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Why the name Mallee?
I am often asked if I come from Mallee country in Victoria and sadly the answer is no, Mallee Design my business name was not chosen for geographical reasons it was chosen for aesthetic reasons. I am in love with Mallee Eucalypts. A Eucalyptus becomes classed as a Mallee if it has the following attributes…
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The long lived Acacia pendula
We all know that wattles get a bad rap for growing quickly, becoming sparse and also attacked by borers, many people won’t plant Acacias purely based on their shorter lifespan, not me I plant them whenever possible and to be honest 8-10 years feels like a pretty long time to me right now 😉 However…
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The exploding Leptospermum ‘Starry Night’
I have been monitoring these Leptospermum obovatum ‘Starry Night’ shrubs (that I planted in a neighbours garden) closely, waiting, waiting for them to flower and BOOM! last week they exploded! I love reddish or burgundy foliage and there are several species of Leptospermum with a red tinge to the leaf however ‘Starry Night’ is…
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Happy little inner city garden: Leichhardt Garden Design
This small garden in the inner west of Sydney is actually quite generous, there is room for lawn, a studio and a seperate outdoor eating area. This means there is also room for lots of different native plants! Hooray! we planted for year round flower, colour, foliage contrast, texture and wildlife habitat. There is something…
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The most weeping of the weeping: Myoporum floribundum
I am obsessed with plants with a weeping habit or drooping foliage, some people find them sad and depressing looking but they are my favourite. There are many native plants with soft long leaves or gently falling branches, they can create dense screens, focal points or backdrops. Weeping foliage in a garden gives a relaxed informal…
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The silver cascading Banksia ‘Roller Coaster’
This is one of the most useful native plants around, a prostrate form of the coast Banksia, Banksia integrifolia. I like to use it for covering embankments like the one in these images at the Bulli Grevillea Park. It also layers upon itself giving it some height and density and therefore creating a useful mounding shape.…
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One My Favourite Grafted Grevillea Standards: Grevillea ‘Green Glow’
This post is about one of my favourite grafted grevillea standards, I actually have 2 or 3 favourites and unfortunately they are all a little hard to come by however all worth trying to find a place for in your native garden. Well actually in any garden as I think the semi formal appearance of…
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The Elegant Wilga: Geijera parviflora
This beautiful, weeping small tree is known as Wilga or Australian Willow and willowy it is, its long, narrow, pendulous leaves droop down creating a dense shade umbrella. Unfortunately this Australian native tree is used quite infrequently in gardens or urban horticulture, this is mainly due to availability issues but also as it is quite…
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The distinctive Pin Cushion Flower of Hakea laurina
This must be one of the most recognisable Australian native flowers, its incredible two toned spherical flower pops out at you from quite a distance. I love Hakea laurina it is such an obvious Australian bloom, it lasts well cut in a vase and looks fascinating even in bud. These images are taken of a couple…
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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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Portfolio: Garden Design Lilyfield
This is the tiny front garden of a small cottage in Lilyfield that was planted out about about 2 years ago, during that time it has flourished! Providing well needed privacy from the street and adding a lovely sense of arrival as you step off the pavement. The feature screening tree is a grafted Dwarf…
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Rambling bank covering Grevillea banksii prostrate
There are many, many Grevillea ground covers, and most of them cover a large area and have either a toothbrush or spider flower. Not this one! this is Grevillea banksii prostrate and it not only has a large showy flower spike it also has the large leaves associated with the northern sub tropical Grevilleas and it…
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The resurgence of the Bottlebrush: Callistemon pachyphyllus Green
I feel like there needs to be a a resurgence in the planting of Callistemon species in home gardens, they have been given a bad name through thoughtless street planting and gardeners overlooking their pruning needs. There are a handful of Callistemons that I think are worthy of pride of place in a native garden,…
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Some like it hot! Buckinghamia celsissima
All this hot weather has certainly been of benefit to the Ivory Curl trees in and around Sydney, they are blooming themselves silly! This photos in this blog post are of a specimen in my mums garden in Wollongong, the scent is intoxicating and the bees are having a major harvest. Buckinghamia celsissima or Ivory…
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My obsession with Breynia ‘Ironstone’
Technically this is Breynia cernua ‘Ironstone Range’ and I absolutely adore it, these images are taken in a friends garden, he is a very talented “master” gardener and treats his Breynia ‘Ironstone’ mean….and it loves him for it 😉 I have written about Breynia ‘Ironstone’ before and have been patiently waiting to photograph a fine specimen like…
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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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Some plants are just plain tough: Melaleuca ‘Ulladulla Beacon’
I seem to be on a bit of a Melaleuca tangent of late so I am just going to go with it, Melaleucas are tough and perform beautifully under a range of conditions especially in a heavier clay soil, this is one of the many reasons I love Melaleuca hypericifolia ‘Ulladulla Beacon’. Melaleuca ‘Ulladulla Beacon’ is…
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The aptly named Grey Honey Myrtle: Melaleuca incana
I took so many photos of this Melaleuca incana in full bloom a few weeks ago but I didn’t manage to capture the multitude of bees feasting on its nectar 🙁 The whole shrub was buzzing as they collected the nectar for their hives, I’m pretty sure it was going towards making some delicious honey myrtle…
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Soft and Elegant Ornamental Grass: Stipa ramosissima
I adore this native grass (Stipa ramosissima), it is a local Illawarra species and I have found it hard to source but whenever I find it somewhere I grab a few as I can find a home for them in no time! I do apologise for the glut of photos in this post but I would…
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The Potential of Eucalyptus ‘Blue Veil’
This is Eucalyptus camaldulensis ‘Blue Veil’, which is one of my favourite native plants, I have been quite obsessed with it for many years now. I see so much potential in this species to be used in different ways in a garden design. Eucalyptus camaldulensis ‘Blue Veil’ is a grafted variety of Eucalyptus camaldulensis or the…
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Grevillea ‘Billy Bonkers’ and his Big Sister
I used to have a very small appreciation for Grevilleas, especially the larger flowering species but I have mellowed and now am finding more and more of them appealing. I tend to go for the rarer flower shapes often from WA or South Australia but often now I am drawn towards a Grevillea with a…
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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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Native Cherry Tree : Exocarpos cupressiformis
I am spending sometime in Tasmania this month and trying to get out in the bush as much as possible and there are a local few plants that keep popping up wherever I go. The native cherry is one of them, I have never tasted the fruit of Exocarpos cupressiformis before this week and it has…
Tag: weeping habit