Garden plant and planning help required

[SteveC]

Hi all,

I have just discovered this board and am posting my first question.  I have not been terribly successful at gardening for most of my 70 years, but now want to do better.  My wife has finally got me to redoing our garden.  The beds are there, just full of weeds and kikuyu runners!  Today I sprayed with Glysophate as there was just too much to dig out by hand.  I am looking for suggestions on how to rejuvenate the beds as per attached images.  I live in NW Sydney, so it is hot and dry in the summer and cold and frosty in the winter.  I am mainly interested in suggestions for flowers and small shrubs in the garden beds. I would like the overall colour theme to be warm colours, oranges, reds and yellows.  Also low maintenance and inexpensive for the plants as I am on a pension.  Currently there are some Nandinas, another plant I can't remebember the name of, a dwarf banksia, a bottle brush, a callistemon, a paper bark and a new hybiscus (now about 30cm tall) I have grown from a cutting.  I plan to try and grow some more Nandinas from cutting from the existing plants.

[Jason]

Hi @SteveC,

It's fantastic that you want to improve your skills and knowledge. I'm sure Workshop members will be more than happy to assist with this project and many others to come. We have clever and creative members sharing helpful advice and inspiring projects every day. 

We are looking forward to seeing how you can transform your garden (with a little help from the community). 

Jason

[MartyH]

Hi @SteveC,

I'm not going to be very helpful with plant advice, but I do notice that your fences don't do your garden any favours. It looks like you've got a few different sections? I'd consider painting them a darker colour, which will make the foliage of your garden really stand out.  Check out a few great examples here - https://www.workshop.com.au/t5/Best-of-Workshop/Top-10-most-popular-fence-projects/ba-p/32233

It would be a good thing to do before you tackle the planting. 

[SteveC]

Thanks Marty,

The photos don't do the area full justice, taken with my phone.  The fence is all the one colour except for one panel at the  back, the light bone colour.

I'll consider your suggestions, possibly a dark grey?

Regards,

Steve

[Mum2612]

Hi @SteveC
Your climate sounds a lot like Canberra’s. I too am not very successful, however I have found succulents, geraniums, bottlebrush, callistamons, valerian and euphorbias do well here. They are all really low maintenance except the natives like a yearly prune, even I can manage that. The good news is you can charm cuttings for most of these plants from neighbours. Or your local Bunnings may sell tube stock of local area natives. If digging over the existing beds is going to be an issue maybe you could raise them with new soil and plant into that. Don’t forget to mulch well so weeding is reduced. Good luck 👍🏻

[Jason]

Thanks for joining in the discussion and sharing your experiences @Mum2612. I'm sure @SteveC really appreciates it.

Looking forward to reading more about your own projects and plans around the house and garden. Feel free to post whenever you have something to share or need a hand from our clever and creative community members.

Welcome to Workshop,

Jason

[annieh]

Hi @SteveC
Could I make a plant selection of salvias. There are many variety’s to choose from, colours are fantastic and they are usually fairly reasonably priced. They also come in a variety of growing sizes, are extremely hardy and grow easily from cutting. All the best. @annieh

[SteveC]

Thanks all so far for your tips. Heading to the Sydney Wholesale Plant Market tomorrow, couldn't really see anything that jumped out at me other than pig face at Bunnings yesterday.

On another note, I can only seem to find eucy mulch at about 70 / cubic meter. Does anyone know if it can be obtained at a better price?

Regards,

Steve

[Jason]

Great to have you join the conversation @annieh. Welcome to Workshop. 

Please let me know if you ever need assistance getting the most from the site or have any feedback about how we can make Workshop more useful to you. We have such a wonderful community here sharing all sorts of project information, advice and inspiration, so I'm sure you'll find plenty of interesting discussions to contribute to and get inspiration from. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts soon.

Jason

[kazab21]

Australian natives are good for dry, hot areas. Google the plants you want, check their requirements and have fun.