Tuesday 2 February 2010

Planting a mainly native garden;

Converting 3/4 of the Orchard into a native garden;



Some of the new plants (tubes) we have already planted. Please click the pictures)
Many different Eucalyptus trees food for Koalas as they are living here too;
Banksias mainly from this area;
hardy Grevillias;
Callistemons in the shade of the rainbow, wildlife adores them.
Wattles, some are short lived but we are too! There is a flowering wattle for every month in the year.
And many more to the delight of the winged, four- and two legged species.

We grow many different Melaleucas;

The flower of Grevillia Lyrebird.

When you are gentle with Nature the most wonderful creatures come and visit you;


flowering Callistemon;

This is a Mulberry tree in the orchard. It provides food, shade and protection for many;

A native shrub Hovea acutifolia with the most darling little pea flowers in a soft purple shade.

Beautiful Daniella longifolia is easy to grow;

I have planted many Buckinghamia celsissima they are beloved by all the insects. I leave the native grass, it is protection and also provides food for many small animals, birds and insects.


18 comments:

diane b said...

I love the natives, most of them are so hardy. You have a big job planting all of them. I'm frustrated as my back hurts when I do gardening these days. I caught a wallaby munching through some new grevillea plants that I planted and nursed through the dry times but he ws so cute I didn't chase him away but photographed him instead.

BernieH said...

What a fabulous area you are going to create! I love the idea of having a wattle flowering in every month of the year.

One of my long term goals on this property is to create a native garden bed at the top of my driveway ... but that will be in the future. I'll look forward to seeing how yours progresses.

Peter said...

We've got -10°C!!! And we're really snowed under! White, white, white. Whenever I look at these pictures, I want to travel to Australia and enjoy your lovely nature.

easygardener said...

I am a great fan of Grevillias and their spidery flowers. I must investigate whether there are more hardy ones or if I have to make do with the solitary one I've got.
Good luck with the native garden - the wildlife must be jumping for joy!

Karen - An Artist's Garden said...

What a wonderful project. It seems you will be working with nature.

Like Easygardener I have one Grevillia - and it is doing extremely well here in the UK.
K

Ingrid said...

Tolle Bilder vom Sommer, die wir hier im Schnee gar nicht mehr so recht nachvollziehen können. Aber wie den Sommer mag ich auch den Schnee, alles zu seiner Zeit!
Liebe Grüße
Ingrid

sweetbay said...

What a fantastic plan! These plants are gorgeous.

Laura in Paris said...

How exuberant nature is over there! Beautiful shots.

Kerri said...

This is an enthusiastic project!
I love the Grevillias and the Callistemons....how beautiful they are!
I had no idea there is a flowering wattle for every month of the year!
Your garden is a wonderful haven for so many of God's creatures, and a paradise for you :)
I would so love to see it in person!

claudia said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the nice words. Can't wait to read your future posts. :)

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Diane, I know sometimes we have to share. Possums always find the juiciest Mangos!

Bernie, it is good to have project looming in the distance.

Peter, lots of snow every where this year. Spring is just around the corner!

Denise, there could be some which thrive in the cold areas of Australia. I am not familiar with them as I have always lived in a subtropical climate.

Karen, I am glad that you enjoy the wonderful Grevillias. It is nice to have diversity in the garden.

Sweetbay, thank you for your visit and kind comment.

Ingrid,da hast du ganz recht! Eins ums andere!

Dear Laura thank you for hopping over from Paris.

Kerri, perhaps you will revisit Australia and you will be very welcome.

Claudia, thank you I will be back too.

Thank you I appreciate your comments.

Floridagirl said...

Your native plants are so pretty. I'm afraid I grow some here in my Florida garden, where they are exotics. The Aussie plants do so well here. Our wildlife loves them as well.

Stephanie said...

Your selection is awesome! Your native trees are wonderful and pretty (like the Callistemon!). I have not seen one bottle brush in pink here yet. The colour so sweet. I like that Grevillia Lyrebird flower, the shape is unique. All the best and happy planning and gardening :-)

Barbara said...

Deine zu "wattles" beigefügte Bemerkung "we are short lived too" habe ich oft im Hinterkopf wenn ich im Garten arbeite. Ich bräuchte eigentlich nichts "Dauerhaftes" mehr im Garten zu pflanzen, denn die meisten Bäume und grösseren Pflanzen werden mich sicherlich überleben ;-) ! Und was dann aus dem Garten wird, who knows! Brauchst du die Früchte des Maulbeerbaums? Meine Kindheitserinnerungen bestehen auch aus Kleider- und Hautflecken dieser so süssen Früchte :-) !!
Herzliche Grüsse, Barbara

Anonymous said...

So important to have native plant species. If I could start over again I would have planted our yard completely native too. The Sonoran desert provides one with many amazing native planting opportunities including the most amazing spring flowers.

Lovely as always!

Gail - Fort Rock Glimpses said...

Titania, your pictures make me long for spring. Such beautiful native plants. Oh what I would do to grow some of those plants/ trees over here. But alas, we live in such a harsh climate. That's why we have two greenhouses. Our latest we can grow in year round because it is partially underground and makes use of a lot of passive sunlight. We haven't seen it drop below 50 degrees Farenheit (10 celsius), even during the below freezing nights.

Janie said...

What beautiful plants. Having a mostly native garden will surely attract more native animals and insects, so you'll have lots to photograph, I'm sure.

Wasserfrau said...

Oh was für eine Augenweide für meine Winter gewohnten Augen, Dein Sommergarten zu betrachten. Einfach zauberhaft was da grünt und blüht!
Hab einen guten Tag!
Liebe Grüsse
Elfe