A Big Splash of Colour for Megan and Brad

Marie & I completed a garden makeover for Brad and Megan from Yarra Junction, who live on a lush green farmlet. They had a round about in the middle of their driveway of approx. 28m2 where a rose garden had become old which they had removed. The garden bed was bare and they wanted something new and different.

Because Megan & Brad are surrounded by green fields and green trees, Marie and I felt that what was required was a really good strong splash of year round colour. We chose a mixture of colourful Coprosmas, hardy low growing shrubs that come in beautiful pinks, purples, yellows, and we also chose a mixture of different coloured Flaxes in purple and yellow. We also chose French Lavender for its grey foliage and lovely blue winter flowers, a happy wanderer to be used as a groundcover and a Eurypos daisy with its grey foliage and bright yellow winter flowers.

As a central feature we planted a purple hop bush, a very hardy purple leaf compact shrub, and a bright blue flowering native Hibscus with a few other assorted small flowering shrubs to fill it up. With a mixture of brightly coloured foliage plants and assorted flowerings shrubs, the island will create a colour hot spot that will light up the entrance of the property.

To get the job done quickly Chris chipped off all the weeds with a sharp spade, then we tipped pine bark directly onto the bed with a tipper and spread this evenly on the bed before planting our plants. This way it only took 15mins to spread 1.5m of mulch. Then we scraped aside the mulch to plant the plants, and then put the mulch back around them, being careful not to bury the bottom of the plants with a thick layer of mulch because this can promote collar rot.

The whole job took 2 hours to complete.