These are some of the plants growing in my Brisbane suburban garden. It’s a heavy clay soil, improving every year. It’s an organic garden run on general permaculture principles, with habitat for wildlife, flowers and host plants for bees and butterflies, and food plants for humans. We have no “pets” but share our garden with resident blue tongues, small birds and lots of worms.
There are two ways to get shade – to build it or to grow it – and I need shade on the western side of the house. When we moved here there was a mock orange hedge – horrible thing. It was two metres high but didn’t block the sun, it billowed out and filled […]
Bamboo to Block the Western Sun Read More »
This pale yellow clivia is by the path to the front door. It has moved around a little but seems to have found its niche. Poor clay soil, deep shade in winter, not so deep in summer. I cut off the seed pods after the first show of flowers and sometimes get a second. Plants
This stuff grows anywhere, tolerates poor and dry soil, strikes from small pieces. Small yellow flowers. The blue tongue lizards like it. I was a bit concerned about weed potential but it seems to spread, not jump and is easy to pull out. To kill completely, just sheet-cover or out-compete. Alyssum can beat it. August
Golden Carpet Stonecrop (Sedum acre) Read More »
I bought one small Aloe Vera in 2010… From that one, I now have many plants. The aloe vera is the one plant that thrives just about anywhere and can withstand the wind. I plant it anywhere there is a gap so that there is some handy for ant and wasp bites. The flowers are a
I planted two Kangaroo Paws in a hurry on the native strip in March 2011 before I went away for 3 weeks. They grew steadily through the winter but were doing nothing much when we went away in early September. Six weeks later (mid-October), we returned to this… and this… It’s a west-facing wall –
Pigface is a bright, cheerful plant I remember from early childhood and when I saw a punnet of seedlings in the nursery, I knew I had to include it. It’s a succulent with the grey leaves and starkly contrasting soft bright flowers. They are so soft that you need to touch them to appreciate it
Pigface Red – Mesembryanthemum Read More »
For me, the first role of the garden is to provide habitat for the many beneficial creatures – from the native bees and lizards to the small birds to the possums. There was a front hedge when we moved in – extremely trimmed lillypilly, now much less formal. It’s on the south border so it
South-eastern Fence Garden Read More »
