#Acacia 'Limelight' grafted Standard

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New Post has been published on https://malleedesign.com.au/portfolio-haberfield-landscape-design/

Portfolio: Haberfield Landscape Design

The brief for this front garden in Sydney’s inner west was to create a modern native garden which is sympathetic to the era of the house and show cases an Art Deco water feature passed down through the family.

The front garden now addresses and interacts with the street and also provides a sense of arrival for the residents when coming home either on foot or by parking in the existing onsite car space.

The front of the house is partly overshadowed by an enormous street fig tree, this tree also sucks a lot of available moisture from the soil.

Haberfield is an area of Sydney with strong Italian heritage and many of the houses and gardens reflect the culture with a Mediterranean style. The front lawn was removed and replaced with crushed decomposed granite ‘Deco Gold’ with a pathway of Porphyry stone to tie in as closely with the granite tiles of the exisitng car parking space.

Porphyry Stone Step

The stone stepper pathway leads through the front garden around the water fountain and to the existing terracotta tile entrance pathway. Low border planting gives the garden structure and a slightly formal style which ties in with Acacia ‘Limelight’ Standards.

Acacia ‘Limelight’ Grafted Standard

I used Melaleuca ‘Mini Quini’ as a low hedge against the street facing wall and Banksia ‘Coastal Cushions’ against the house and around the Acacia Standards.

Acacia ‘Limelight’ Grafted Standard

Along the entrance pathway screening and height are provided by more Acacia standards, Grevillea candelabra Grafted and Xanthorrhoea johnsonii with border plantings of Banksia ‘Coastal Cushions’, Lomandra ‘Mist’ and Melaleuca ‘Mini Quini’. Next year I really must get to this garden to take photos whilst the Banksias are in flower as there are some 30 odd in this front garden!

Grevillea ‘Cherry Cluster’

A raised garden bed built into the house is home to Grevillea ‘Cherry Cluster’ which provides plenty of year round flowers for the birds, this can also be clipped to create a more formal border later down the track.

Hakea francisiana Grafted has been placed on the lower level of the garden with the blank house wall as a back drop. This showy shrub will create a contrasting feature opposite the fountain and also has the grey leaves of many front garden olive trees in the area.

Hakea francisiana Grafted and Lomandra ‘Mist’

The Hakea is surrounded by Lomandra ‘Mist’ as is the Water feature, this Lomandra grows to around hard a metre wide with a very soft weeping habit and will soften the garden palette with the granite.

The garden was built by Ash from ‘Living on the Hedge’, the rear garden was designed at the same time but is quite different. Work will commence on the back in the coming months, COVID permitting 🤞

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New Post has been published on http://malleedesign.com.au/the-display-gardens-of-austplant-nursery/

The display gardens of Austplant Nursery

I have been away in Victoria for the past few weeks, camping on Wilsons Prom and then visiting native nurseries and gardens on the Mornington Peninsula. It was a wonderful holiday that has left me with a touch of post holiday depression but plenty of photos of native plants to share with you!

One of the nurseries I visited which I have been looking forward to for ages was Austplant Nursery located on the Mornington Peninsula at Arthurs Seat, it has been run by the same family for over 40 years. The passion is still there, you can see it in the way the display gardens are cared for and continue to be developed despite the drought and competition from the big green shed 😉

In the image above in the foreground you can see a bank of Scaevola ‘Mauve Clusters’, thriving despite the dry clay soil. Sculpture plays a huge part in the display gardens as do bird baths and feeders and wind chimes and other garden ornaments.

It is these extra personal touches that make the grounds feel like the garden belongs to a gardener and is not just retail driven display.

In the image above there is a great specimen of Banksia ‘Stumpy Gold’ with a Eucalyptus ‘Dwarf Red’ budding up nicely behind it on the left.

This Acacia ‘Lime Magic’ was visible from almost every vantage point in the garden, creating a lovely soft textured backdrop of the smaller shrubs and groundcovers.

Check it out here spilling over the Agonis flexuosa nana and Correa reflexa var. nummularia, all the Acacia cognata hybrids grow so well in Victoria!

This is the biggest  and healthiest Grafted Standard Acacia ‘Limelight’ I have ever seen! isn’t it gorgeous? you can also see it in the background in the image below.

Austplant Nursery grows everything onsite and has a large range of mainly native plants, they also offer a design service and judging from the strong, bold plantings at the nursery they know what they are talking about.

Not all of the gardens are in the full blazing sun, some sections are under the dappled shade of established Eucalypts, these Banksia ‘Coastal Cushions’ and Lomandra ‘Silver Grace’ were both thriving in the part shade.

This Persoonia chamaepitys looked great cascading down a slope with a bank of Crowea saligna behind them, this plant doesn’t need flowers to look good, its soft pine needle leaves make a lush lime green carpet, even in the driest spots.

Here is Austromyrtus dulcis x tenuifolia ‘Copper Tops’, in full summer flower next to Kunzea ambigua prostrate in the shade behind it and in the image below.

The nursery and gardens are sited on a hill which has been cleverly terraced to allow for strolling and viewing both potted natives and planted beds. There is a sizeable dam at the bottom of the little valley and the whole place feels very tranquil and sheltered.

I enjoyed my very quick visi immensly and managed to walk away with only one plant but filled with inspiration and fresh ideas for plant combinations, Thankyou Austplant!

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New Post has been published on http://malleedesign.com.au/portfolio-kogarah-garden-design/

Portfolio: Kogarah Garden Design

This garden was planted just over 12 months ago and has thrived in a very tough dry year, establishing quickly under harsh conditions. The soil in Kogarah is sand, dry and depleted, two metres under the sand is the saline water table, challenging to say the least. Add to the mix coastal winds and loads of hard surfaces and the reflective heat…the plants in this garden needed to be hardy.

The clients wanted a garden with a tropical feel, lots of large foliage and glossy leaves, they also wanted low maintenance 😉

Given these conditions I am very proud of the plants that have survived here. In the image above you can see the feature tree is a Hibiscus tiliaceus Rubra, this is surrounded by Hymenosporum ‘Luscious’,Lomandra ‘Lime Spike’ and Scaveola ‘Mauve Clusters’. In the background on the right you can see a very happy Acacia ‘Limelight’ Grafted Standard in front of the deck. On the left is a low hedge of Tristaniopsis ‘Burgundy Blush’ which is a wonderfully tough waterwise plant with a naturally mounding dense habit. The rear garden is a tiny courtyard surrounded by built surfaces, I have used Tristaniopsis ‘Luscious’ as a feature screening tree and on either side as fence screening Hibiscus insularis. Most of the garden is in full sun and rarely watered, all of the plants selected also need very little pruning to maintain a compact and appealing habit. Love these plants!

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New Post has been published on http://malleedesign.com.au/garden-design-gordon/

Garden Design: Gordon

I am really enjoying watching the garden settle in,

thank you for all your efforts

This is Stage 1 of a garden I am working on in Gordon in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The front garden went in about 6 months ago and has flourished over the summer months with the loving care of the owners. The brief for the front was to create a native garden using native species that reflect the indigenous plants of the area. The client is a dedicated bush regenerator and environmentalist and wanted the front of the garden to appear like a manicured and cared for bush garden.

  The front verge has been included in the garden and completely mulched, there is a re-cycled sleeper entrance pathway for parking visitors, a line of sawn sandstone that gently indicates the front boundary.

  The image above is of the front garden with its original planting, mainly Lomandra longifolia, which was removed as it had become a mono-culture.

  The garden has many mature Native Palm trees which were to be retained, therefore the plant choices for this garden were dictated by the tropical foliage of the Bangalows and Lord Howe Island Palms. Large leaved Doryanthes palmerii, Dianella ‘Little Jess’ and Hymenosporum ‘Luscious’ were used to tie everything visually together.

  The main front garden bed was raised slightly to give privacy upon entering and exiting the house, it is a large mound and once the plants grow up to their mature heights the pathway will wind down behind it and become even more discreet. There are also 6 mature Eucalypts in the front garden with another two Scribbly Gums newly planted, meaning this is an under storey planting with part shade for much of the year.

  I used many dwarf species in the front garden, mainly as they have a compact and striking habit but also because natives like Pimelea linifolia, Dianella caerulea and Banksia spinulosa are found naturally in the surrounding bushland and by using culitvars of these species the garden will still retain a connection with the natural habitat. Above you can see Banksia ‘Coastal Cushions and Pimelea ‘White Jewel in the nature strip.

  A beautiful rain garden has been built opposite the front door which has been planted out with Juncus usitatus and Baloskion tetraphyllum.

It receives rainwater from the storage shed which filters through the high nutrient sand.

  There is also a large number of pots and planters in this garden as there are many patios and outdoor paved areas. Near the front door is a leafless Acacia aphylla best grown in a pot on the east coast.

Above is a photo of Acacia ‘Waterfall’ as a low grafted Standard.

  The collection of pots above hold 2 x Acacia ‘Limelight’ Grafted Standards, 1 x Libertia paniculata and a Philotheca difformis ‘Starsprite’. Building in the central courtyard garden is currently taking place and then a re-working of the rear bushland garden will be the last instalment. Stay tuned.