Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 May 06, 2009 9:37 am Hi All This is the new place, as you can see the front garden is very, well non existant. I really don't know what to do ? I am open to ideas. Any photos or suggestions? Thanks Heaps! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Blog: http://house.jay.net.au/ Re: Garden design - help me choose 2May 06, 2009 10:06 am Would you be keeping the garden beds that are already there? If so i think fake grass will finish it off nicely! its not that expensive! We got ours from bunnings and did it ourselves saved HEAPS doing it that way, but if you don't want to do that there are companies who specialises in fake grass. We wanted a bit of green in our yard and with the water problems of late and us hating gardening too fake grass was the way to go, no up keep! If your not big on fake grass a lot of ppl around my area have gone bark, or you could just go stones, nice white or grey stone would bring out the colors in the facade! Is your house in truganina (VIC) at all?? This house looks similar to a house that is near my sisters house! Re: Garden design - help me choose 3May 06, 2009 10:20 am woodsey Would you be keeping the garden beds that are already there? And which way does it face? Any view you want to preserve? Privacy you want to create, from street, neighbours driveways? Any soil issues, eg heavy clay? Re: Garden design - help me choose 4May 07, 2009 10:14 am Hi All Yes, it is in Truganina! Hehe heaps of houses look the same there! I may keep the existing beds, I dont know. I love those designs with white pebbles and those brown plants. But I really have no idea how to put things together! I don't really want to create any privacy. It faces north. Not sure about the soil? Blog: http://house.jay.net.au/ Re: Garden design - help me choose 5May 07, 2009 10:59 am jaytyn1 Hi All Yes, it is in Truganina! Hehe heaps of houses look the same there! I may keep the existing beds, I dont know. I love those designs with white pebbles and those brown plants. But I really have no idea how to put things together! I don't really want to create any privacy. It faces north. Not sure about the soil? My sister lives in Cabarita Way there is a house like the one you brought in that street which is why I thought must be Truganina We live in Manor lakes and its clay so its properly the same for you, but nothing a bit of gipson i think its call can't fix Soil Worx in Hoppers crossing has a great range of rocks, the white one we got was $149 a M3, you’ll find white tends to be more expensive not sure why! A co-worker has used this new garden bed edging stuff its metal and it beds to any shape, I really like his garden its simple but effective just bent the edging into different shapes added a black and white stone, heres a link should give you some ideas! http://www.greenlines.com.au/index.php We used fake grass and bordered it with white stones just a feature, then we have garden beds separate. Plants l love think are very effective, Black boys, Yukkas, flacks, mondo grasses! As for setting it up, for us there were no rules we just had fun with it, we would lay the plants in their pots around the place and just keep moving things around till it looked like it was right! we read the tags which told us if it was full sun, partly sun no sun etc! i do know you should read up about plants which roots go a little crazy cause you don't want them near the house or pipes! To be honest we have no idea when it comes to gardens and plants, but so far we have managed to not kill them For working out garden beds and shapes for our grass and stones we used spray paint cause if your not happy with it you turn the dirt around and start again You say you like white pebbles so perhaps you could shape your yard in sections ive always like oval, you could use that new edging i mention and bring some shapes to life, then fill the shapes with the white and i would say a grey stone would be good too mayb even a black! hope that helps! Re: Garden design - help me choose 6May 07, 2009 4:33 pm woodsey As for setting it up, for us there were no rules we just had fun with it, we would lay the plants in their pots around the place and just keep moving things around till it looked like it was right! we read the tags which told us if it was full sun, partly sun no sun etc! i do know you should read up about plants which roots go a little crazy cause you don't want them near the house or pipes! That's what we do. If you have clay soil do pay attention to labels that mention good drainage. We now need to replace one large shrub, it needed better drainage and the drought didn't help and this past summer was too much. The problem sometimes is the labels start out with something like "hardy, tolerates wide range of soils" and the bit about drainage is a small afterthought at the bottom. These days I come home and google for more details, though I still sometimes succumb to an occasional impulse buy. Even the size can vary between growers (I was told that can depend on whether the grower is in Sydney or Melbourne?) so it's an unwelcome surprise to plant something about 1.5m and then see another label saying 4m and realise aha, that's why it hasn't stopped growing yet. I love flaxes and cordylines, and they look great with modern architecture, but be careful about where you put them. I've seen them used to great effect, only for them to start going over the driveway or footpath after a few years. Unlike hedging plants you can't trim them back, at least not without ruining their form, so be careful about where you place them and what their ultimate size will be. There's a gate at the side. Will you need either temporary access to finish the back, or regular permanent access for example to bring the garbage bins out, or bicycles, or have the trash pack collected? If you might need regular access down the side you'd want an easy walking surface, otherwise something decorative like stepping stones will do. Do you particularly want lawn? Some places look best with an expanse of lawn in front but yours would look fine either way I think. Re: Garden design - help me choose 7May 07, 2009 10:54 pm I reckon three small feature trees would be amazing, cool the home in summer and give you the chance to save loads of water with reduced evaporation Maybe a Claret ash half way between the tap and the boundary. Then two Chinese Tallows one near the side fence and the other next to the letter box. Or a bunch of Silver Birches would look amazing and the trunks and bark would suit the facia colours of your home so well! 3-5 silver birches would really look good even without leaves! Re: Garden design - help me choose 8May 08, 2009 11:57 pm Some awesome ideas guys/gals, thanks heaps! I'll take your ideas into account and try and do some computer sketches. Thanks heaps. Blog: http://house.jay.net.au/ Re: Garden design - help me choose 9May 09, 2009 8:29 am Definitely draw up a rough plan first, especially if you might want to change the existing layout. Decide whether or not you want grass (do you have recycled water or tank/grey available to get around water restrictions?). You can go for real lawn, fake lawn or none at all - we went none at all, which works fine in a small front yard. I have some photos here: http://keksmovingonup.blogspot.com/search/label/landscaping I love Fu's tree suggestions and I think you'll find that shade is an important factor in summer for a north-facing house. Have a look around the nurseries and see which plants you like - take a notepad and write down the names. Better yet, photograph them with their tags visible, so you know which is which - it can get confusing! Once you have a design and a list of plants you like, start to work out which ones you want to include. Resist the urge to have one of everything - a few species in massed plantings always looks better. One or two feature plants can be nice; you might even like to add a large pot or urn if you have room. Most of all, have fun with it! Re: Garden design - help me choose 11May 10, 2009 6:11 pm Here is a very rough 'photoshopped' version of my plan. What do you think? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Blog: http://house.jay.net.au/ Re: Garden design - help me choose 12May 10, 2009 6:54 pm Looks much better in the virtual 'after' shot A couple of suggestions: how wide is the area where the tree will go? Make sure you choose a tree which will not 'over-grow' the space. The contrast of purple and green plants looks good: what sort of plants do you intend to get? Purple fountain grasses would look good for the purple ones and are very easy. Also where you plan you to have different stones and stones against grass, make sure you put a paveing or concrete border separating the sections - otherwise, over time, the stones end up mixed together and the grass overgrows its section, not a good look. Also I would suggest a concrete/ paved ring or square around the tree, easier to keep the grass neat around it than growing the tree directly onto a grass area. Just my 2c worth Re: Garden design - help me choose 13May 10, 2009 7:06 pm I agree with Helyn about separating the tree from the lawn - mowing becomes a real pain when the grass grows right up to the tree trunk. A square of paving bricks or something similar and some mulch around the tree lets you mow easily. I spent several weekends of hard labour at our old house digging narrow trenches in the edge of the lawn and laying paving bricks, and it made mowing around the garden beds and feature trees a breeze. Have you thought about letterbox styles and placement? 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