For this bayside gardener, a parched piece of earth became a labour of love....with stylish results.
The owner inherited a perished piece of lawn with the house five years ago.
She says there were also a
couple of random tall trees which weren’t fabulous but provided shade at
various points.
"The thing I liked
best was the existing bluestone front fence - with its deep grey colour it was
going to provide the perfect backdrop for my vision of a modern urban native
garden,'' she says.
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"I have always
loved native plants, their variety of textures but especially their colours –
from superb lime green grasses to that unique silver grey foliage of a towering
banksia tree.''
Drawn to the features and colours of coastal design, this was her starting point in deciding on the colours for this garden.
Inspired by the
coastal walking tracks along the clifftops in bayside Melbourne
However that is
where the outside help began and ended - she completed the rest by hand.
"I started with my
grass garden first and used my local council’s indigenous nursery as a starting
point, finding grasses unique to this part of Melbourne
"I wanted to mix up
the colours to provide contrast and interest, with a row of grasses lining the
main path to the front door.
"The other parts of
the garden needed to have more height and colour.
"I mixed correa,
rows of westringia, grevillea in the most shocking lollypop pink and mini
flowering gums. Later I filled out empty spaces with a native hibiscus and
woolly bushes.
"Along the side
fence I wanted a traditional hedge but using native trees and I chose coastal
banksias,'' she says.
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To complete the mix the owner has dotted some timber chairs and benches found by the side of the road along the path as places of respite, and added some birth baths as a water source.
