Garden Mojo

As the title suggests, we got our gardening mojo on recently and were finally able to put some plants in the backyard!!

Let me remind you of the blandness BP (before plants)

We were given some free Clivias from 'B's' Mum recently to provide a bit of ground cover which you can see below.  They've not overly liked being dug out of their previous home and transported to ours but hopefully they'll come good.  This pic also shows the 'frame' for a screen we have since put in...

Here are the Dracaena's we planted back in October.  Only difference in this before pic is a bit of mulch.

And here's the garden bed in front of the Family Room BP

Which in itself was a major improvement on what it had been for quite a while....

After visiting our favourite plant nursery as well as Engall's Nursery (which was equally fantastic if you're specifically looking for citrus plants), we came home and positioned the plants how we thought they'd look best

The fantastic guy at Engall's helped us choose 2 mandarin varieties and an orange tree which all bare fruit at different times, one after another.  They grow between 2 - 4 metres which is perfect.  We already have a Dwarf Lemon, Dwarf Lime and Kaffir Lime Tree in pots which is why we've chosen how we have.

Along the back fence we chose 5 Little Gem Magnolia's as our feature trees.  We love the look of them and growing between 2 - 4 metres suits us perfectly.

For the ground cover we chose Lilirope Muscari. I think it contrasts perfectly.

Along the Family Room we chose Daphne's.  These will grow 1m high & 1m wide which will be perfect for this spot.  Daphne's love pots with good drainage and potting mix *apparently* so underneath the weed mat are 6 plastic tubs with lots of drainage holes drilled in and they're filled with nutrient rich soil.

And here's everything planted...

Cannot wait to smell the Daphne once it flowers! D.I.V.I.N.E.

Okay, so still a little on the bland side but it's so much better with a bit of extra greenery.  We can't wait till it all looks more established and also when we get some garden lighting.

'B' has also finished the screen behind the sculpture.  We did a screen here for 2 reasons. 1) To help create a separate space between Alfresco and back garden and 2) To make the sculpture stand out a little more.  Later we'll get some nice lighting to shine onto the sculpture and also another to shine onto the BBQ.

You can also see we've put some bamboo screening up.  Couple of things... we need more to cover the top of the colorbond fence and we also need to secure it a little better.  It's looking a little wonky after the recent weather.  We plan to continue the screening down the side of the house but not on other fences.

We added some of our favourite Rhoeo's as a border in the Alfresco too...

Lastly, we bought a few pots of Jasmine to put outside our Lounge Room window to have something nice to look at instead of a fence.  Yet to be planted.

So, between the Magnolia's, Daphne's, Jasmine and future herb wall we should have a really fragrant garden :)

We are in the middle of working on some more projects too so I'll share those soon.

Happy gardening / building / decorating etc etc!

Well looky here....

Three cheers for something other to look at other than boring colorbond fences!!!  Yes, that's right.  We couldn't help ourselves and bought a few plants.

The garden bed alongside the alfresco is in the shade majority of the day so we chose 3 Dracaena Tricolour plants as a bit of a feature.  They are extremely hardy, slow growing, love sheltered positions and require very little maintenance.  Ticks all the boxes.  I think someone at the Nursery mentioned "thrives on neglect" - SOLD!

Try to picture some small plants to fill in some ground space, dark mulch, bamboo screening to hide the fence etc etc.  This little spot is by no means finished.

 A close up of the colours on the leaves.  The more sun the plant gets, the more the red features.

Next to the barbie is a little spot that came about quite by luck - just the way the retaining wall heights stepped down - and it's the perfect spot for the sculpture my brother & sister in law gave us for our wedding.

I'm in love with the little green / purple decorative plants around it too, called Rhoeo. They're only $2 each from Sydney's Plant Market (best Nursery...seriously!)

And I just had to get a pic of 'B' cooking our first BBQ last Tuesday night...in the rain....

Picked up this fab pot & Dracaena Marginata for inside too.  Has livened up the rather bland corner and ties the inside in with the outside.  My sweet little boy who is 2.5 years old has been quite diligently saying, "Play in dirt outside, not inside."  to anyone who'll listen.  Brainwashing - tick. 

So what's next?  Some Little Gem Magnolia's along the back fence, some Daphne for the garden bed outside the Family Room window (have you ever smelt Daphne flowers? AMAZING!)  and some citrus trees continuing along BBQ fence line (lemon, lime & mandarin). Oh & I haven't forgotten about the vertical herb garden I've wanted all along outside the Dining Room.

One step at a time...  Got to save some more $$$.  Lots more $$$!