Lomandra longifolia, or Common Mat Rush, is abundant along the NSW coast growing and in SA, Victoria and Tasmania in a range of environments from coastal dunes to dry Sclerophyll forest. It can also be seen growing in median strips and… Read more ›
The colour of this flower is contentious, is it purple or deep pink? it also looks different in the flesh as opposed to on screen and it comes in a white form. This is Melastoma affine, a medium shrub found… Read more ›
We hope your gardens are in full bloom and continue to bring you and the native wildlife joy throughout the month of Spring. This years Wattle is Acacia linifolia or Flax Wattle, it flowers from Summer through to Winter. Changes… Read more ›
Every time I visit our nations lovely Capital I seem to find myself at the National Arboretum, by default I manage to eke out at least half an hour to check in on some of my favourite plantings. I have… Read more ›
In our temperate climate the winter wildflower season is magnificent making it one of the best times for walking in and around the escarpment – or at least when it’s not too muddy! – and many of the winter flowerers… Read more ›
It has been a long cold, wet Winter here on the southern NSW coast, off and don’t forget windy! In fact my garden experienced a mini tornado a month ago, a micro weather event which sent someones garden shed and… Read more ›
Our friend Angus Stewart in Tasmania (from Gardening with Angus) recently captured all these wonderful birds making use of his Mallee Dish – including a few that we’ve never seen before since they only occur in Tasmania. In this video… Read more ›
Wet Weather Gardening After yet more rain on the east coast many plants in many gardens are suffering water-logging. Even in reasonably well drained soils the inundation has been too much for some plants. Physically, the force of rain, streams… Read more ›
Stress Relief, Connection to Nature, Community involvement, Mood lifting, Physical Health, Personal Growth ….just to name a few! Words by Kath Gadd and Hannah Preston at Mallee Design In times of great social and economic upheaval gardening can offer multiple… Read more ›
Does your garden look a little like the one in the image above? It has so much potential but you don’t know where to start? Regenerating your own patch of bushland is exciting and rewarding. You get to see first-hand… Read more ›
This showy small to medium tropical tree was flowering its head off on my recent trip to Brisbane and northern NSW. It was such a welcome sight after the damp, soggy Summer we have had, finally a species revelling in… Read more ›
By Kath Gadd and Hannah Preston Well it would seem La Niña is here with a vengence along the NSW and QLD east coast, resulting in way too much rain and very uncomfortable humidity. It has been a tough summer… Read more ›
This is a Eucalypt species very close to my heart, you can see it in my banner at the top of the website. Yes, I took photos of it almost 10 years ago and have recently revisited the vegetation community… Read more ›
This is a collection of nurseries I’ve visited, bought from and love. I’ve written about some of my favourite Native Nurseries in blogposts before but it’s handy to have one reference list to come back to isn’t it?! It’s by… Read more ›
Whilst much of the east coast of Australia is assulted by incessant rain, floods and storms and the West Coast has received some of their highest Summer temperatures on record and are now battling bushfires, I am reminiscing about mild… Read more ›
We are looking to find (ideally purchase) a new home for Mallee Design where we would like to setup a small design office, a native garden and birdbath display. Do you know of a place that might suit? We thought we… Read more ›
The scent of a frangipani marks Summer for many people, when I used to live in Sydney the frangipanis and jasmine filled the inner city streets in Summer giving off a potent scent in the warm weather. What many people… Read more ›
Forty Spotted Pardalote Image above by Alfred-Schulte The Inala Reserve on Bruny Island was the highlight of my recent trip to Tasmania, we spent two nights staying in the cabins inside the reserve bird watching and exploring this natural wonderland.… Read more ›
People often ask which birdbath is best for their garden and their circumstances. In this post I outline the best way to choose the right birdbath, which can be purchased via our shop website: https://birdbaths.malleedesign.com.au/. For most suburban gardens, where… Read more ›
Elaeocarpus reticulatus is one of the Spring flowering native tree species which really knocks itself out during its flowering season. It consistently covers itself in the little white fairy skirt like flowers to the point that it gives the whole… Read more ›
Since discovering this super blue grey form of Poa labillardieri I have been throwing it around with gay abandon ? my love for native grasses and Poas in particular is something which is pretty obvious when you see some of… Read more ›
We are mid the Australian Annual Pollinator Week and I have been admiring our our native tea trees all Spring so I thought I would bring them to your attention this week as they are wonderful plants to grow for… Read more ›
Meet a new addition to the Australian native succulent family, well maybe more a half sibling or cousin, as technically this lovely green pig face is half south African ? shock horror! However there are so few Australian succulents I… Read more ›
This wildflower season I have stayed local due to travel restrictions, which has meant I have walked the Illawarra escarpment a lot more than I normally would. Usually in the winter wildflower season we would travel to the Blue mountains… Read more ›
