#Acacia howittii 'Honey Bun'

[malleedesign]

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

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 form of Eucalyptus citriodora, chosen for its dense weeping habit, strongly scented leaves and beautiful clean white trunk.

It provides scent in the evening and when it rains and also when brushed past, this specimen is narrow and will eventually grow up to be viewed from the upstairs window.

A low mixed hedge of Acacia ‘Honeybun’ and Banksia ‘Honey Pots’ fill the garden beds on either side of the entrance path, adding texture and contrast.

They are also spilling over onto the front porch and peeking through the fence, which I love. We also planted out the small nature strip garden under the existing Callistemon with Themeda ‘True Blue’, Anigozanthos ‘Landscape Lime’ and Themeda ‘Mingo’.

This planting was repeated in the small driveway mixed with some Chrysocephalum apiculatum, which can be walked or parked on if need be.

An Acacia cognata was planted in a difficult south facing side area, to screen the neighbours wall, it has thrived in this heavily shaded position. Plectranthus argentatus was planted as a border along the house to add contrast and cover the unsightly piers.

Given the tiny spaces in this garden I am overjoyed with the way the selected plants have created a uniquely Australian feel to the entrance. I hope the owners are enjoying spending time on their front porch a whole lot more!

[malleedesign]

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

The Beautiful Gardens of Zanthorrea Nursery

I set aside a morning to visit the Zanthorrea Nursery when I was in Western Australia last August. This was a much anticipated adventure as I have heard much about the nursery and often have recommended it to Western Australians looking for native plants. I was not disappointed, it is a wonderful place, full of great ideas and extremely well organised, the thing I appreciated most was the display gardens.

The nursery has a dedicated staff member in charge of the display gardens, ensuring that there is always new plantings and something fresh to appreciate.

The gardens have different sections where you can see how versatile native plants really are, in the image above you can see part of the ‘formal native’ garden.

  One of the plants used in a formal fashion that I would never have thought of was Austromyrtus dulcis, doesn’t it make lovely mounds?

  I also loved the way this Baeckea virgata Dwarf has been pruned into pom poms, almost like topiary.

  The gardens are filled with art and sculpture, each piece located thoughtfully and often for sale.

  Unfortuneatly the water feature was fenced off with a regulation pool fence, but I really adored the Themeda ‘Mingo’ running alongside the water and the Lomandra ‘Tanika’ spouting up i the foreground.

  Oh and the playground! I had 3 little people with me so was so thankful for such an inspired play-space! So rarely done well in nurseries and so very important, my kids entertained themselves for 2 and 1/2 hours here

  And the really cool chook pen!

  In the image above you can see an example of a really beautiful planting, paper daisies in the foreground, Correa alba on the right and Grass trees in the rear.

  There were lots of wonderful examples of this plant Acacia howittii ‘Honey Bun’,  it must be someones favourite….grows so well i part shade.

  And can sometimes get quite large and be under-pruned into a stunning small tree!

  Or can just be left alone to fill a shady corner, OK its one of my favourites too

  Another standout plant in their shady garden area was Phebalium squamulosum, this does very well here on the East coast too, thriving in dry shade.

    Every plant in the garden has a clear name tag, which was repeated whenever the plant was repeated, just like a botanic garden.

  The nursery itself is also very beautiful, the displays are fresh and incorporate mixed plants and other items you use in a garden.

  Aren’t these logs with fungus amazing? There is also an information hut in the centre of the nursery which is jam packed with everything you need to know about gardening with native plants.

  Plus a whats on board.

  Looks like there is always something going on here. However I veer off track, back to the display gardens!

  In the image above you can see Banksia ‘Stumpy Gold’, good to see they grow in WA too.

  Banksia ‘Stumpy Gold’ flower, above.

  And Banksia ‘Birthday Candles’, the reason I am posting these images is that I really want more photos on the internet of the different Banksia spinulosa Dwarf varieties available out there! And these were two very good mature examples.

  Anigozanthos ‘Bush Pearl’ seems to grow very happily in Western Australia too. Below is Hibbertia dentata, now that is a plant I wouldn’t have expected to see out west!

I will leave it at that, of course I have many more photos taken in the beautiful grounds of the nursery, but I shall save them for a later date.

Thanks Zanthorrea for being so inspiring!

[malleedesign]

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

Portfolio: Gordon Courtyard Garden Design

This small courtyard garden is part 2 of a 3 stage garden design for clients on the upper north shore. This was a middle garden that services a flat/studio attached to the main house, to say it was fairly un-loved is an understatement. See the before image below.

  It is a shady garden, dominated by mature palm trees and built on a cliff/retaining wall.

  The lawn area was highly compacted and because of the shade not performing at all well, I have replaced it with sandstone flagging and Dichondra repens, which will form a tough mat under foot.

The treated pine log retaining wall for the palms raised bed was removed and replaced with a sandstone block wall, the lower branches of the palms were removed to make space for an understory planting of Doryanthes excelsa and Macrozamia communis. The garden bed in front of the retaining wall is full of Rhododendron lochiae and Ceratopetalum ‘Johannas Christmas’.

  One of the palms at the end was removed to allow more northern light in, the timber steps were replaced with a curved sandstone block staircase, which the client now uses as her favourite morning coffee spot.

  I installed a large pedestal birdbath in the most central part of the garden, it can be viewed from the patio above, the kitchen of the flat and also from the client’s offices on the second floor. A Banksia robur will grow up and provide easy access to the bath for the birds.

  Ceratopetalum ‘Johannas Christmas’ has been planted throughout the garden (on the left in the image above), this is a dwarf Christmas Bush that will love the dappled shade and flower extensively in late spring. I have used it in front of the metal railing to frame the view of the tree tops in the lower garden.

[malleedesign]

New Post has been published on http://malleedesign.com.au/low-shrubbery/

Low Shrubbery

I have had my eye on this little dwarf form of Acacia for a few years now, it isn’t as common as some of the Acacia cognata dwarfs, which is one of the reasons it appeals to me. This is Acacia howittii ‘Honey Bun’ and it is an incredibly pretty and useful low shrub, suitable for low hedging and feature borders in the native garden.

Acacia howittii ‘Honey Bun’ enjoys a part shade position in an area with low humidity, it is frost tolerant and quick growing.

It is a lovely mounding shrub with lime green interesting foliage hanging all the way to the ground, it grows to about 1.2m by 1.2m and looks great planted amongst weeping grasses.

I have found in some positions in the garden this plant has thrived where other dwarf Acacias have not, it seems to require little moisture and dislikes over-head watering. However beware when growing on the NSW east coast as sometimes our summers can be too much a way around this is to plant in autumn and get it established before those summer rains.

[malleedesign]

New Post has been published on http://malleedesign.com.au/wbg-towrie-centre-gardens/

WBG: Towrie Centre Gardens

Last week I went to a fantastic seed collection workshop held at Wollongong Botanic Gardens in their Towrie Centre, I had never really been to this part of the gardens before and was really envious of the great job they have done. There is a large part of the garden that was bush tucker but the area around the building was what really caught my eye. I love these brightly painted concrete planters with the Xanthorhoea spps growing in them.

  The other great thing is seeing landscape design done well with local indigenous species, this soft feathery grass is Stipa rammossima, a quick growing local, that grows well in heavy shade, moist or dry conditions. Above you can see how great it looks planted on mass as an under storey for this Eucalyptus camaldulensis. I also have this grass growing at home around my frog pond and it provides excellent shelter for the frogs and fish.

  Its a great place to go and get ideas for local under storey plants, there is plenty to choose from, Sollya, Themeda, Goodenia and Dianella just to name a few. One of my favourites at the moment is the dwarf form of Acacia howittii or Acacia howitti ‘Honey Bun’, there are several planted in part shade in this garden and they are growing so well, they seem completely un-fazed by the recent humid weather.

[malleedesign]

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

Portfolio: Greenwich Garden Design

This is a garden that I designed back in 2011 and recently revisited to re-tweek some difficult spots and increase the planting area. The rear garden is very steep and has been terraced with sandstone retaining walls, the furthest section of the garden is in heavy shade and was suffering from erosion. There is a magnificent Eucalyptus tree in the centre of the garden which dominates the planting.

Originally the garden had a chook pen which has been dismantled, therefore making room for more plants.

The sandstone retaining walls are flawless,created by someone with a lot of talent and eye for detail, the aim of the garden design was to suppress weeds, add colour, entice wildlife and soften the retaining walls. Above you can see Telopea ‘Shady Lady Red’, Grevillea ‘Lady O’ and Correa ‘Dusky Bells’ in the fore ground.

The lowest retaining wall which is viewed from the kitchen and living below will have spill over of Grevillea obtusifolia (above), Acacia baileyana prostrate and Banksia ‘Roller Coaster’.

There was a lot of Clivia that was removed this time around and replaced with Moraea robinsoniana which will hide some of the steep embankment and also spill over the rock edge. Above you can also see a mixed planting of Austromyrtus dulcis with Libertia paniculata and another Warratah. I love being involved with these gardens over time and seeing how they grow and develop with the owners, makes me feel very lucky.