CREATING A LUSH DRY GARDEN

A Hawthorn couple wanted a low-maintenance garden that relied solely on rainfall full of year-round foliage, colour and flower.

The brief

The clients wanted their barren site to be transformed into a garden within the existing layout. With their extended family, they were keen to retain their extensive car parking and use only the existing garden beds. While the couple admitted to having previous interest in gardens, they wanted a garden that was green year-round, full of flower, colour and interest, that was low maintenance and that would survive without irrigation once it was established. Oh, they also wanted no stray leaves on their footpaths.

The Site

The parched, slight sloping site had good soil considering its lack of vegetation and neglect. The ultimate aim for the garden – to thrive only on rainfall once the irrigation was turned off after all the plants were established – determined the plantings that needed to be tough and tolerant of extended dry periods. The nearby Yarra River – an important wildlife corridor – meant the garden needed to support local wildlife with plants that were both native and indigenous to the area.

THE DESIGN

The neglected front garden was transformed into a rich green tapestry full of colour, texture and forms creating a resilient dry garden full of year-round interest.

The empty garden beds were mounded up, topped with 3cm of compost and another 7cm of mulch to create thick layers of organic matter to feed the soil and retain moisture, with many plants also chosen to fix Nitrogen in the soil.

An existing broken 17-year-old irrigation system was ripped out and a new system designed and installed to water the garden on an automatic timer while plants were establishing, especially trees that formed the property perimeter, defining and providing structure to the garden. After plant establishment, this would be turned off.

Many natives were used including Viminaria juncea, Native Broom – a Nitrogen fixer – and Hymenosporum flavum, Native Frangipani. Feature trees included Cercis siliquastrum, Judas Tree – another Nitrogen fixer – and Cussonia paniculata, Cabbage Tree, with many tall strappy plants including Doryanthes excelsa, Gymea Lily, and a long border planting of a variety of Lomandra chosen to show off its perfectly rounded spiky sculptural form while forming an edge to the garden to trap any stray leaves.

As all the plants – apart from the trees – were planted as 8cm tubestock – the smallest nursery containers available – to keep costs down, the garden will need time to develop its layers and mature form. However, rapid growth since the garden was planted in August 2018 has shown that using small plant stock was not a disadvantage. The aim was to turn off the irrigation once the garden was established, which was done 18 months after the garden was put in – now all these hardy plants thrive with just rainfall.

Perhaps most interesting of all, the clients have developed a new-found interest in plants as they watched their garden unfurl and grow with amazement, pleasure and satisfaction.