Search results for: “banksia”
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Calothamnus quadrifidus yellow : The younger sibling
This is the lesser known One sided bottlebrush, the sibling in the shadows if you will, of the very showy Calothamnus quadrifidus ‘Grey’. I love both of course, and I think this green leaf form of Calothamnus deserves to be utilised a lot more in the garden. Calothamnus quadrifidus ‘Yellow’ is a very hardy medium…
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Plants of the Wallum
I visited the Wallum Banksia in one of it’s natural habitats on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) last week. And along with it the many other wildflowers which were opening thier blooms slightly early in the wildflower season. We explored both the Wallum heathlands and the Wallum Woodlands which has been a dream of mine for…
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Privacy with punch: Leptospermum lanigerum ‘Seclusion’
Please meet Leptospermum ‘Seclusion’ which I am finding to be an outstanding native screening plant, originally I admit to buying it for its intriguing cultivar name ‘Seclusion’, who doesn’t want that in their garden right? It also has a classic favourite colour combination of mine which is grey leaves with pink flowers, and what a…
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The elegant branches of Leptospermum brachyandrum ‘Silver’
I have written about this favourite tea tree of mine before, however I think it deserves another post which is more dedicated to its elegant branches and decorative bark. I took these photos of Leptopsermum brachyandrum ‘Silver’ at Kuranga native nursery last year, where they have used the species extensively around their pond and throughout…
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The Bronze Highlights of Gymnostoma australianum
This almost Christmas like tree is part of the Casuarina family, at first glance can look like a conifer or pine tree, but fuller in habit. Its overall texture and colour is very similar to She Oaks when they are flowering, which is probably why this specimen caught me eye. The male and female flowers…
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Try hedging with something a bit different: Lomatia myricoides
I have already written about this large native shrub Lomatia myricoides or River or Long-leaf Lomatia, please see the link below. This post is not so much about this Lomatia as a specimen plant but about its potential as a fabulous tall screening shrub. I have found Lomatia myricoides to be extremely versatile in the…
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Walks for winter-spring flowering plants on Dharawal Country
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 continue to bloom through spring. Fingers crossed La Niña doesn’t hit too us too hard…
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What to Plant for Poorly Drained Soils
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 and puddles of water have caused their own damage and with the increased humidity comes…
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Native Nurseries Across Australia
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 no means exhaustive and I encourage you to get in touch with local growers when…
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Portfolio: Gardening in Wind
This is my sisters garden on ‘Windy Hill’ as we like to call it, it gets so windy here the rubbish bins get blown down the street, gates are blown off their hinges and plants find it tough! Her front garden bears the brunt of the Westerlies and southerlies and used to be bare lawn…
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Instagram #INeedABirdbathHere Winner and Entries!
We’ve been simply blown away by the beautiful garden entries we received in our most recent birdbath competition #INeedABirdbathHere. We asked our followers to send us photos of their gardens for the chance to win a Freshly Spun Medium Copper Dish and couldn’t be happier with the result. It’s always inspiring to see wonderful native…
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Portfolio: Haberfield Landscape Design
The brief for this front garden in Sydney’s inner west was to create a modern native garden which is sympathetic to the era of the house and show cases an Art Deco water feature passed down through the family. The front garden now addresses and interacts with the street and also provides a sense of…
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Photo Competition Entries and Winner!
Our photo competition is finished and we’ve been absolutely blown away by all our entries. The submissions represent so many different birds and locations across Australia that we couldn’t resist putting them all in one blog post with the winner! Thank you to everyone who sent photos in to us – they have been the…
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Portfolio: Woolooware Rejuvenation
This native garden in Woolooware has a new owner, someone who is keen to be the new caretaker of the space and is looking forward to maintaining the native plants and learning more about them along the way. Someone who also recognised it was in dire need of renewal to bring it back to its…
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Bee Friendly Gardening
Bees play an important role in our ecosystem and we rely heavily on them to pollinate our food crops and our native bushland, not to mention supply us with delicious honey. There are over 1,500 native bee species in Australia with a whole host of interesting shapes and forms. Bees feed on nectar nestled within…
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Trialling Online Native Nurseries
Well, we are in an extended lockdown again and it of course has resulted in more online shopping than I would normally do🤪 For me this also includes buying plants online again so I have an extra online nursery to tell you about and add to this blog post list. These beautiful Poa ‘Suggan Buggan’…
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After a Fire …
This week I made my first trip down the south coast since the devastating bushfires earlier this year. The amount of wildlife really lost is incomprehensible when zooming down the highway cocooned in a modern bubble of distraction. The landscape is eerie, even as the trees begin to sprout new growth the middle layer of…
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Camera Trap Basics for Bird-Spotters
Recently, we’ve been using camera traps to capture videos of birds using our birdbaths. One of my favourites is the video of these wonderful silvereyes flocking around a dish in some coastal habitat below! Silvereyes migrate in large groups, feed and drink together and that’s why you can see so many together. In this post…
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Portfolio: West Wollongong Revisit
The images in this blog post were taken of a local garden I designed a few years ago which has been filling out beautifully. The requested privacy is beginning to really take shape, the front garden has been reclaimed as a relaxing outdoor space which can be utilised more often by critters and humans alike.…
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Why are birds not visiting my bird bath?
There are a number of reasons for not seeing birds in a birdbath. You may not have allowed enough time for birds to find your birdbath, birds may actually be coming but you don’t see them or cats may be disrupting an array of local species. Placement as well as the type of habitat provided…
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Portfolio: Garden Design West Wollongong
“In short, can’t thank you enough for the difference your design and expertise have made to our street frontage, never mind our well- being during lockdown.” September 14th 2021 The brief for this garden was inspired by another Mallee Design garden two doors up the street, which always helps 😉 The clients wanted to get…
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The Greatest Geebung: Persoonia pinifolia
Geebungs are a wonderful Genus of native plant, they below in the Proteaceae family like Banksias and possess a variety of flowers, leaves and habits. In fact I have already written about Persoonia pinifolia a couple of years ago, see here. However since then I have seen them growing outside of their native locality of Sydney…
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Portfolio: Northmead Garden Design
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…
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A multi-purpose favourite : Acacia baileyana Prostrate
What can this wattle not do?! it can be a dense ground cover, a spillover for a retaining wall or garden edge, a low mounding feature shrub and a lovely soft border plant. On top of all that it flowers like nobody’s business in the middle of Winter! Acacia baileyana Prostrate is a low growing…