Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 12, 2015 12:12 pm Hi everyone, I thought I'd share a few photos of the back garden that came with our property and how that's going so far Our backyard came with a mixed border with stone edging and a number of established shrubs. It was pretty overgrown and filled with English ivy so I had to spend our first summer there cleaning it all out. (The ivy also covered the carport!!) This will be our third year here and so far I've expanded the bed, gotten rid of diseased/sad plants and added quite a few new plants, mostly natives. Grow, you beauties! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2013, when we first moved in. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ September 2015 - full view of the mixed border, if we're feeling fancy. I've planted hedges to provide screening and to replace the Sweet Pittosporum, the huge bright green one in the middle. An invasive weed unfortunately I picked native hedges - Hop Bush, Silver Banksia, Starry Night tea tree, Gossamer Wattle. The Flowering Gum is looking worse for the wear after a large section of its canopy broke in 100km winds, but hopefully it'll rebound fine. On the left are the raised veggie beds we built from sleepers - an improvement on scrap treated pine and chain-link. The left side of the back bed is a shady corner with overhead summer sun, so I planted a Manzanillo olive to grow tall (and give us olives of course) and shade/shelter the understorey guys underneath - tree fern, pieris and waratah. I might add hellebores later if I can find mixed colours, not just medium-purples. On the far right of the photo is the colorbond wall which was covered in ivy - we took it off, gave the wall a good scrub and repainted in charcoal. The tall branches on it are wisteria. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I've learned that I would not plant camellias unless they're in a very sheltered spot - these two are quite handsome but the wind and rain leave them in tatters. At least they add a bit of colour from a distance...? The two hebes (one of them a mature transplant) are easy as, no maintenance no muss. I planted a cluster of Dianellas under the gum tree, several Tussock-grasses around my scraggly Silver Banksia, and 'Cousin It' casuarinas and Myoporum (Boobialla) as groundcovers, since pretty groundcover grevilleas don't like it here at all. We also covered the rubbishy old fence with brushwood screening to tide us over for a bit. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Better shot of the gum/camellia corner on a sunny day - young banksia on left, purple-tipped Santa Monica hebe in the foreground. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Correa 'Jezebell' - I planted three of these Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Waratah bloom from last year (this year's haven't matured yet) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Newly planted Myoporum purpurea - purple stalks and little white flowers. Please feel free to post your own garden pics, or to tell me what I'm doing wrong with mine Re: Garden Photos 2Oct 13, 2015 10:36 am Looking good Steph Why people plant ivy I will never understand! I lived in the Dandenongs (Victoria) as a child and we used to have to pull ivy off trees and other plants all of the time as it just strangles them. Yet I have still seen ivy for sale in plant nurseries - it's just crazy. Anyway, I've just realised I have absolutely no recent pics of my garden in electronic form so can't share anything at this point lol. Will try to remedy that and post again in the near future. Fig Landscapes has produced an e-book and native plant index, available for purchase from their website. It's a great resource, full of inspiration and tips. Another… 1 12759 Our Bondi Greenwall was impressive from day one with advanced lush plants to provide a wow factor to this recently renovated living area. The boundary was less than 1… 0 19184 |