Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 20, 2010 10:05 am hi, Yesterday I talked with our friend about garden maintenance. She knew we would start our landscaping soon. She suggested putting some frax plants in some parts of the garden. Her point was nearly NO maintenance instead of Low maintenance and we would have the flowers/plants we like the whole year. I've seen and heard about frax pots used by forumers here but not yet seen frax plants in the garden ( putting it as real one in garden bed. Maybe I've seen them b4, but not realizing it's frax? ) i'm thinking of using phormium jester. May I know how often it should be watered? i'm unsure of her suggestion. What's your idea? thanks v much. Re: Using frax plants in garden? 2Jan 20, 2010 11:14 am Flaxes can be pretty iffy. I find here in WA they really struggle through the summers. They do look good once established but I can't rely on them all to see out a summer. Better options are the Dianellas. Native and far far tougher than flaxes Re: Using frax plants in garden? 3Jan 20, 2010 11:37 am Does your friend have them in her garden so you could go and look at them? Any newly planted plant, even the "low maintenance" ones, needs regular watering until established. Some flaxes can get quite large. I've seen some gardens that look great for a few years but then the flaxes take over the footpath or the driveway. So you need to keep that in mind when choosing a location. Some also get a little scrappy looking and I imagine cutting out the old leaves wouldn't be much fun. We have some jesters and they've gone rather yellow. Very disappointing as they looked so good in the nursery and I spent some time building up the soil so they wouldn't be sitting right in our clay soil. We also have a variety of dianellas, they're looking pretty good. Re: Using frax plants in garden? 4Jan 20, 2010 11:48 am Macy We have some jesters and they've gone rather yellow. Very disappointing as they looked so good in the nursery and I spent some time building up the soil so they wouldn't be sitting right in our clay soil. We also have a variety of dianellas, they're looking pretty good. i stand by my statement and we have sandy soils and the same thing occurs. Colours wash out or bleach in the heat. Just one or two in a landscape can look great because they as mentioned really fill out. There's a house down the road from us that went all out on a "low maintenance" front garden and it looks like crap. They are filling out so much it has become imposing. There are dwarf varieties available but they struggle too. Best getting them in over the winter or autumn once rains arrive. Re: Using frax plants in garden? 5Jan 20, 2010 12:03 pm When they are grown in nurseries by the thousands, they cope ok with the heat and sun. However when we buy them and chuck them in the garden with sparse plantings, poor mulches, far less water, reflective heat and glare. They go to crap pretty fast. Re: Using frax plants in garden? 6Jan 20, 2010 3:40 pm thanks Fu for ur suggestion. How about Japanese blood grass? I love the colour of it but not sure if it is tough to survive in summer? I read in the nursery that this plant will die over winter. So does that mean after winter, they will grow again? thanks Re: Using frax plants in garden? 7Jan 20, 2010 5:41 pm I'm just down the road Nott, and my Phormiums are doing well. I see a lot in neighbouring gardens that aren't though, so I don't know if it depends on the variety, or if perhaps the garden owners think that low maintenance means no maintenance (it doesn't) and so don't water them at all. I suspect that's the case, because I never see anyone else watering their gardens during our allocated times. All I do to mine is water them when it's been dry - twice a week max - and feed them with Seasol. Nothing different to what I do to the rest of the garden. They develop the odd brown tip when it's very hot, and of course outer leaves need a tidy up every couple of months, but other than that, there's nothing to do. Mine are Bronze Warrior: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Using frax plants in garden? 8Jan 20, 2010 5:44 pm Re: Using frax plants in garden? 9Jan 20, 2010 9:37 pm Thanks v much Kek for ur answers and posting of the pic and your link. Maybe ur neighbour waters their plants outside the allocated time slot, or they think the landscaping is done once the plants are in U must have devoted huge time and energy in designing, building and MAINTAINING ur garden. WONderful! Hope my front would say gdbye to weed and dirt one day v soon! Re: Using frax plants in garden? 10Jan 21, 2010 6:05 am Nott Thanks v much Kek for ur answers and posting of the pic and your link. Maybe ur neighbour waters their plants outside the allocated time slot, or they think the landscaping is done once the plants are in U must have devoted huge time and energy in designing, building and MAINTAINING ur garden. WONderful! Nah, they don't water; I'm such a stickybeak, I always know what's going on in my street. Most of them don't weed either, it drives me nuts. There are half-dead weedy front gardens everywhere... I put a bit of time and effort into the planning and the planting, but honestly, I spend very little time on maintenance. There have been spans of several weeks where the rainfall has been just enough that I haven't watered, other than the odd bucket of grey water chucked on them. And I pull out any small weeds I spot when I'm watering or when I go to collect the mail - it takes me a couple of minutes once a week or so. Then about once a month, I go around and tidy up - trim off dead outer leaves, prune anything that needs it, water in some Seasol. That takes me about half an hour to an hour. It really doesn't have to be a big effort, but you can't expect a garden to thrive and look fabulous if you pay it zero attention. Next is to add a drip system and put it on a timer, then I can even skip the watering during dry spells. Murraya could be a great option for you. It creates a great tall screening hedge but doesn't drop fruit like lily pilly. The flowers smell divine. 2 10218 Broker here - legislation says that every true broker must put the clients best interests before theirs so in theory they must offer you the best options for you on their… 2 46003 0 2004 |