Search results for: “acacia”

  • Happy little inner city garden: Leichhardt Garden Design

    Happy little inner city garden: Leichhardt Garden Design

    This small garden in the inner west of Sydney is actually quite generous, there is room for lawn, a studio and a seperate outdoor eating area. This means there is also room for lots of different native plants! Hooray! we planted for year round flower, colour, foliage contrast, texture and wildlife habitat. There is something…

  • Portfolio: Garden Design Bulli

    Portfolio: Garden Design Bulli

    Yesterday I spent a sunny winter morning pruning and shaping in this coastal garden in Bulli, I love returning to one of my designs to do a little maintenance and tweaking, and this is one of my favourites 😉 This garden is roughly 4 years old you can see how it has filled out by…

  • Portfolio: Garden Design Lilyfield

    Portfolio: Garden Design Lilyfield

    This is the tiny front garden of a small cottage in Lilyfield that was planted out about about 2 years ago, during that time it has flourished! Providing well needed privacy from the street and adding a lovely sense of arrival as you step off the pavement. The feature screening tree is a grafted Dwarf…

  • Portfolio: Garden Design West Wollongong

    Portfolio: Garden Design West Wollongong

    This front garden in West Wollongong was created to function as a place for peaceful relaxation and observation, it also needed to have careful consideration in regards to levels and access to the front gate and letterbox. Originally the front garden was an awkward, uninteresting space filled with easy to grow green plants, that was…

  • The ‘New’ formal Native Garden

    The ‘New’ formal Native Garden

    When most people think of a formal garden the first images that spring to mind are rows of neatly clipped Buxus borders with some Robinia topiary and maybe a screening Camellia hedge. These are some of the easiest plants to use if you are copying the European template for creating a formal style garden, they…

  • Portfolio: Bundeena Garden Design Revisit

    Portfolio: Bundeena Garden Design Revisit

    I visited one of my favourite gardens today and it did not disappoint, I haven’t seen this coastal Bundeena garden for 18 months and many of the trees and shrubs have really filled out in that time. I feel so lucky to be able to keep track of this gardens progress and check in when…

  • Portfolio: Kogarah Garden Design

    Portfolio: Kogarah Garden Design

    This garden was planted just over 12 months ago and has thrived in a very tough dry year, establishing quickly under harsh conditions. The soil in Kogarah is sand, dry and depleted, two metres under the sand is the saline water table, challenging to say the least. Add to the mix coastal winds and loads…

  • Tugarah Gunya’marri: Cold and Windy

    Tugarah Gunya’marri: Cold and Windy

    During the Tugarah Gunya’marri the days are getting noticeably longer, but the weather is still cold. Then with the blooming of the Marrai’uo (Acacia floribunda) comes the cold, southwesterly winds; the children become cranky and the adults become bad-tempered. It is not a good time of year for anyone. Frances Bodkin ‘D’harawal: Climate and Natural…

  • Portfolio: Garden Design Lewisham

    Portfolio: Garden Design Lewisham

    This garden in Lewisham was built in early spring of 2016 so is roughly 6 months old at the time these images were taken. It is a special garden that was part of a new renovation and was considered very early on by the clients and architect. In the image below you can see what…

  • Tapestry Gardens 2: MONA

    Tapestry Gardens 2: MONA

    When I was at Mona in Hobart last month as always I had my camera with me, I love the planting design at MONA and I had a few spare minutes between consuming modern art to snap some inspiring pictures. I took these photos because I loved the plant combinations and wanted to sure these…

  • The Beautiful Gardens of Zanthorrea Nursery

    The Beautiful Gardens of Zanthorrea Nursery

    I set aside a morning to visit the Zanthorrea Nursery when I was in Western Australia last August. This was a much anticipated adventure as I have heard much about the nursery and often have recommended it to Western Australians looking for native plants. I was not disappointed, it is a wonderful place, full of…

  • Portfolio: Greenwich Garden Design Update

    Portfolio: Greenwich Garden Design Update

    I have a very special garden that I visit once a year, I usually get a call in early spring asking for help to spruce up the garden in time for overseas visitors. It is always a pleasure to catch up with the clients and replace plants that haven’t worked and admire others that are…

  • The Granite and Woodlands Discovery Trail

    The Granite and Woodlands Discovery Trail

    On my recent WA wildflower expedition I had a longing to get as far east as possible, to the desert areas to see the wildflowers. This is no mean feat when you have two young children for whom sitting in a car for more than 4 hours is a waste of a day. However,  armed…

  • Hi Vallee Farm: Kwongan Country

    Hi Vallee Farm: Kwongan Country

    We stayed at an amazing property 3 and a half-hours north of Perth in mid-August, where the local flora did not disappoint.  I must admit I found it quite difficult to plan my Western Australia wild flower trip and after many hours of internet research discovered  Hi Vallee Farm. And no, I have not pushed…

  • Portfolio: Garden Designs Gordon Update

    Portfolio: Garden Designs Gordon Update

    This is an update about one garden, however within that one garden are 3 very different areas and these areas were approached as stand alone projects and designs and built secretly. I was gaining to blog about them separately but I think it is nice to show how varied one garden can be. You can…

  • Portfolio: Garden Design Centennial Park Update

    Portfolio: Garden Design Centennial Park Update

    Last week I went on a mission to visit as many of my garden design projects as possible, to collect photos and catch up. I love re-visiting these gardens especially when I am doing a little garden maintenance at the same time. This garden in Centennial Park required a well needed shape and prune. The growth…

  • Portfolio: Bulli Garden Design

    Portfolio: Bulli Garden Design

    This garden is located in the costal northern Wollongong suburb of Wollongong, on a low ridge and midway down a slope. When I saw the garden for the first time it was directly after the new house had been built, lawn, new soil and mulch had been installed already. The garden was planted out on…

  • Portfolio: Garden Design Chatswood

    Portfolio: Garden Design Chatswood

    I designed this garden in Chatswood in March 2013, pretty much exactly three years ago. The client has been chipping away at building the garden from my drawings over the years, it is a large garden that backs onto some beautiful bushland, where weeds have been a constant problem. Below you can see an image…

  • Bundeena Garden Design: Update

    Bundeena Garden Design: Update

    Last week I made a quick visit to one of my favourite gardens in Bundeena and snapped  some photos before the sun went down. The first is of Anigozanthos ‘Landscape Lilac’. A few months ago I plant 12 each of Angus Stewarts new Kangaroo Paws ‘Landcape Lime’ and ‘Landscape Lilac’ in this garden and they…

  • Natives for Pots and Containers 3

    Natives for Pots and Containers 3

    I think that this topic will be a continuing theme as I regularly see excellent examples of native species growing in pots or containers everywhere I go. There are many reasons for growing native plants in large pots, one of the main reasons is to increase drainage and therefore be able to successfully grow plants…

  • Illawarra native garden full of fresh ideas!

    Illawarra native garden full of fresh ideas!

    I visited the native garden of a passionate native plant lover last week to grab some inspiring photos and ideas; and the garden did not disapoint. This is the 4 th native garden for the owner and she began building it about 8 years ago after moving from a large property in the Snowy Mountains.…

  • Joseph Banks Native Plants Reserve

    Joseph Banks Native Plants Reserve

    Every spring the Sutherland Australian Plants Society Group hold a day of Spring walks in Sir Joseph Banks Native Gardens in Kareela. I have been meaning to visit this native garden for years t is fairly local to me and I had heard wonderful things about it.   The gardens were started by Sutherland Shire…

  • Walcott Garden: Canberra

    Walcott Garden: Canberra

    A few weeks back I was lucky enough to appeal to a very generous couple, Ros and Ben Walcott. I contacted them out of the blue and asked if I could visit their garden. We were travelling to Canberra to see an exhibition and I had just read an article about their garden in the…

  • Natives for Pots and Containers Part 2

    Natives for Pots and Containers Part 2

    This post is a 2nd part to one a did a couple of years ago about Native Plants that are suitable for growing in pots or containers, it is well overdue and I still have enough photos for a Part 3 very soon. Please see https://malleedesign.com.au/native-plants-for-pots/ for Part 1. Personally like to grow native plants in pots…