: Banksia robur
Whenever there is decent rain Banksia robur puts on a wonderful show of growing new leaves that emerge like the buds of red flowers, deep and furry.
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Soft Screening: Westringia ‘Snow Flurry’
This is Westringia ‘Snow Flurry’ or pretty close to Westringia longifolia, it is the most useful plant to put in a garden. It will grow almost anywhere, including in a reasonable amount of shade!
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Eremophilas as ground cover: Eremophila ‘Kalbarri Carpet’
I have been experimenting more and more with Eremophilas, starting off with the easy to grow ones like Eremophila maculata in its many forms, but this one here, that is super hardy even in humidity and clay soils, is by far my favourite.
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Grass tree spheres
Xanthorrhoea species or Grass Trees are a pretty standard ‘feature plant’ in a native garden, with their showy black trunk and perfect grass head on top they are almost a signature plant for a lot of Australian gardens.
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Layers
I saw this little entrance garden to a Leisure centre last weekend and thought that the layers of different foliage were really well done. A little bit formal with the three tiered hedges of Acacia cognata dwarf, Austromyrtus inopholia and Westringia in the front.
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shady planting
This is a great example of colourful planting in shade, it is a simple combination of Baekea virgata dwarf, Indigofera australis and Thryptomene FC Payne. The Baekea is the lime green mound on the left which naturally looks like it has had a shapely prune, the Indigofera is above it with its arching branches and…
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Spear Lily: Doryanthes palmeri
This is Doryanthes palmeri or the Spear Lily, a striking feature plant similar to the Gymea Lily except that it has a flower spike that leans over and isn’t spherical and the foliage is less clumping and more linear.
Tag: foliage contrast