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Native plants in the Melbourne City Streetscape
This post is all about praising the plant selection used in the ‘Grey to Green’ project in the City of Melbourne. Much of the plant palate features native species, and on a recent tour I was so impressed with the combinations and utilisation of these species that I felt the need to share some photos…
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Kangaroo Paw Care – Get the Pruners Out!
The Kangaroo Paws in this Bundeena garden are a rainbow of colour, they were planted three years ago in a swathe to test Angus Stewarts ‘Anigozanthos ‘Landscape series’ range. They have a striking effect mass planted and it was a delight to go back and visit them in full bloom a couple of weeks ago.…
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Portfolio: Summer Hill Garden Design
This tiny garden in Sydney’s inner west is very shady to say the least, there were three existing native trees in the garden competing for space. However, they are all relatively small and although they took up most of the direct sun they also manage to create a relaxed ‘bushy’ feel to a high density…
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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 š This garden is roughly 4 years old you can see how it has filled out by…
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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: 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.Ā This garden in Centennial Park required a well needed shape and prune. The growth…
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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…
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Bundeena Garden Design: Update
Last week I made a quick visit to one of my favourite gardens in Bundeena and snappedĀ 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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Portfolio: Marrickville Sketch Design
This is a garden that I have been visiting for a couple of years now, each time I spend an hour or two doing some sketches for the owners to move to the next ‘stage’. It is a wonderful garden spilling over with healthy plants, edibles mixed in with exotics and natives all thriving and…
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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…
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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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Attracting Butterflies to your Native Garden
I am often asked to recommend native plants that will attract butterflies, I know a few off the top of my head and have been meaning for a couple of years to sit down and do some decent research on creating a butterfly attracting garden. So I began a few weeks ago and have learned…
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Portfolio: North Balgowlah Consults
This is a ‘work in progress’ garden that I visit from time to time, it is being built by the owners and is a labour of love. The garden backs onto a nature reserve that is in pristine condition, the rear fence has had every 2nd paling taken out to try and use the bush…
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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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Tapestry Gardens
Van Gogh reputedly introduced the idea of a tapestry garden, relying on the hue, texture, size and shape of foliage creating a tapestry like mosaic. Diane Snape I was doing some research a couple of nights ago and came across this section titled Tapestry Gardens in Diane Snape’s book ‘The Australian Garden‘ and it is…
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Portfolio: Bundeena Garden Design
A steep bush block backing onto the National Park with 180 degree stunning views of the water, how inspiring! When I saw this garden I was pretty much blown away, what a dream to be able to work on this property, the house was newly built and nearly finished, the path and boulders were in…
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The benefits of salt bush: Rhagodia spinescens
There are several species of salt bush that I like to put in gardens, this one is one of my favouritesĀ Ā Rhagodia spinescens, it comes in varying shapes and forms, some a little more silver leaved some a little more compact. It is growing here as a pathway and garden edge and does a great job…
Tag: Rhagodia spinescens