Hi
New house and new garden to build.
Would like to cover as much of the rock and walls as possible. Natives ideally. Plenty of soil along the lower wall but will need to build a small raised bed against base of upper wall.
Far from an expert so ideas on plants much appreciate
by BlueberrySubject9306
7 Comments
What’s the location? It always help.
Maybe dichondra and trailing gravilleas. Dichondra would be good along the top because it doesnt need much room but you’ll want to set up drip tape because it’ll get hot up there with all the concrete and rocks
Lomandra for life with a smattering of small grevilleas. Lomandras stablise soil, need little water once established, and are green and lush. Tolerate full sun. Maybe Lomandra hystrix, I forget which one like swamps versus the dry.Maybe some giant pig face as well.
Don’t plant anything too valuable. I hate to think what will happen in a sustained downpour. This entire wall of dirt looks like it is ready to come down into your yard. That little pseudo retaining wall at the bottom there isn’t going to stop anything much.
Not an expert either so maybe someone can build on this:
I think you could (should?) stabilise the more vertical bank area with mesh (I’m thinking of the brown material kind I often see concils use), and then plant a bunch of natives in holes into that. You’d probably also want to string along some reticulation or else everything will die.
My first through was it could be a succulent garden with aloes, but since you’ve chosen natives that’s great. Some flowering spreading ground covers and grasses will be good in the steep area, plus some that can hang down over the lower wall. I’m imagining some bushy grevillias on the top part of the dirt mount that could grow up to the height of the fence, blocking some of the blue wall. Consider a replacement tree too in the stump zone.
Perhaps a bunch of carpobrotus rossii and scleranthus biflorus
Have a look for inspiration at online plant stores in their groundcover shrub grass sections. There are a couple of good sites (I only know of Vic ones) that have good visuals and heaps of natives. You have the perfect space for growing such plants and they’ll have a lovely trailing habit. There’s one called ‘adenanthos cuneatus flat out’. It spreads and drapes over rocks and soil and has gorgeous green to red to pink foliage. It would look so good falling over that wall. Creeping Jenny if you have enough water up there. There are lovely grey sweeping grasses that offer soft architectural shapes and lines. You have a brilliant space there. Plant maximum, fill the space, water plenty, replace what you don’t like. It’s a canvas waiting for you. Splash away!