Path ideas
Pod Garden Design & Landscape Save Email Ground covers These low-growing plants need little to no maintenance and are handy helpers when it comes to choking out weeds. Expect to do a little weeding the first year after planting ground covers, and don’t be afraid to choose flowering varieties that change with the seasons. Kidney weed (Dichondra repens), pictured here, is a spreading perennial native to Australia and New Zealand. It can grow in full sun or part shade and works wonderfully as a lawn substitute in areas that don’t get too much traffic.
Pebbles and mulch The easy-care option of using pebbles as ground cover will save you a bundle on your water bill, eliminate the need for fertilisers and weed killer, and give your front or backyard a striking look. Add a little greenery, and let nature take its course – little to no maintenance will be required, and rain can soak through the pebbled areas and into the groundwater below instead of running off into the stormwater drain – and that’s good news for the environment.
Historical Concepts Save Email 9. Step up (or down) Lots of gardens have level changes, which can be really expensive or difficult to deal with. In this garden, the paving has been reduced by the use of simple grass steps with stone retainers. You could easily do this with reclaimed materials, backfilling with soil and turfing the surfaces. It’s great where large steps are needed but is equally at home on narrower stairs. Just make the steps deep enough to get a lawn mower in for ease of maintenance.
3. Play with pattern This garden takes the stepping stone theme one step further. The pattern of simple square pavers laid on the lawn pulls you through a border and out to a circular lawn, and then farther out to a larger lawn. Adding pavers set on a directional 45-degree angle is a simple but effective way to create motion through a garden – and the idea is easy to copy. To mow the lawn, just push your lawnmower over the entire top.
10. Solar lights The further you get from the house, the more sense it makes to turn to solar-powered lighting. WHEN TO USE: Solar lights are always a valid option, but when you’re trying to light an area without easy access to electricity, they quickly become the only alternative. Given that they tend to cast a more diffuse light than installed fittings, they’re also a great option for areas where you need some light but don’t want to create any glare. WHAT TO CONSIDER: Once you’ve decided that solar lights are the solution, then the main consideration is the quality and lifespan of the product. And speaking of lifespan, it’s worth bearing in mind that many of the cheaper models have a fairly limited lifespan and will need replacing quite regularly. It may be worth spending a little more upfront. GET THE LOOK: If you’re lighting an area that is shady for much of the day, or want to conceal the lights in garden beds, you can get lights that connect to a small solar panel, and can then place the panel in a spot nearby that gets enough sun.
Choose silver or grey Plants with grey or silver tones in their leaves, such as the Lomandra confertilfolia ‘Seascape’ on the left and the lamb’s ear on the right, can cope with quite a long drought, particularly those with leaves that are tomentose (covered with down or tiny hairs). The hairs help reduce evaporation from pores in the leaf surface and reflect some of the sunlight from the leaf.
…and Australian grevilleas Grevilleas are in the same family as Leucadendron with more than 200 native to Australia. Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’, the small-growing shrub above, is one of many Australian grevillea cultivars and is considered by gardening expert Don Burke to be one of the best all-round varieties.Virtually all grevilleas produce delicate spidery flowers and thrive in poor dry soils with good drainage – they also love windy conditions. These versatile plants can be used for a variety of purposes in the garden from ground covers and shrubs to tall trees.
Add drama with show-stopping African shrubs… The Leucadendron ‘Jester’ above, and its close cousins protea and Leucospermum, all like similar hot and dry conditions with free-draining soil. There are hundreds of cultivars of these African shrubs to choose from, and all produce stunning flowers in winter and spring that are great for cutting.
Do your research A good way to work out which shrubs will cope best in hot and dry conditions is to check where they originate. Any plants from warm areas, such as the Mediterranean, South Africa or California, are a sure bet for success. The heat-loving shrubs in the garden above include Mediterranean Spurge (euphorbia) with its lime green flower heads, along with yellow-flowering Australian kangaroo-paw.
Give plants a good start No matter how tough and drought-resistant a plant is when mature, it still needs to be pampered a little when it’s first planted. Trees in particular. Dig some organic manure or peat and slow-release fertiliser into the soil when planting and water thoroughly. Continue to water for the first growing season until the plant is properly established, then it can be left to fend for itself. Try to do your planting between late autumn and early spring when the ground is likely to be moister.Trees for dry conditions, once established, include alder, banksia (pictured above), birch, Cabbage trees (Cordyline), eucalypts, Bead tree (Melia azedarach), many maples, Norfolk Island hibiscus (Lagunaria), ornamental pear, Portuguese laurel, mountain ash (Sorbus), she-oak (Casuarina), wattle, and willow myrtle (Agonis flexuosa).
9. Retaining walls Retaining walls don’t get much love either. They’re certainly not as interesting as kitchens and custom joinery units; however, they still need consideration during the design stage so that they can be quoted on, because no matter how much we ignore them, they aren’t going to build themselves. For any block with even a modest slope, you (and ideally your designer) will probably need to put some thought into the location, height and type of retaining walls. It is not uncommon for builders to exclude retaining walls from their quote as they are often considered to be landscaping items; however, I believe them to be an integral element of the building site as a whole.
Interweave plants and slabs Rather than create one continuous paved terrace adjacent to the house, the architects for this Sydney renovation opted for a series of stone slabs with a ground cover planted in-between. The slabs morph into a stepping stone path, connecting the house to a fully paved outdoor living space further out into the garden.
Vary paver sizes Short and longer lengths of concrete paving alternate in this Margaret River beach house, creating a dramatic entrance befitting the stunning contemporary architecture of the house. Opting for non-standard made-to-order paving units will cost you more but the effect is definitely worth it. Making your own custom-made pavers is also possible if your DIY skills are reasonably proficient.
Ajuga, a member of the mint family, grows well in shady spots. It’s also known as bugleweed.
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