Tackling a Tough Garden Bed part 2 in Design Elements

Part2 Tough Garden Bed

In the last 5 years Glenice and husband Phil, have made so many improvements to the soil .

We used a rotary hoe to break up the soil before planting.

Spread/dug through gypsum and watered in liquid gypsum

Dug through premium garden soil and compost.

Mulched the area with fine grade pine bark, sugar cane mulch, straw and tea tree mulch.

Continued fertilising any new plants with composted animal manure pellets and liquid fertilisers every 2 to 3 months.

She said of the garden that they did this process listed above ,every year for 5 years but it wasn't until the 3 year mark that there was a turn around in plants being able to survive.

Without those years of soil preparation, the plants would not have been able to thrive.

Miscanthus transmorrisonensis

Planting Palette Glenice used for this area - lots of silvers!

Miscanthus transmorrisonensis-Evergreen Feather grass, evergreen leaves to 80cm tall by 100cm wide fountain-like mounds

Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ or Blue Switch grass is special for its dramatic, metallic blue foliage and for its strong upright habit to around 140cm.

Senecio viravira- a beautiful rounded evergreen shrub with silver-white dissected leaves topped by soft lemon flowers. One of the best silvers. Sun loving and drought tolerant. 80cm x 100cm.

Artemisia Powis Castle- a hardy, bushy, low growing shrub that has very attractive, soft, silvery grey, deeply divided foliage

Olea europaea 'Piccolo' suits really tough conditions - drought, frost, poor soil, no irrigation. Grows to 2m

Teucrium fruiticans- also known as Germander, is a very hardy small evergreen bush in the mint family with grey stems and undersides of the leaves. 1.2m

Philorea

Aloes

Other succulents

Beschoneria yuccoides-Mexican lily, is a perennial succulent with a rosette of slender strap-like leaves that can grow to 1m in length. 

Salt bush

Atriplex nummularia, commonly called Old Man Saltbush, a large grey shrub to 2 m tall and to 4-5 m wide, with brittle woody branches

I'm talking with Glenice Buck Landscape design and Arboriculture consultant.