I was lucky enough to be asked back for some follow up advice for this charming native habitat garden in the outer suburbs of Sydney today. The renovations are finally over and the garden hasn’t faired too badly with all the coming and going. This property is located backing onto bushland which in times of rain slopes down to a decent sized waterway.

Black cyclone mesh fencing has been used to keep the connection to the rear bushland as open as possible and although the rear garden is modest in size when you are on the back deck you feel like you are on a bush block.

And this garden really has been built for the birds, as the initial planting was undertaken a few year ago, things are starting to fill out and the intention to create a garden full of dense, habitat plants is beginning to take form.

The garden bed adjacent to the bushland reserve is very steep, sandstone steps have been installed to gain access to the birdbaths and rear gate.

The bank has been planted out with Kennedia prostrata or Running Postman which is living up top its name and densely covering anywhere it can 😉 above the Kennedia you can see a bank of Grevillea sericea which on closer inspection were covered with bees.

Other star performers on the steep slope are Banksia ‘Roller Coaster’, Acacia baileyana Prostrate, Themeda ‘Mingo’ and Leucopogon juniperinus.

Acacia fimgriata Dwarf is used as screening to the neighbours fence and was also providing plenty of food for the bees.
The front garden is filling out nicely and has been complemented with the addition of a very appropriate letterbox, of which I am quite jealous.

 

The star performers in the front garden are the Grevillea flexuosa Grafted, Eremophila Nivea Grafted and the Grevillea ‘Dorothy Gordon’.

The flower colour combinations are mainly pinks and purples and I kept the foliage and flower colours soft to create a cooling effect to quite a built up streetscape.

The front garden is dominated by a striking large Melaleuca which is home to a pair of Crested pigeons and provides the house with some privacy from the street. The garden bed runs along the front of the house on the south side and therefore parts of it only get sporadic sun.

In the image above you can see Eremophila Nivea Grafted with Prostanthera ‘Minty’ and Grevillea flexuosa Grafted, both the Prostanthera and the Grevillea are strongly perfumed helping to attract plenty of pollinators the garden.

I love the combination of Westringia ‘Smokey’ with Grevillea ‘Dorothy Gordon’, the silver of the coast rosemary sets off the bronze new growth of the Grevillea perfectly.
There will be some additions to the garden over the next couple of months in order to ensure the density of shrubs is there to provide habitat to the smaller birds that live in the reserve behind. Hopefully upon my next visit they will have moved in and call this little haven home.