Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Nov 21, 2009 12:45 pm Now that we finally have a landscaping plan for the back yard, and it looks like we might actually have it done in February or thereabouts, I'm giving some thought to plants I want to use. The theme is The Tropics in Melbourne with a bit of a Balinese feel. Resort-ish, somewhere you feel comfortable lounging around with a cold bevvie in hand. There's not a blade of grass to be seen, so no mowing. Yay! This isn't the final plan, but it's not likely to vary much from the basic idea here. We haven't decided on the type of feature wall we want, or what colour and style of paver, but those details can be sorted later. Meanwhile I'm starting a list of plants I'd like. Feedback on frost hardiness, drought tolerance or anything else is welcome....and if anyone has any favourite plants to recommend, I'm all ears. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The triangle in the bottom right corner is a future (small) thatched hut. The paved rectangle in the top right corner is under the clothesline, and the other paved area at the back of the house is outside the sliding door from my studio. For the small rectangular garden bed under the dining room window, I'm thinking agaves and a bird of paradise that's to be moved from the front yard. For the raised planters, a couple of largish cycads as features. I could possibly squeeze in a Mag. Little Gem too - I have a spare one in a pot. Perhaps some more Acacia Cognata....? Not sure what else. Yuccas? Hmm. Alongside the house, leading from the al fresco area to the non-existent thatched hut, I think I want some Nandina Domestica on the house side, and I have three cordyline "sundance" to go against the fence. Those will be visible through our "caravan window" in the family room. I haven't decided what to underplant the cordys with yet. In the corner, I'm putting a giant bird of paradise. I have some shade-lovers (huge bird's nest fern, staghorn, ginger, and a pineapple lily) that I eventually want to plant there, but first I need some shade. Large shrub, small tree....? Along the back, I'll plant some strappy, grassy things near the house. Maybe some lamb's ears too - I love those. The path will be closer to the house than the sketch shows, so I'll have a wider bed along the fence. I'm not sure what to put there. I want some screening shrubs, but can't decide exactly what. Any suggestions? I also have a cumquat tree in a glazed pot that I've had forever. That might go in the extended al fresco area. And my mother has been babysitting some plants for me for two years now. The gardenia, I can probably find a home for, and the kind-of espaliered camellia too. The standard fuschia and a couple of other things, she may have to keep. I don't have any shade at all. Among my collection is a Murraya too. I know they don't like frost, so where do I put that. OK....any brilliant ideas? Re: Plants for my back yard 2Nov 21, 2009 7:29 pm After spending some hours today flicking through gardening magazines and haunting landscaping websites, I've come up with a few more plants I'd like: - Bamboo of some kind. The non-invasive sort. - Canna lilies. - I really want a nice clump or two of acanthus, but that's a shade-lover.... I'l put it on the "in a few years" list. Come on, people....where are the plant suggestions? I need some ideas. Re: Plants for my back yard 3Nov 22, 2009 11:52 am I'm sorry, I don't know. It looks like you have things coming along well already. I sympathise about the lack of shade and the "in a few years" list. We've got a fair bit of shade now but I'm still trying to figure out where to put a dicksonia antarctica. Re: Plants for my back yard 5Nov 22, 2009 1:28 pm Is the right hand side of the plan the front garden?? Are you paving your alfresco up to the same level as the doors?? This may be covering the weep holes. Whats the feature screen and planter box going to be made of?? Feature screen 12 metres high??????? I dont know any plants.. sorry!! But your suggestions sound good. Did you design this all yourself? If you did.. youre a genius!! I might have to copy some ideas of yours for our landscaping!! Really like the idea of grid paving, planter boxers and feature screening. Good luck!! Re: Plants for my back yard 6Nov 22, 2009 6:51 pm Salt&PepperMkII Is the right hand side of the plan the front garden?? Are you paving your alfresco up to the same level as the doors?? This may be covering the weep holes. Whats the feature screen and planter box going to be made of?? Feature screen 12 metres high??????? I dont know any plants.. sorry!! But your suggestions sound good. Did you design this all yourself? If you did.. youre a genius!! I might have to copy some ideas of yours for our landscaping!! Really like the idea of grid paving, planter boxers and feature screening. Good luck!! Mmm... right hand side is the back of the house. The front garden is over to the left, and isn't shown (that was done months ago - THANK GOODNESS!) Paving will be below the weep holes. We originally wanted to bring the level up to the brick sills under the bifold doors, so same as floor level inside the house, but that would be half a brick above the weep holes. Bad idea. Oh well.... We think the planter box will be Besser brick or similar, with a rendered finish (God, another colour decision! ). Maybe with capping tiles on top, so it can double as seating. As for the feature wall.... it's actually about 2.4m high, only 600mm or so above the fence. Not sure what the 12m thing is about...maybe the width? Anyway, that's still to be decided - we might make it just the width of the al fresco room. I did come up with most of the design (my husband probably thinks he had some input ...but nah... ). The drawing was done by one of the landscapers we've consulted though - my efforts would be far more amateur. Still waiting for some quotes.... Macy I'm sorry, I don't know. It looks like you have things coming along well already. I sympathise about the lack of shade and the "in a few years" list. We've got a fair bit of shade now but I'm still trying to figure out where to put a dicksonia antarctica. Well, I remember how it was with our first home. No shade for ages, then suddenly, OOPS...too much shade. I had to move my roses around the yard to a sunnier spot and then I had all these shady areas to plant. Hellebores, cliveas, tree ferns, birds nest ferns, fuschias, NZ rock lily (can't for the life of me remember the proper name for that one... ). No sooner did I have all that sorted, than the neighbours cut down a gum tree near the fence and all my ferns started to shrivel. At least gardening is never boring. I may have to rig up some temporary shade so I can plant out my shade-lovers for now till some trees grow. The pittosporums are on my list for screening shrubs. Just need to see what else is around first. can someone with more experience give me their insight? land is pretty much flat its pretty much at the top of a hill. left and right neighbours are flat in line with my… 0 7466 2 4385 there should be ss cable so you can pull up bore pump for service 1 3154 |