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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 đ This garden is roughly 4 years old you can see how it has filled out by…
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The happiest Daisy: Pycnosorus globosus
Billy Buttons is a native daisy with an immense power to make anyone smile, there is something about its large bright yellow ball flowers standing to attention in a showy clump that is irresistable. To top it off it has lovely furry silver grass like leaves and flowers from early spring into late Summer. Billy…
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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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Happy Yellows: Senna artemisioides
I love the colour combination of grey and yellow especially when its in the garden and is on a lone flowering plant! Senna artemisioides grows on well-drained sandy soils in a variety of habitats, through out many states located inland  Australia. Senna artemisioides grows to between 1 and 3 metres tall and can get to…
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Marvellous Banksia ‘Mini Marg’!
This is another form of Banksia marginata, a dwarf form that grows dense and low but still covers itself with bright yellow insect and bird attracting flowers in Summer through to Autumn. Banksia ‘Mini Marg’ is quite variable in height growing to between 1 and 3 metres, however it responds very well to pruning as…
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Another Silver Leaved Beauty: Eucalyptus pulverulenta
This is Eucalyptus pulverulenta another of my favourite small silver foliaged feature trees, it rates highly on my list along with Leptospermum brachyandrum ‘Silver’, Calothamnus quadrifidus ‘Grey’ and Eucalyptus ceasia ‘Silver Princess’. Eucalyptus pulverulenta is known as Silver-leaved Mountain Gum, it grows to about 5-6 metres high x 2-3 metres wide, there is also a compact form called Eucalyptus…
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The Brightest of the Acacias? Acacia podalyriifolia
It has always seemed to me that Acacia podalyriifolia is one of the first wattles to flower every winter, and so profusely! or at least it is one of the most immediately noticeable đ The native bees think so too as you can see in the photo above. The combination of the silver foliage with…
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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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Silky Emu Bush: Eremophila nivea Grafted
This has to be one of the most tactile of native plants, rivalled closely by Adenanthos sericeus, with its silver white foliage and hundreds of purple flowers it is a coveted specimen for many gardeners. The bees love it too as you can see in the image above. Eremophila nivea is absolutely striking even when…
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Portfolio: Garden Design Ashfield
This garden was in the making for only a few days, the plants went in on a very hot day last week but overall it felt very streamlined and easy to build and I have surprised even myself with the transformation! In the image below you can see what it looked like in November… The…
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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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Verge Gardens
I am a big fan of a front garden that makes a statement in the street-scape or somehow breaks up the monotony of the suburban front garden ‘norm’. I often kick myself for not being able to stop or being without my camera when I spot a front garden that goes out of its way…
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Why I love Leucophyta brownii
We must feel part of the land we walk on and love the plants that grow there…if we are to achieve a spirit in the garden. Gordon Ford There are many native plants that I love, well obviously otherwise I wouldn’t create native only gardens, however some inspire me more than others. Cushion Bush or…
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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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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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Silver Tea Tree: Leptospermum brachyandrum ‘Silver’
This has been my favourite Tea tree for a few years now, it is Leptospermum brachyandrum ‘Silver’ and for the first time I saw some more mature specimens when I visited Cranbourne Botanic Gardens in January. I was overjoyed as I have two in my garden that are only head height so far and three…
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Cushion Bush Breasts
I am in Tasmania driving around and camping and visiting family, its my home town. Of course we have paid our obligatory visit to MONA which in my humble opinion has the, most beautiful native gardens, they are modern and playful, hence the Leucophyta brownii pruned into breast shapes heehee…..Cushion bush prunes beautifully into spheres…
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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 favourites  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…
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Eremophilas as ground cover: Eremophila ‘Kalbarri Carpet’
I have been experimenting more and more with Eremophilas, starting off with the easy to grow ones like Eremophila maculata in its many forms, but this one here, that is super hardy even in humidity and clay soils, is by far my favourite.
Tag: silver foliage