In the beginning...

Figure 1: Google Earth image from 2007

Figure 2: Google Earth image from 2010

Figure 3: Eucalyptus scoparia in our backyard.

Figure 4: Eucalyptus Little Spotty in our backyard.

The creation of a (dominantly) native garden...

When we first moved to our current house in 2004, the garden was almost non-existent. The only plants were a couple of palm trees, which the previous owners removed and took with them, and some conifers... and a grass lawn. So we got straight to it. The first thing to go was the conifers (after they’d removed the palm trees). We had some delicious marshmallows toasted on the bonfires fuelled by them!  We then had clean-fill brought in to level out the ground. We sewed grass seed and then began my favourite part... choosing the plants to fill the garden! Two of the biggest plants to go in were a Eucalyptus scoparia (where the red cross is in Figure 1), and a Eucalyptus Little Spotty (where the red circle is in picture a)). Both trees look fantastic now (Figures 3 and 4 respectively). Soon after the Eucalypts, we put in one of only three non-native plants, a Lisbon lemon tree (the other two being a Japanese Maple and a Tahitian lime tree, which we planted about 6 months ago). Next we mulched the garden and planted an assortment of native plants along the border of the backyard, including Banksias, Grevilleas, Callistemons, Anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paw), an Acacia boormanii and many others. We later built a chicken pen to house three chickens around one of the Callistemons – it takes a beating but it lives on! The front yard is mostly gravel driveway, but we did plant out a small area with... yep, you guessed it! Even more native plants! They are an assortment of some of our favourites. My favourite would have to be either the Acacia cognata EmeraldCurl or the Agonis flexuosa Dwarf. The EmeraldCurl makes such a fantastic feature plant – I love the slight curvature of the leaves and its brilliant bright green colour (see picture along right hand side of blog titled 'EmeraldCurl'). I love the Agonis flexuosa Dwarf because of the bizarre zig-zag appearance of the branches. I was so amazed the first time I saw it, I just had to grow one!

Most recently, we have created two narrow strips of garden, lining each side of the driveway. The side closest to the house was first filled with an assortment of native shrubs, but some died and others were ill-considered, so it is now home to a border of Lomandra Lime Tuff which  are growing extremely well and look spectacular, especially when they flower. The other side of the driveway, lining the fence, is a hedge of Leptospermum Copper Glow. The flowers of Leptospermum are some of my favourites of all native flowers, so I think this will look pretty spectacular when it flowers!