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 see what the front garden used to look like here: https://malleedesign.com.au/garden-design-gordon/, the courtyard garden here: https://malleedesign.com.au/portfolio-gordon-courtyard-garden-design/ and the rear garden here: https://malleedesign.com.au/portfolio-gordon-garden-design/

The front garden was designed and built first, this garden was designed to encourage others in the neighbourhood to consider using native plants and also to inspire others to plant verge gardens.

Therefore I was so excited to learn that 2 years down the track it is starting to work! The client is beginning to get queries and comments about the front garden, neighbours are showing an interest in wanting a nature-strip garden just like this one hooorah!!!!

 

The front garden and nature-strip use similar native plants like Banksia ‘Coastal Cushions’, Acacia ‘Mini Cog’ and Dianella ‘Little Jess’.

 

There are 3 Xanthorrhoea johnsonii which all flowered last year and still hold their spike. I also used Hymenosporum ‘Luscious’ and Lomandra ‘Little Con’ to tie in with the existing palm trees, giving the front garden a leafy verdant feel, no dry scrubby native look here 😉

 

 

The grasses and shrubs have quickly covered the large mound in the front garden under the existing Eucalypts, the water was turned off months ago and the plants are sustaining themselves nicely.

Down the path closer to the house there is a garden bed of Pimelea ‘White Jewel’ and Acacia cognata ‘Mini Cog’ which I am very happy with, unfortunately the Pimelea had just finished flowering however I love the foliage contrast of these two species.

 

I have planted many natives in pots in this garden and the post would go forever if I mentioned them all, so I have held back and only included one photo of the Acacia aphylla in full bloom, isn’t it magnificient? So happy in its pot!

 

The central garden or courtyard garden is the smallest space but is also the garden that had the most dramatic change, originally the sandstone paved area was one big patch of struggling lawn. Now the Dichondra repens has really taken hold and is doing a lovely job of bringing out the interesting shapes between the flagging.

 

 

I hear the Ceratopetalum ‘Johannas Christmas’ put on a fantastic show 8 months ago, I will have to go back at the end of the year to witness this space framed in red.

 

The rear garden is the space I was most taken with on this latest visit, it was planted not even a year ago and was quite a big project.

 

Everything is flourishing! the steep embankment next to the stairs in the image above was eroding and full of weeds, now it is covered in a thick layer of Kennedia rubicunda, Themeda australis, Microlaena stipoides and Aphanopetalum resinosum. As seen on the left in the image below.

 

A dry creek bed was built along the base of the existing sandstone cliff, this slope has two ag pipes running down it and in heavy rain continues to leech water for weeks.

I was very happy to hear that the creek bed is very successfully channelling the water through the garden into the frog pond. the dry creek bed was mainly designed to give the garden some ‘structure’ and create a feature to work around.

 

The client has done a wonderful job of keeping the mulch pathway clear, the path meanders in a loose loop around the garden and allows you to see in detail the local indigenous species.

 

The frog pond is now home to fish swell to keep the mosquito population down and the only real maintenance this naturalistic garden needs is to keep the bracken under control.

 

There are some really successful areas of planted ground cover that creating a thick weed smothering carpet, check out the Oplismenus aemulus and Kenndedia rubicunda lawn!