Garden
He's one of our all-time architectural faves that grows well in most parts of Australia and requires little maintenance. A no-mow lawn? Velvet grass that grows to only 10cm, perfect for ground cover, between pavers, around pools and ponds, and low-traffic areas. He's drought tolerant once established has fine slender leaves, brilliant mass planted in Japanese or Balinese style gardens. Excellent at squashing those weeds down!
Description This is an easy to please flowering shrub that can tolerate windy coastal conditions, frost, droughts and pretty much anything else in between. Cosmic Pink™ Rhaphiolepis indica will reward you with large pink flowers in spring and summer that contrast beautifully against the dark green foliage. Quick Facts: What to use me for: I fit into a cottage garden because of my flowers and my hardiness makes me great for a coastal garden I grow to: 50-80cm high, 50-80cm wide Where to place me: Full sun to part shade How far to space me: 60cm apart My features: To be honest, I'm not fussy, you could put me almost anywhere and I will be happy
Murraya paniculata is a hardy, evergreen, ornamental large shrub with rich, deep-green, glossy leaves. The new growth is brilliant lime-green in colour. Commonly called "Orange Jessamine" or "Mock Orange", it produces an abundance of delicate, creamy-white, exquisitely citrus-fragranced flowers during Spring through to Summer. Murraya paniculata is one of the most popular hedging plants. It can be easily pruned to maintain a height of 1m and a width of 50cm, without becoming woody in appearance. Like other citrus trees, soil deficiencies may show up in a yellowing of the leaves. Improve the soil with regular mulching with chunky mulch is a good way to prevent nutrient deficiencies. Please keep the mulch away from the stem as this may promote fungal diseases. Fertilise at least once a year with a high-quality slow release fertiliser. Water only as needed and don’t let stand with wet feet. The problem is that over-watered plants can display similar symptoms like dry, thirsty plants. If the soil is moist then the issue is unlikely to be lack of water. These babies are slightly bigger than our normal tubes sitting at 15cm high in a 75mm pot Quick Facts: What to use me for: ...
Description Camellia sasanqua Hiryu is a hardy, flowering shrub great for creating a privacy hedge or as a flowering topiary in a pot. In early autumn through to winter you will be rewarded with red semi-double flowers which stand out against the dark green oval shaped green. Quick Facts: What to use me for: Great in a pot or as a flowering hedge I grow to: 4m high, 2m wide Where to place me: Full sun to part shade Soil Conditions: I like well draining slightly acidic soils. A soil pH of 6.0-6.5 is ideal My features: I am frost tolerant and can handle periods of dry once established
The Lysimachia nummularia Goldilocks also gets called Moneywort or Creeping Jenny and depending on your climate is a semi-evergreen or annual plant. She has lime green, round, fleshy leaves that form a nice dense mat and stop pesky weeds from popping up. Creeping Jenny is a great groundcover for areas with boggy soils and looks good cascading over a retaining wall or trailing over the edge of a hanging basket on a balcony.
The Lysimachia nummularia Goldilocks also gets called Moneywort or Creeping Jenny and depending on your climate is a semi-evergreen or annual plant. She has lime green, round, fleshy leaves that form a nice dense mat and stop pesky weeds from popping up. Creeping Jenny is a great groundcover for areas with boggy soils and looks good cascading over a retaining wall or trailing over the edge of a hanging basket on a balcony.
The Brachyscome multifida Radiant Magenta also goes by the name Swan River Daisy. She is a great, flowering native groundcover with fine green leaves and magenta pink daisy flowers. The Radiant Magenta is drought and moderately frost tolerant and will do well in a full sun to part shade spot in the garden. Her spreading habit will work hard to stabilise a bank but will make sure she looks pretty doing so. Check out our blog post "Bring in the New Year with a box of potted pretties" to learn how to make her pop.
The Brachyscome Mauve Delight is one of the most popular Brachyscome loved for her hardiness, reliability and good looks. She has a compact, mounded form with masses of long-lasting mauve flowers. This babe is native to Australia and is typically found in grassy understories of woodlands and open forests. This little cut-leaf daisy can handle drought conditions but will flower better with regular water, be sure not to overwater which will cause her roots to rot. She makes a great border plant in a native garden or mix her in with some other flowering plants to create a pretty hanging basket.
Juniperus conferta. This nifty little ground cover is perfect for those looking to create a low maintenance garden. Forming a dense low growing carpet with its evergreen needle-like leaves, this hardy groundcover is great for rockeries and creating soft borders in your garden. The perfect plant for coastal conditions or that exposed windy spot in your garden. If you are looking for a groundcover that will handle anything you throw at it, then this is the one for you! Quick Facts: What to use me for: groundcover in rockeries and low maintenance gardens I grow to: 30cm high, 2m wide Where to place me: Full sun to part shade How far to space me: 1-2m apart Soil Conditions: will handle most soil types My features: useful in windy and exposed areas of the garden
Grevillea Carpet Layer is a fast, easy-going, dense native ground cover with large beautiful pink flowers. This little native will grow in most parts of Australia, it does't mind living by the beach with the salty airs, it can handle cooler frost areas and also arid dry environments. Its large pink toothbrush like flowers will attract native birds and bees and the spreading form of this plant acts as a good weed suppresser and soil stabiliser. Quick Facts: What to use me for: Great fast growing dense ground cover I grow to: 0.2-0.4m high, 3m wide Where to place me: Full sun to part shade How far to space me: 2m apart Watering conditions: Once established I don't need much water Soil Conditions: I am not fussy and do well in most soil types even poor ones My features: I can tolerate moderate frosts and drought conditions
Description Gardenia augusta Radicans is a much-treasured, evergreen, low growing shrub/ground cover. Its natural highly glossed, richly-bright green leaves are only surpassed by the exquisite, sweetly-perfumed flowers. With folds of soft, white petals that regularly and completely cover the plant, this little gem is a MUST for every garden. Whilst there is a dominance of bloom in Spring and Autumn, in the warmer climatic zones, Gardenia augusta Radicans produces flowers throughout the entire year. As it has shallow roots, Gardenia augusta Radicans is perfect for use in hanging baskets and also for pots/tubs. It is mainly used for planting as garden borders, at the base of trees, or taller shrubs, providing perfume and contrast. Try planting Gardenia augusta Radicans at the base of taller growing shrubs. The contrast in foliage, growth habit and flower production gives the designing edge to your garden! This beauty loves sun to filtered sun and slightly acid soils, but if the leaves start to yellow it means the soil is deficient in minerals that gardenias need. It’s a simple fix of applying Epsom salts or chelated iron onto the roots. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions an...
Description Gardenia augusta Radicans is a much-treasured, evergreen, low growing shrub/ground cover. Its natural highly glossed, richly-bright green leaves are only surpassed by the exquisite, sweetly-perfumed flowers. With folds of soft, white petals that regularly and completely cover the plant, this little gem is a MUST for every garden. Whilst there is a dominance of bloom in Spring and Autumn, in the warmer climatic zones, Gardenia augusta Radicans produces flowers throughout the entire year. As it has shallow roots, Gardenia augusta Radicans is perfect for use in hanging baskets and also for pots/tubs. It is mainly used for planting as garden borders, at the base of trees, or taller shrubs, providing perfume and contrast. Try planting Gardenia augusta Radicans at the base of taller growing shrubs. The contrast in foliage, growth habit and flower production gives the designing edge to your garden! This beauty loves sun to filtered sun and slightly acid soils, but if the leaves start to yellow it means the soil is deficient in minerals that gardenias need. It’s a simple fix of applying Epsom salts or chelated iron onto the roots. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions an...
This client's home backs up to a beautiful native Beech and Tulip woodland with an intermittent stream running through the middle of the site. After mistakenly over-clearing the natural forest saplings, the once lush woods was now bare. Called in to help re-vegetate the woodland, we designed and created a new path network through the woodland so that the client could enjoy and experience their new garden. Planted with large masses of native perennials, shade grasses and spring bulbs this back yard is now lush once again. Design and Construction: Till Gardens (www.tillgardens.com - 201.767.5858) Photography: John Knowlton/Till Gardens
Pergola plantings
Placement of garden seat
Add a secluded seating nook Even if most of your garden is geared toward outdoor entertaining, you can tuck a bench or seats for a few people in a space away from the main gathering area. You may find that you gravitate toward these areas when you’d like to be quiet and just sit and gaze at the garden. Look for half-hidden spots that feel more private, such as a side yard, a place tucked alongside a garden shed or a partially concealed spot behind plants.
Add a meaningful object Find a home in your garden for an object that holds meaning for you, whether it’s a religious figure, a piece passed down from a friend or family member, or something special found on a trip. You can elevate an object’s presence by mounting it on a pedestal or placing it at the base of a mature tree, with the trunk as a backdrop. Meaningful objects, such as small garden statues passed down from a loved one, can also be effective when tucked into garden beds. When your eye falls on them, you may remember that special person.
Engage the senses Scent is a powerful memory trigger. If there’s a fragrance you associate with a period in your life or a loved one, adding this scent to your garden can take you right back. If you don’t have something in particular you’d like to plant, you can’t go wrong with David Austin’s ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ rose, a pink beauty with a cabbage-like centre and an old-fashioned rose fragrance. Adding plants for texture, such as fuzzy dusty miller (Jacobaea maritima, syn. Senecio cineraria), or for movement, like ornamental grasses that sway in the slightest breeze, is another way to engage the senses and make you feel more connected to a garden.
Different colours of trees
Mid-century classic If you’re a fan of mid-century architecture, take a cue from Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who designed and constructed the iconic Farnsworth house between 1945 and 1951. The designer eschewed the idea of a conventional garden around the pavilion-style house, preferring to surround it instead with the lawns, trees and natural landscape of the 23 hectare rural property. His ideas are still emulated today by contemporary architects and landscape designers.
If you want ground cover Natives often get labelled ‘boring’ – the Casuarina glauca ‘Cousin It’, however, kicks that unfair label to the curb. Known for its interesting mounding look, ability to grow in the most restrictive conditions, and its fantastic trailing habit, this plant is a must-have in any garden that requires low-lying planting, be it native or not. It can soften hard walls and can cover anything unsightly in your garden (such as pipes) in style! No matter where you plant it – in a pot, between rocks or on the ground to form a blanket of ground cover – this hardy plant will do well and is sure to catch the eye.
Good design and to cover a fence
Bougainvillea climbing wall
Stone wall, garden and pizza oven
Stone wall and garden
I like it! Curved design
Small trees
Firepit idea
Looking out to background treed view
Outside Door designs
Outside Sunroom
outside sunroom
Formal - outside sunroom
Side fence area?
Door
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