This small garden in the inner west of Sydney is a sight to behold after the recent rains. It is hard to believe that most of these plants have only been in for 6 months, that is the beauty of gardening with native grasses, they fill out so quickly and provide structure and form in a new garden almost immediately.

This garden is basically unrecognisable from my initial site visit, there were a group of Blueberry Ash dominating much of the space and wreaking havoc with the plumbing.

The entire rear garden was in almost full shade and it was time to to open it up and start again.

The garden is sloped towards the rear lane and some gentle sandstone retaining walls were designed to create a level open space for reading and observation.

A local Eucalyptus species has been planted for Summer shade along with a couple of local Sydney Acacias (Acacia fimbriata and Acacia falcata). The client is an Ecologist with a deep love of the local native flora and fauna and wanted a garden which would supply wildlife with food and habitat in the inner city.

The lower levels of the garden have been given over to dense plantings of shrubs and ground cover species, to provide a safe haven for lizards, frogs and small birds.

In the image above you can see a mixture of Indigofera australis, Pomaderris lanignosa, Westringia ‘Zena’ and the local Pratia species.

The use of plenty of native grasses is very important when try to encourage local wildlife. They also create a soft relaxed feeling in the garden and work extremely well in small gardens with their fine weeping foliage.

However, the standout plant for me in this garden is the Pomaderris lanignosa, I love the large furry leaves and bright rust coloured stems. It makes a great feature shrubs set against the deeper greens and greys in this planting palette.

The recycled paver pathway curves through the small space leading the eye to the rear boundary. The border planting is softening the curves even further as it winds down the small slope.

This garden was lovingly built by Mitch from Ocean Landscapes, thank you!