#Acacia howittii 'Honey Bun'

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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 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!

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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!