Front garden issues

Hi Guys this is my first post, I have been reading threads on this forum for a few months now. The property is 700m2 with a nice big back yard and I know exactly what i want to do out the back we are going tropical with some drought tolerant plants and palms etc.

We have put murrarya hedgeing plants across the front lawn to create some privacy and define our property line from the footpath.

However I want to CHANGE the garden beds under the windows to a more modern, less mantience garden beds. I am looking at using cordylines in a variety of colours and sizes.... with some other smaller plants. A friend told me that landscapers plant in arrangements of 3s or 5s. Please feel free to offer suggestions or PICTURES on how we could plant the gardne beds.

No idea as you are in Qld I think...

But you will lose light through the windows... so stick to short hedging - in Vic it would be golden diosma for me.

Ed

Sorry forgot to say We are in brisbane, and the front of the house faces mostly south.

There are some dwarf gardenias that might be nice for that area if you like the white. I'm not sure how they would go in full sunlight or how drought tolerant they are, but they do have a nice perfume and wouldn't grow too high and can be hedged to create an even shape.

Murraya "min-a-min" might be a go?
There a re few small gardenias around. Radicans is one to choose

maybe some bromeliads there are plenty of full sun/part shade ones available now and they look the goods

planted on mounds with some zoysia would look good

also some of the little dianellas look lush as well

Thanks dinga, I was looking at bromeliads and my husband really likes them but i didnt think they liked much sun and those areas get a bit of sun, but i didnt know that you can get ones that like full or partial sun. Thanks for you help and Ideas.

check out stockadenursery.com.au for broms

there's a house in Manly or Whynam that has the front garden loaded with Broms, most in loads of sun. You lucky buggers

Hi there,

I have been trying to find out the planting distance for Murraya Min-A-Min as a hedge?

Does anybody know?

Thank you.

Regards, Dv

50 cm apart is ideal. close enough to create a solid hedge, but not too close that they compete with each other.

Brisbane ? From my years up there I mostly remember all the bugs. There's a reason older houses tend to have nothing at all near the house - it encourages bugs. I'd have nothing at all in that position. Grass and your potplants are fine. I'd push any plantings out to the perimeter of the property.

I'd go even closer than 50cm for the min-a-min. 30cm has given the best results for me when used as a small hedge. I find at 50cm the hedge doesn't really come together well enough and ends up with gaps. It also takes much longer to look complete, that can make clients a bit edgy (yes there is a pun )
The min-a-min is small so competing for nutrients isn't such an issue and helps keep them at a manageable growth rate, less long term clipping and flowering can be enhanced in some cases.

Since this thread came back up i guess i should tell you guys what I ended up doing. We put spider lillies in under the windows and they are growing great, they look great now even though there is no flowers but they look even better with flowers.... so I am very happy.

Have no had any problems with insects near the house and the hedge is starting to come together slowly its only been 5 months, but we had to go back and put some more murrayas in as we agreed we planted them too far apart. so they are about 30-40cm apart now.

Thank you Fu Manchu and Peaceful Landscape regarding the min-a-min planting distance. Will need to get some more this weekend.

Cheers Dv

Hi everyone,

I am sorry for keep asking question .

I am trying to plant Murraya Min-a-Min along the driveway. I know that it was mentioned that the planting distance between the plants is about 30c,. Does this mean that I need to plant Min-a-Min about 15cm from the edge of the driveway?

Thank you in advance for any suggestion.

Regards, Dv

yeah that'll be fine. I never measure anything i plant. Just layout the plants before hand and see if it looks right. Sometimes measuring the plant gaps just doesn't look right even though it is

You will be keeping it clipped no doubt (was clipping some today )so it really won't matter so much

I quite like Cordylines but does anyone else get the feeling they're being planted everywhere? It's like "we've got a spot there that ned somethng - let's whack in a Cordy"

I'd try and go for something a little more interesting - but that's just me.

Cheers

I hate cordylines! They are the single most sold plant in retail nurseries in Australia.
Nearly every house built has a cordyline! boring. Jeeze I even have a few and I hate them

Thank you Fu Machu for the advice.

Done the min-a-min.

Cheers Dv