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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…
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Portfolio: Garden Design Ashfield
Dear Kath, the garden is beautiful and makes me very happy These are the words that I love to hear and is how this client describes her garden, and I can’t ask for anything more from a garden. This garden was built in December 2015 please see this link for details and this is my first…
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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…
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Tufted Herbs: Patersonia sericea
I need to admit I am not very competent when it comes to recognising and utilising Australian tufted perennial herby plants in a garden. For some reason I get the Theliomenas confused with the Thysanotus and the Sowerbaea and with Arthropodium! All are beautiful and all are grass like with wonderful prominent flowers poking their heads…
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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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Happy National Wattle Day: Acacia glaucoptera
How wonderful is the smell of Wattles flowering right now? I have an Acacia fimbriata Dwarf growing next to my driveway and at the moment wherever I go I seem to be leaving a trail of pale yellow wattle flowers behind me, as they like to hitch a ride on my clothes as I get…
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The colour combinations of Grevillea ‘Amber Blaze’
I am not a massive fan of the larger flower spike type of Grevilleas species, I often associate them with attracting noisy miners and rainbow lorikeets, not desirable native birds for me. However, this Winter I have had two Grevillea ‘Amber Blaze’ specimens take my breath away. The photos in this blog post are…
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‘Red Iron Bark’ – Eucalyptus sideroxylon Rosea
I live in Iron Bark territory, on a clay soil, near the coast, the local Iron Barks stand up to the strong coastal winds and often boggy soil. One introduced Iron bark that does very well in my area is Eucalyptus sideroxylon Rosea, this is a stunning medium sized tree, that I giggly recommend for…
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Showy Winter Flowers: Grevillea ‘Winter Delight’
I have been noticing in the past few weeks the large numbers of Grevilleas that seem to be flowering profusely all through Autumn and welcoming Winter with a colourful wave. This particular Grevillea ‘Winter Delight’ began budding up in late Summer and I have been anticipating the show for weeks. These photos have been…
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Garden Design: Leichhardt Front Garden
I happened to be in the inner west this afternoon and was very nearby one of my gardens, I thought I would do a drive by and see how a Eucalyptus caesia was going after I re-staked and pruned it 12 months ago. This is what I saw, a very happy Eucalyptus Silver Princess with…
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The Collectors Plant Fair 2016
I am going to have a stall at The Collectors Plant Fair next month selling my spun copper bird baths and I can’t wait! I have been a fan of this event since it was held in Bilpin, every year now it grows bigger and better and is a haven for fellow plant nerds 😉…
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Keith’s Garden
This is my friend Keith’s native front garden in Bulli, I have wanted to take photos of this garden for a long time and on a recent visit finally remembered my camera. Phew! I had to snap quickly as the sun was setting and the mozzies were out. The garden is located on the escarpment…
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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…
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My Favourite Frost Tolerant Grevillea: Grevillea victoriae
This winter has been a bit of a learning curve for me in the frost tolerant Grevillea department; for some reason I have been asked again and again which Grevilleas will withstand medium to heavy frosts. Many grevilleas with smaller needle like leaves such as Grevillea lanigera, alpina and rosmarinifolia are good at coping in heavy…
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Bright, Thick and Floriferous: Banksia marginata ‘Bright’
Check out the flowers on this baby, it was absolutely covered, I have never seen anything like it before and was suitably impressed. This is Banksia marginata ‘Bright’. A compact of the Silver Banksia, it grows as a dense shrub to 2 metres high and 2 metres wide – this one looks like it has…
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Portfolio: Garden Design Lillyfield
Thanks so much for our garden Kath, we love it! I love this garden too! I love its quirky, modern feel where details are appreciated, the client pushed me to think out of the box more than I normally do. This is a small garden by suburban standards but large by inner city ones. It…
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Portfolio: Centennial Park Garden Design
Thankyou so much for my garden, I really enjoy pottering around everyday and watching things slowly change, there is always something happening! This is a garden that has been totally transformed in the space of 12 months, the owner wanted a formal native garden in keeping with her home and the suburb where she…
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Silky Oaks: Peter and Margaret Olde
This is a private garden created by Peter and Margaret Olde, it is occasionally open to the public through the open Garden Scheme or organised by the Australian Plants Society. I have visited this garden twice and feel I haven’t really touched the surface of what there is to discover. It is a very large…
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Easy to grow WA species for the East Coast
Another one! and this one is a winner, it ticks so many boxes and it is hard to believe it comes from southern WA. Gastrolobium celsianum or Brachysema celsianum is a wonderful native plant, it is relatively easy to source, grows quickly and flowers in shade. It has beautiful grey green, foliage and plenty of…
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One of my favourite Mallees…Eucalyptus luehmanniana
This is Eucalyptus leuhmanniana or Yellow Topped Ash, it is a rare species to the east coast of NSW and grows in high rainfall areas on sandstone soils, it comes in a glaucous and non-glaucus form, the glaucous form is my first choice. Above you can see the whitish-silver stems and buds of the glaucous…
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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…