Garden Art

To make a garden more interesting a few artistic features were added.

A chimney pot and an old rusted plough disc.

A galvanised iron cockatoo and a pot plant dish.

A twisted metal echidna.

A metal windmill.

A rustic seat made from a red gum slab and some bricks.

It makes the garden interesting and fun.

Natural Habitat Garden a Year Later

The natural habitat garden has grown so much in the last 6 months ( refer to the previous blog).
It is looking like a natural bush garden and small birds and butterflies can be seen.

Landscaping with Rocks and Grasses

On the coldest day of the year - 12C a new garden bed was created.
Rocks, logs and grasses were to be used.
The rocks and logs were collected from the property and the grasses were lomandras and dianellas which are native to Australia.

The largest rocks were put in place first.

Some grasses were added and some logs.

A beautiful piece of red gum was a feature.

Finally smaller rocks and bark were added.

The finished garden was a natural bush garden.

Construction of Rock garden with Succulents

It was time to make a new garden bed - a circular rock garden with succulents. The weather forecast was for wind and rain so an early start was in order.
As well as the plants that were purchased, there were others which had been in the ground for four months and because of the wet season, were waterlogged and needed to be transplanted.

 

The first step was to mark out the circular garden bed. The diameter was 3.5 metres. Rolapak Ezy Edge was used and anchored in place with timber pegs ( which will be replaced by metal ones).

Rocks and a log were then collected from the property. It was then just a matter of adding a metre of soil, the rocks and the plants. A feature of the design was the log which was planted with succulents.

These photos show some of the fifty-nine succulents that were planted. They included echeverias, 

sedum, crassula, kalanchoes, sempervivum,, aeonium, and graptoverias

To finish the garden, local granitic rock was used forthe topping. It is a lovely grey color which tones in well with the succulents.

As a finishing touch, two potted succulents and a galvanised metal cockatoo were used as decorative features.

2 weeks later - 5 container pots of succulents have been added to the garden. Note the addition of crystals and the use of different coloured toppings.

Some updated photos of the garden.

Simple Arrangement with Oak Leaves and Branches

For this arrangement I have used some branches cut from an apple tree and some foliage from an oak tree. There is some interesting lichen on the branches. The vase I used is an off-white ceramic vase with a narrow neck.

Autumn in an Australian Native Garden

At this time of year there is not much color in the garden. Only three kangaroo paws are in flower.

The leucadendrons provide some autumn color.

Other plants in flower are the correas.

The grasses are doing well due to the good rains we have had.

Other Autumn flowering plants in the native garden are Banksia ericifolia

Diplopaena grandiflora

Some flower buds are forming on the Eucalyptus caesia

and on the Protea nerifolia