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Most Memorable Planting Combinations at the National Arboretum
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 posted previously about two of these species but when I was looking over my photos…
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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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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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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…
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Portfolio: Bexley Garden Design
This is a sweet little garden I designed about 4 years ago and it has been lovingly slowly built by the owner’s friend. It is a small rear garden behind a modest brick house in the south western suburbs of Sydney where the mc-mansions are taking over. On my visit today the first thing I…
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Hot Tea-trees: Leptospermum ‘Pageant’ and ‘Outrageous’
I love tea trees but don’t often think of them as particularly showy when in flower, except for ‘Cardwell’ of course which almost flowers until on the verge of collapse 😉 Leptospermums for me are a super useful and beautiful screening plant, often with scented foliage and pretty bark. They can have leaves in colours…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Portfolio: Bundeena Re-visited
We really, really love our garden and are so happy to spend time in it… When I walked up to the front gate of this garden last week I must admit I was quite moved, moved by how settled the plants looked, moved by the quick growth and the way the garden is beginning…
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Silver and Grey in the Garden
This photo was taken in Melbourne Botanic Gardens where they had a display garden made up of only silver or grey foliaged plants, it was pretty interesting to see them all planted together and pick out which ones were natives. Here you can see the Eucalyptus caesia ‘Silver Princess’ underplanted with a bit of a…
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Portfolio: Greenwich Garden Design
This is a garden that I designed back in 2011 and recently revisited to re-tweek some difficult spots and increase the planting area. The rear garden is very steep and has been terraced with sandstone retaining walls, the furthest section of the garden is in heavy shade and was suffering from erosion. There is a…
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Grevillea Park pipes
I went to the Grevillea Park in Bulli on the weekend, I haven’t been for over a year and was delighted to find something new and exciting as always! They have created a big impact planting with a dozen or so concrete pipes, which are overflowing with a beautiful selection of natives. In the centre…
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Grey ground cover
Acacia baileyana prostrate or the Cootamundra wattle ground cover makes a stunning display and looks great planted under Eucalypts like this one especially with the dark bark of the Ironbark.
Tag: Acacia baileyana prostrate