This native garden in Maroubra (coastal Sydney) put on a wonderful flower display for the Open Gardens Australia weekend opening in early September. But it has plenty more than flowers to enjoy – planting combinations to inspire demonstrating effective height variation and foliage contrast, border designs to define areas and for seclusion, wildlife habitat ideas, practical solutions, and lots of unique features such as the beautifully crafted bird baths.
It is difficult to imagine the site had no native plants other than the Swamp Mahogany trees in 2001 when the current owners moved in and started creating this superb garden.
Click on any photo to see a larger image slideshow. You can also click the photos in the slideshow (top right corner) to see a full-size version.
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Thanks Louise,
saw Kim’s garden last year and certainly looks especially lush this year, even during such a dry spring until this current lovely rain.. Kim’s use of beautiful natives really impressed me and the innovative inclusions, native bee hives, stacked hardwood from the site, polished hardwood water bowls loved it !!
I enjoyed being in it! I wouldn’t often describe a native garden as ‘lush’ but you’re right, it does have a lushness to it, some beautiful foliage textures as well as the voluptuous flowers! I was pleased to see it looking so good. Thanks for your comments Peter.
Hi Phileppa, I’m glad you liked the look of the garden – I hope it provides some inspiration for yours. While it’s not my garden I can give you some details on it such as its size at 17m x 41m and that the owners took up residence in January 2001 at which time there were no native plants other than the three Swamp Mahogany trees at the back boundary. So it’s come a long way.
While I can’t say for sure about the owners’ planting style, plant enthusiasts often do overplant because it’s difficult to curtail the excitement of planting new plants! It creates a fuller look more quickly than sparse planting that allows for mature size spacing, but plants do need to be thinned, pruned or removed to allow others to flourish and improve air circulation, especially in humid areas.
Louise
Thank you Louise, I do appreciate your reply and advice. I’m in Goulburn, NSW and bought my home in 2006; it’s on a small block and the garden was totally overgrown with a base of couch grass. I’ve been planting my natives in portions due to having to remove other non-natives, soil improvement and spare cash. I’m gradually removing grass and the bedding areas are growing! The part planted in 2008 is now lush and gives promise that the rest of the garden will eventually look the same; I do look forward to that time!
What a wonderful native garden! I’m still creating my native garden and hope that in the future it will look somewhat similar to this one! I’m wondering when the garden was started and what size the land block is?
Sorry, sent before I’d completed! Also, you appear to have, possibly, overplanted which I’m also doing, but have you had to remove some to accommodate others due to overcrowding?