Come and explore with me an enchanted paperbark forest. This is nature’s handiwork at its best, a garden like no other! I want to share this walk with you, through the magical environment on the Central Queensland coast. It is located near Agnes Waters and the Town of Seventeen Seventy. Seventeen Seventy is a coastal … Continued
We created a living botanic sculpture, in the form of a grove of allocasuarinas, for the black cockatoos. Planting the living scupture 20 years ago We planted 56 Allocasuarina torulosa (Forest Oak) in a ’wheel‘ formation with 8 ‘spokes’. The Forest Oak attracts the Red-tailed black cockatoo as this is their preferred food source tree. … Continued
On one hectare, Dennis and Jan have created a sustainable collector’s garden of native plants. Establishing the garden for sustainability Dennis Cox and Jan Glazebrook established their Logan Village garden in 1992. Logan Village is a semi-rural village 45 km south of Brisbane CBD. A dramatic Jurassic sandstone conglomerate outcrop sweeps decoratively across the one … Continued
Many east coast city dwellers may wonder whether the Australian brush-turkey is an unwelcome guest or an ecosystem engineer. But the very thing that annoys people may be an ecological blessing. Read on… Introduction If you asked a suburban resident of many parts of Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Byron Bay or any other … Continued
The ephemeral arid and semi-arid plants of NSW demonstrate some extraordinary adaptations to climate, soils and microclimate! With an increasingly variable and warming climate, it’s worth understanding which plants might cope with the tough, hot and dry conditions. Here are some of the landscapes and plants seen on a recent trip around western NSW and north west … Continued
Gardens designed with nature are critical to our health and wellbeing, as well as supporting that of the planet. Most of us have access to nature in a modified form in their own home gardens (although this is rapidly decreasing with lot sizes!) but also in most of the public parks and gardens of the … Continued
We are very fortunate to have woodland plains near Narromine that feature a rare ecological treat – mound spring ecosystems associated with the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). You would usually have to travel into the semi-arid zone of western NSW to see these ecosystems. However, if you are near Dubbo, you can see some striking … Continued
The ‘Reimagine Your Creek’ project focuses on naturalising Melbourne’s waterways. Naturalisation is a growing initiative in contemporary urban planning. It has the potential to deliver better outcomes to our waterways than just drainage alone. As opposed to restoration, naturalisation is a pragmatic approach to return natural systems and experiences to our landscapes, within the constraints … Continued
Pruning native plants for design is valuable for both practical and aesthetic reasons. It’s an opportunity to be creative! Pruning for practicality vs aesthetics Pruning is an area of gardening where practical concerns butt up against design considerations. For instance, cutting ground-covering plants back from a path requires deciding between the practical and the aesthetic. … Continued
Reflecting on the many impacts on both garden design and maintenance, Chris Larkin relates her experience that weather is always the wildcard for gardeners. This is irrespective of the garden’s location or the seasons. Chris outlines a few of the most important issues she learnt from observing nature and if applied will help make your … Continued
This article is part of a two part series – this one was written in 2008 and the second in 2024. See Part 2 for the 2024 update here. Our property ‘Eagles Drift’ is situated in the Upper Hunter Valley at the junction of the Goulburn and Krui Rivers. When my husband and I moved … Continued
This article is part of a two part series – the first written in 2008 is Part 1 and the second is this one, written in 2024. See Part 1 here. Here we are in 2024. So many years have passed since I felt spurred on to write an article for ‘Garden Design Study Group’. … Continued
I’m a landscape designer with a passion for designing eco-friendly gardens in visual harmony with the natural landscape. This article is about why you should grow an indigenous native garden. There are five problems facing gardeners and growers today. Many of these can be addressed by using indigenous species to solve them. Indigenous plants are … Continued
Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)