Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 02, 2014 7:18 pm Hi all Looking for ideas what to plant in under our front porch area of our house. Want something that will give some nice street appeal, be fairly low maintenance and hardy. Area is roughly 5m x 4.5m - all currently mulched. The area faces East - so gets the morning sun. We live in Mansfield Victoria - so any plants need to be fairly hardy. ie - tolerant of cold temps - goes down to minus 5 here (so frost hardy - although porch will give some protection) heat tolerant - temps can hit 45 on some days. wind tolerant - it gets quite breezy here, although the buidling will give some shelter We have Dwarf Nandinas slowly growing into a hedge up the path to the front door, a weeping 'Celtic Cascade' tree in front of the area. On the front lawn are 2 Mop Tops. Here's a few pics to give you an idea of the area. We welcome any ideas. If you've done a similar area -show us a pic perhaps along with the names of the plants you used. Thanks! Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 2Jan 03, 2014 8:26 am Is 5mx4.5m correct? Looks much smaller than that!! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 3Jan 03, 2014 10:00 am Some type of hebe - shrub might work. Nice green with colour. Not to tall - but a lovely shrub. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=plan ... 20&bih=951 Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 4Jan 03, 2014 5:05 pm EmyN Is 5mx4.5m correct? Looks much smaller than that!! Sorry EmyN...oops - was guesstimating last night from the couch inside ...measured it today and it is actually 4.1m x 3.5m. Saint Mike Some type of hebe - shrub might work. Nice green with colour. Not to tall - but a lovely shrub. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=plan ... 20&bih=951 Thanks Saint Mike, we have lots of Hebes planted around the block already, hadn't thought of putting them in there too. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 5Jan 03, 2014 5:30 pm I didn't mean to nitpick. It just looks like it's 2x2 or something haha. Very deceptive. Afraid I don't have any practical garden advice but I reckon a sculptural centrepiece wouldn't look out if place there. I reckon it should be a fairly formal little garden. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 7Jan 04, 2014 7:01 am Not sure whether either of these would suit your location - or the aspect.... but a mass of Hellebores could look good. Or Cliveas (Kaffir Lily). Maybe not the entire space (although no reason why not) but could do two or three deep around the edge or even roughly half the space?? With something slightly taller for the back?? Yes, water feature could look good - could have some stepping stones/pavers leading to it? (If doing something like that hen could plant hellebores/cliveas in remainder of space). HHCIB Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 8Jan 07, 2014 5:31 pm Thanks for the replies and good ideas Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 10Jan 19, 2014 10:14 pm Here's my 2 c First, great aspect! Second, under the roof Therefore - third: who will be watering it regularly?? Anyway, I loved the idea of extending the deck and making it low maintenance with a large seat and small table and a few large pot plants (cactus would be good as they dont need too much care) and maybe some ornaments (oh and cactus could alternatively be the ornaments!). But if you really want planted plants , this to me cries contrasting foliage! No flowering plants (they all have up and down seasons). Foliage looks good (and as if in bloom) all year round. So: Large striking bright red / pinkish thingies with loong strappy leaves - in the middle. Then oval / circle around them of medium height plants, similar strappy thingies (but slightly smaller leaves) and silvery / grey in color. Then. The last circle - edges. Can do even with larger mondos, or find some yellowish but small plants. Or, can swap and plant yellow (or bright green) foliage plants in the middle if you can find a suitable medium plant for that, and put little silvery dianellas (or whatever they are called!!) as the smallest plants around the edges. OR, do just 2 layers, not 3 (might have space just for 2 layers). And not put them way too close! Let them have plenty of room. There! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 11Jan 20, 2014 8:56 am Since it's up against the house, I would choose something with minimal water requirements (mulch and moisture up against the house encourages termites). We will be having some pebbles, with succulents in pots. Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 12Jan 20, 2014 10:52 am Another idea (as I don't really like the idea of "planted plants" in this space). This is actually my preferred option! Instead of doing more decking (exy?? and higher maintenance to keep it looking fresh) .. I would put down some larger format pavers - about 2+ inches apart and put some pretty pebbles in between. Super easy DIY! I don't know why, but I am "seeing" charcoal pavers and 4cm pebbles in that space! (white / combo of grey+white+dark / light golden/beige - these pebbles would all work). AND ... you can omit a paver in a spot or two and plant a neat low maintenance plant (eg. clivias - they are super tough) or some showy strappy foliage plants. Eg. you could omit the pavers in the corners (or even better, second row of pavers from corners, so you get plenty of room to access the plant from all sides some years in the future if it ever needs some "maintenance") and maybe even a paver (or two!) somehere in the middle and plant *something* neat and a bit striking in those spaces (again, those gorgeous strappy colourful foliage plants are perfect). Lower maintenance and much less time spent watering and looking after a whole little yard of plants! I would set the pavers to be slightly lower than the deck (similar to what it looks like now), so it doesn't look like you ran out of decking timber and it would actually be easier as there would be no digging or importing of soil. You could spread some matting under the whole lot (minus, of course, spacious cut outs for the plants) to reduce sinking of the pebbles and weeds. (Matting would normally "hurt" the soil, but it does not matter in this case because its effect would be as if you poured a very porous slab there ) You might even get pavers cheaper if you find them as "imperfects" with minor sizing imperfections (not important and not noticeable in this case). And of course, a nice decorative bench seat (or something like that), casually placed to overlook the neighbourhood! I really like this idea. Can I come over and do it!?!? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 13Jan 20, 2014 5:47 pm Thanks again for all these great ideas. Quite liking the idea of perhaps some pebbles and pavers along with some striking foliage plants. Watering won't be a problem, as we plan to run timered dripper lines in there as per the rest of our garden. Don't think light will be a problem there either, the roof is 12 foot high there and we have been using it as our little plant nursery - to store our plant purchases there until we get time to put them in - and they all seem to thrive there while they are sitting in their pots waiting to be planted. Love your great plant descriptions Lex - haha our sort of gardener Lex "Large striking bright red / pinkish thingies with loong strappy leaves"....... "similar strappy thingies (but slightly smaller leaves) and silvery / grey in color". I really like this idea. Can I come over and do it!?!? Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 16Feb 26, 2014 12:30 pm TinaG Since it's up against the house, I would choose something with minimal water requirements (mulch and moisture up against the house encourages termites). We will be having some pebbles, with succulents in pots. Hi there, we build our house in Berwick and proposed landscape plan has an area with mulch. After reading some forums and articles I'm bit concern about having mulch due to its termite prone nature. We are thinking whether to ask our builder to remove mulch from the landcape plan. Any advise in this regard is highly appreciated? Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 17Mar 13, 2014 9:11 am I just updated the Blog with more details of the trees/plants that will be provided to us as part of landscaping plan of the builder. You can access the page using http://mydreamhouse4u.blogspot.com.au/p ... -plan.html Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 18Mar 13, 2014 12:07 pm TinaG Since it's up against the house, I would choose something with minimal water requirements (mulch and moisture up against the house encourages termites). We will be having some pebbles, with succulents in pots. not only this, but i hope your footings are protected from the changes in moisture occuring in the ground right there. Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: What should we plant here - any ideas welcome 19Mar 05, 2015 4:59 pm Hi all Finally an update of what we did with this garden area under the porch. A water feature plus some hardy low maintenance plants. Thanks for everyone's helpful inputs. All the plants are thriving in the spot despite the shade of the roof. Each plant has its own dripper in place so watering on a timer makes it easy. Should look great once the plants bush up a bit more. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Tradie may sit at home but will need to get house plastered as well or will you sit it out? 6 9962 0 4703 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16001 |