Ornamental Plants and Trees

Some details about our various decorative and ornamental plants and trees can be found on the pages listed below.

For the purposes of organising this website, we’ve chosen to categorise any plant that isn’t edible, as being ornamental. (After all, we wouldn’t want people to think that the overgrown weed patches scattered around our garden weren’t intentionally placed as Zen, juxtaposition, counterpoints to our other ornamental plants.)

Australian Native Screening Plants
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November 2013 I have set out to plant a long run of Australian native plants along one boarder of our property, both to provide screening from the neighbours and to allow a safe corridor through which (with any luck) native animals, reptiles and birds can cross our land. I have been looking at local parks and express-way nature strips for … Read More »»»

Last updated 21 May 2014

Growing a Lawn from Seed
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So, growing my own lawn from seed; how difficult could it be? We’ve been extending our little orchard and some other parts of the garden into our back lot. The only problem has been a decidedly obvious dividing line between the rough, weed strewn Kikuyu grass on the former paddock side, and the slightly flatter, slightly less weed strewn Kikuyu … Read More »»»

Last updated 7 June 2013

Red Robin (Photinia x Fraseri)
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We have a red robin hedge (or rather what will in time become a hedge) running along one boundary of our back lot. Of about 40 trees (or are they shrubs?) planted by the previous owner of the lot, 36 have survived to adulthood. I had planned to replace the 4 missing ones with cuttings from their siblings, but my first attempt at this left me with a bunch of sticks in a pot. I’ll try again in Spring.

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Last updated 22 August 2012

Shady Lady Waratahs
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We had a 20m span, from the Red Robin hedge to the nature strip, to fill. Allowing for a screening overlap, I planted 18 Shady Lady Waratahs, 1 metre apart. The plants came in a good looking potting mix, and I have since added some low phosphorus fertiliser.

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Last updated 4 November 2014

The Bulb Bed
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A couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to experiment with different bulbs, as they seem to grow quite prolifically in the Southern Highlands and they are my idea of low maintenance – only digging up and dividing every couple of years. I decided that the very much overgrown "ornamentals bed" under our bedroom window would be the … Read More »»»

Last updated 14 April 2014

Westringia Glabra
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I’ve just planted ten Westringia Glabras which I am hoping will make a suitable hedge around the new compost area. 80cm apart seemed best. Almost all Westringias I’ve seen have been growing naturally in the shape of an upside down fish bowl, but I’ve read in several places (including Angus Stewart’s book) that they can be used as a formal hedge. We shall see.

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Last updated 28 October 2013