Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Apr 01, 2010 3:56 pm Any solutions for my backyard, in having a Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, including what Materials needed, and estimates of Costings? Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 2Apr 02, 2010 11:20 am well what you ask of me and others might be a bit much there free design? We have to make you do some work Firstly go see Zanthorrea nursery. View the web page and also go along to the workshops below. That alone will provide a heap of ideas and basic info to work from. Have a look at new Garden Guru Phillip Johnson's web site too. Loads of ideas from that. Start sourcing rock suppliers, view samples. Think about linking your down pipes from the gutters into this area so small creeks form in the rain. The water will drain away fine. Have a few bush walks, especially in winter. The South Coast is going to provide the very best ideas and inspirations. Get ideas there too. It will need to look natural. Go to Garden Week this year at Perry Lakes this coming weekend Visit the Muchea tree farm stall for lots of great plant ideas Have squiz at the water corp website and there list of waterwise plants for Perth. http://www.australiaplants.com.au/website/native-range/ The best advice is to really take ideas from nature itself. look at natural dry creeks, note features of them. Not so much the plant species but the look af the plants around, the way the creek winds or the way a dry or natural water hole are shaped. Grassey things over there, some small shrubs here, a couple of small trees over there. you'll pick up on a recipe for what you are trying to create and chances are it will be just what you want and better Do as much as you can yourself, think practical. Plants, soil, rocks and of course retic/ irrigation. Subsurface will work wonderfully and not impact the visual appeal of what you are about to create. have a look at the sticky up top of this forum for no lawn gardens because there is a homeone member who had Phillip Johnson do a garden just like what you are thinking so there are lots of ideas and design cues to take inspiration from Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 3Apr 02, 2010 12:48 pm The best solution for a dry creek bed is to locate it in a natural depression in your yard- this will ensure it looks the most natural. You have to take steps in order for drainage however, as during a heavy downpour the dry creek starts running. You can install an agg pipe or drain to the area to take away excess. Use some larger boulders to line the border, but be creative, not just in a straight line. Meander through the garden, narrow and widen its path, have a few changes in levels and a few outcrops. Have the odd boulder halfway buried in the middle of the stream. If you havent got any plants in there line it with weedmat and lay your river pebbles on top (I usually mix the larger and smaller sized ones to make it more natural). It does however look good with the odd plant put through the stream, such as a Lomandra, Poa, Carex, Isolepsis nodosa, common plants you would see growing in the wild in such places. Put some shrubs along the marhins, gradually get bigger is you get farther away, and some canopy plants spaced around the place. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Planned Landscape Constructions http://www.plannedlandscape.com.au Find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 9907611509 Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 4Apr 02, 2010 12:53 pm Drainage is not an issue in Perth. That thing can be full and then empty in 30mins. Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 5Apr 02, 2010 1:07 pm Here in WA you are lucky enough to have easy access to one of the finest small tree examples of dry river beds. The great Eucalyptus victrix. The River Ghost gum we see in the Pilbara around places like Tom Price, Newman, Onslow, Paraburdoo and even along the Gascoigne River. Further south like the SW corner they only reach 5m or so at best Easy to get Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The one above shows in particular a feature of a dry bed, that of one side being higher. It only needs to be subtle. In a creek, one side always flows faster than the other and on a bend make a small drop or step feature form a few rocks. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ There's loads of ideas we've posted now Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 6Apr 02, 2010 1:47 pm You been to Palm Valley Fu, just down from Alice Springs and has the Finke River running through it? That would ohave to be the best dry river scene I have seen, it's like a scene from Jurassic Park with it's cycads and palms throughout the valley. Would love to recreate it on a smaller scale! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ley_NT.jpg Planned Landscape Constructions http://www.plannedlandscape.com.au Find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 9907611509 Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 7Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm No I haven't but sounds pretty cool Yeah recreating things like that and getting ideas and inspiration of little details in nature is so much fun putting to use and bringing something together Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 8Apr 02, 2010 1:58 pm I know of a bloke here in WA that has done something like that. A pool that has water lilys growing and fish in it. Looks along similar lines. There's a photo in a local retic shop of it It's his own private swimming hole Re: Waterwise Dry River Bed Design, Material, and Costs? 9Apr 02, 2010 2:02 pm For OP, rocks and also granite gravel will be essential to getting this looking right. Pond shops can perhaps help with the gravel. It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. What is your soil type? Soak wells need sandy soils. 10 8975 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Ditto 3M Claw, expensive but best thing I've used to date. I put two of the 11kg ones in for a 12kg mirror on the wall, and its been great for 4 years now. 4 1459 Different to what others have said but thanks for that insight. 2 5196 |