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Backyard Festival Wollongong Botanic Gardens
This Sunday Mallee Design will be at the Wollongong Botanic Gardens for the Sustainable Backyard Festival. I will be selling Australian Native Plants, probably more hybrids and cultivars as the Botanic Garden will be selling indigenous species, and giving advice on their care and garden maintenance. I am also donating an Australian Native Garden Design…
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Yellow, Cream and White Orchids: Dendrobium speciosum
It is a most fabulous season for the Dendrobium speciosums this year, there is no other word for it, they are putting on a massive show whenever I see them, and they seem to be everywhere all of a sudden, many of them in non native gardens which is always great to see.
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Soft Feathery Grass: Baloskion tetraphyllum
I tend to use a lot of grasses in my gardens, I am not totally reliant on them and can manage without, however I mostly use plants with a weeping, soft appearance, and grasses are valuable in creating texture and contrast in a garden. This is Baloskion tetraphyllum, one of my favourites for its vibrant…
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Native Bees
All winter long, on warm sunny days I have been able to step into my garden and hear the low humming from the bees in my Eucalypts, at times the noise has been breath takingingly loud. It has been a wonderful reminder on another one of the roles that the indigenous trees on my block…
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Fish and frogs eggs
I have noticed a distinct lack of frogs eggs in my pond over the last 6 months, this image is of my Villarsia exaltata full of eggs over the summer. This particular plant was the favoured plant by the frogs for laying there eggs. It seems to have a nice branching height above the water to…
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The Wonder of Wildflowers!
This is a little class/chat/presentation I am giving in September, with Wild Rumpus all about Illawarra’s wonderful wildflowers that are starting to flower now! I will be chatting about where you can see a good range of spring flowers around Wollongong, where the best bush walks are, what you might like to try growing yourself and…
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Favourites for Shady Planting: Leionema ‘Green Screen’
I collect a lot of favourites for shady planting, it has become somewhat of a hobby to find natives that will grow in difficult shady spots. Dry shade, moist shade, windy shade, winter shade and summer sun…..screening for shade, you get the picture. So this is one of my new discoveries, Leionema ‘Green Screen’ I…
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Screening with Grevillea ‘Bonfire’
This is one of my favourite Grevilleas’ of the moment. I tend to steer towards Grevilleas without the typical heavily divided thick leaf. ‘Bonfire’ is G. johnsonii x G. willsonii, so you get the lovely fern like leaf in a dark green contrasting beautifully with the deep red flowers, which attract honeyeaters and lorikeets.
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Portfolio: North Bondi Garden Design
This is a very young garden, as it was planted out only 10 months ago, I think the establishment of the garden is amazing. This is a coastal garden, basically second line coastal, with strong salt laden winds and a very very sandy soil. The clients wanted a native ‘cottage’ style garden with plenty of…
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Winter Reds
I have been away a little bit lately, well more away from my garden than anywhere else. So I haven’t been noticing all the details, just madly rushing about planting, watering and spending more time in other peoples gardens than my own. So when I returned home on the weekend I was greeted by the…
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Grevillea Park pipes
I went to the Grevillea Park in Bulli on the weekend, I haven’t been for over a year and was delighted to find something new and exciting as always! They have created a big impact planting with a dozen or so concrete pipes, which are overflowing with a beautiful selection of natives. In the centre…
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Black Stump
This is a native garden I visited when it was open in April 2012, it shows you what can be done when someone with a lot of drive and passion finds a blank canvas. It truly amazes me that so many beautiful garden are created by one or two people. Black Stump Natives is located on the…
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Some Favourite Late Winter Flowering Natives
The end of a very dismal grey wet period has come finally! and the sun is appearing ever so bright and dazzling, I have been to the beach 4 times in the last three days, rejoicing! So I thought I would focus on those wonderful winter flowering natives that always amaze me in the colder…
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Rainforest planting
With the excessive amount of rain we have been receiving over the last few days and with more scheduled to come I am noticing how the different sections of my garden are coping. Over half of my garden is in heavy shade and of that half again is planted out with rainforest and local shade…
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White flowering Grevillea ‘Ivory Whip’
There is something pure and classic about white flowers, and I am one for a riot of colour most of the time, however I do think this white flowering Grevilleas is one of my favourites. It is a grafted specimen and one of the hardier species to withstand our humid east coast conditions.
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Enticing Suburban Native Garden
This is David’s wonderful garden, it has been made with a passionate eye and a dedicated hand and is simply beautiful. The garden is well laid out and incorporates several different areas that are all planted out with natives, can you believe it is only five years old?
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Daisies make me happy 2
This is the second instalment of my ode to native daisies, there are too many types and cvs. to choose from so I have grouped these together as they are more of a ground cover with a smaller flower. They are beautiful mixed together planted as a native meadow.
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Kids Shenanigans in the garden
“There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colours are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. – Elizabeth Lawrence
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Daisies make me happy
I went to the Blue Mountains over the long weekend and not only at Mt Tomah gardens, but also on the property I was staying, the paper daisies were popping up their sunny heads.
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Win a FREE Garden Consultation!
I am giving away a free garden consultation in this coming week! (from 1st June until the 7th). Just “like” Mallee Design on Facebook to go in the draw to win! This is for anyone in the Illawarra or Sydney region. For those not in the area there will be a special gift for the…
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Crazy Carpeting Grevillea ground-covers
OK so these two Grevilleas are a bit famous for going wild in the best way possible of course! They are fast growing and will cover a really large area, plus they are hardy and flower a lot. What more could you ask for?
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Stunning Arid Plant: Ptilotus exaltatus
This is Ptilotus exaltatus, Lambs tail or Pink Mulla, in full bloom at Mt Annan Botanic gardens. Here it has been mass planted for full effect, to replicate what you would see in the desert, a field of soft pink flower heads it is most impressive.
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Buttery Blueberry Bush Tucker: Austromyrtus dulcis
Buttery Blueberries is what I think the flavour of the Midyim Berry is, by far the most delicious of the bush tucker I have tried, and also one of the easiest to grow! I have half a dozen plants in my garden and although they are small they are surprisingly productive.
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Prostrate Woolly Bush
This is the Albany Woolly Bush or Adenanthos x cunninghamii, it is a most apt name for it as everyone is drawn to the soft feathery looking foliage to feel it and see if it feels as fluffy as it looks.
Author: Kath Gadd