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A quaint house with light grey siding, a blue metal roof, and a white picket fence features thoughtful garden design. A child and an adult are standing in the open doorway amidst greenery and trees.

How to Get Your Garden Ready For All Your Summer Events

4th December 2024
Garden Advice, Garden Ideas, Garden Makeovers

It may not seem like it with Melbourne’s temperamental weather, but summer is looming closer and closer every day. Which means the time of garden parties, BBQ’s, pool parties, days lazing on a lounge chair and all those wonderful things, are almost here.

Now whether you have a true soil and dirt backyard, or just a balcony, we’re going to show you how to jazz up your space.

Jump straight to the sections we’ll be talking about today:

Quick and Easy Fix Up
A Moderate Amount of Effort
A High and Worthwhile Amount of Effort

A person in green gloves expertly trims a hedge with pruning shears, showcasing their keen eye for garden design.

Because do you really want to be inviting your friends and family over and have a garden that looks scraggly, uncared for and just plain dull?  Well, we sure hope not.

Getting the garden ready doesn’t have to be a lengthy, complicated process, but we also understand there are some really keen gardeners out there. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to break it up into the three different types of gardeners and their situation.

A green wheelbarrow filled with garden clippings sits on the lawn, embodying thoughtful garden design, with two wooden rakes resting on top.This is the profiles we’ve created:

  • Please let me just do the bare minimum.
  • I’m happy to put some effort in but I am a busy person.
  • I want to spend HOURS in the garden, give me all the tips.

    Which one are you?

Quick and Easy Fix Up
A wheelbarrow filled with garden clippings rests on the grass, complementing the art of garden design, while a metal watering can stands nearby.

Don’t particularly care about the garden but still want something nice? Yeah, we get it. Even though it breaks our little heart, we understand not everyone is as into plants as we are.

We’ll forgive you as long as you do something to have a nice garden.

Chances are you probably haven’t weeded in a while (not to call you out or anything), so that’s going to be your first step. Before you start ripping them out by hand, maybe go check out our article on the best equipment to use. Or do as you please, it’s your life after all.

A garden design masterpiece featuring a hammock, chairs, and a table nestled under a leafy tree surrounded by vibrant pumpkins.

So you’ve (hopefully) removed all the weeds from your garden. Back hurting yet? No?

Okay let’s move onto the next step. Making the garden pretty can also be as simple as just trimming up some overgrown hedges and snipping dead leaves off of plants. So grab your shears and start snip snip snipping.

Okay looking MUCH better. But still a bit dull.

We’re going to give you our top favourite low maintenance plants that are going to make a big impact in the garden.

For groundcovers you choose plants like Blue Convolvulus, Native Violet, White Creeping Thyme or Myoporum ‘Broad Leaf’.

For trees you can plant things like Tuscarora Crepe Myrtle, Silver Birch, Magnolia Little Gem or a Jacaranda Tree.

For hedges you can do English Box, Photinia robusta, Leighton Green Conifer or Prunus Portuguese Laurel.

All of these plants add style and beauty, suiting almost any garden style. Best of all, you barely have to do anything to take care of them.

A wooden deck with wicker furniture, cushions, potted plants, and greenery, surrounded by lush trees and bushes.We do have an entire section on our website dedicated to low maintenance plants, check it out here.

Plus we have a top 10 low maintenance plants article right here.

Also if you have a balcony or courtyard, you’re probably tight on space. Maybe you have a gas cooker out there and some chairs and a table. So what you’re going to want to do is select three big pots in a neutral colour, and then put multiple plants in the one pot. Check out this video for some inspiration.

Free Garden Design with ChrisIf making a decision between all these plants feels like too much effort, why not take literally all of the hassle and thought out of it and book a Free Garden Design with us.

Chris runs the Garden Designs and has years of experience and knowledge backing his every decision. He has designed the small low budget gardens, the difficult hot windswept sites, and the massive landscape jobs.

How it works is when you buy your plants from us, whatever deposit you’ve put down goes towards the plants. So this is by the far the most inexpensive and easiest way to get your garden perfect for all those BBQs.

You don’t even have to travel to our nursery, instead doing a consultation online and opting for our Free Delivery. Sounds pretty sweet hey? Book yours here.

A Moderate Amount of Effort

A garden scene with a wheelbarrow full of green leaves, a shovel and rake leaning against it, surrounded by lush plants and colorful flowers.So you do care about your garden and want to spend some time making it nice. We can work with that. If you skipped straight to this point, we’ll just reiterate the importance of weeding and trimming up your plants.

You want to improve what is already there before you start adding things in. Once you’re done there it’s time to start looking at what plants to pick out and pop in.

There are several ways you can do this.

Choosing a big feature and some support acts to accompany it.

Having just one great plant or tree can make a big difference (hint: this is a great budget friendly method as well). So you splurge a bit on the feature plant, and then pick cheaper and smaller plants to put in the rest of the garden.

Some ideas of a great feature are things like a Zuni Crepe Myrtle, Falling Snow Weeping Cherry, Viburnum Snowball Bush, Magnolia Soulangeana, Acer Osakazuki Japanese Maple plus a tonne of other options which you can find the full range here.

What about the support act, the ensemble plants? Well you’re looking at things like Alocasia Elephant Ears, Casuarina Cousin It, Loropetalum Plum Gorgeous, Helichrysum Licorice, Lomandra Tanika and Myoporum Yareena.

Adding some easy colour in through flowering or foliage plants.

Even just a little bit of colour can go a long way, and there is a surplus of colourful plants that are also very easy to maintain. We’re going to rattle off a few of our favourite flowering ones. These are plants like Petunias, Calibrachoas, Impatiens, Mandevilla, Hydrangeas and plenty of others.

Okay now for the ones with colourful foliage (hint: this means you have colour all year). These are plants like Loropetalum, Coprosma, Iresine Bloodleaf, Berberis Rose Glow, Ajuga Burgundy Glow and many others.

If you want more tips about adding colour in the summer, go check out our articles that cover this in more depth:

How to Fill your Summer Garden with Colour
10 Tips for a More Colourful Garden

Choosing plants that have a multi-impact in the garden.

A really nifty tricky for creating a beautiful garden is choosing plants that have several things going for them. What we mean by that is they may have beautiful spring blossoms and interesting autumn foliage, or they have colourful foliage all year and flowers in the summer. Or perhaps lush foliage and interesting bark.

Some plants can be kind of like a one trick pony – they have exceptional spring blossoms and then look drab the rest of the time.

Here are the plants that aren’t like that:
Purple Smoke Bush, Crepe Myrtle, Blueberry Bush, Senkaki Japanese Maple and Weigela Variegated.

A really good tip if you’re busy but do want to put some effort in the garden is to book a Garden Design with us, we believe in a collaborative style where we tailor the design to exactly what you love.

How it works is you bring photos and measurements of your garden, as well as mood boards and garden inspirations, and we bring the expertise to make it happen. Book yours here.

A High and Worthwhile Amount of Effort

A garden scene with various plants and trees, featuring a wooden deck with seating and a fire pit surrounded by greenery, offers a serene escape. This tranquil setting is ideal for relaxing with friends while discussing tips on how to water indoor plants.You’re our favourite person. Okay we do care about everyone, because we are all about making gardening accessible to every level of effort.

So let’s really get down into the nitty gritty of creating a spectacular garden. We probably don’t need to tell you this but an important first step is still to do some weeding and trimming.

In fact, we think it’s worth it scanning over the other tips in this article as they form a good foundation you can use to leap into the next level of gardening.

Choose your pots to maximise style.

The first way to elevate your garden is the selection of pots. With so many different types of pots available, every choice can have a significant impact. This is particularly true for those with a balcony or courtyard garden.

Chris advises “big pots little gardens” – you can check out the video here and you can see this theory in action. Essentially, instead of over cluttering your space with a tonne of different pots and one plant in each, choose just a few pots and put multiple plants in each.

Also consider how you combine different pots together, mix shapes and sizes and colours for a dynamic and interesting look. For example you could put a round squat pot next to a tall skinny pot and then in the middle type of pot to balance it out.

Explore our full range of pots here:

EARTHENWARE PLANT POTS
Check out all of our EARTHENWARE POTS RANGE here.
GLAZED PLANT POTS
Check out all of our GLAZED POTS RANGE here.
LIGHTWEIGHT PLANT POTS
Check out all of our LIGHTWEIGHT POTS RANGE here.
TERRACOTTA PLANT POTS
Check out all of our TERRACOTTA POTS RANGE here.
More plants, less varieties.

A garden with purple and red flowers, green foliage, and ornamental grass, bordered by a curved concrete path next to a lawn.Rather than randomly picking an arrangement of 30 different varieties and stuffing them all into one space, take a step back and consider mass planting the same few types for a more cohesive look.

Even if the garden isn’t small, it’s easy for it to look cluttered when there are too many varieties put together. We suggest doing repetitive planting of something that has a bright splash of colour as it helps tie the garden together.

For example something like Sea Lavender is a really great pop of blue/purple that looks amazing scattered here and there in the garden.

Not every plant can be a feature.

It can be so hard trying to figure out what THE feature plant should be in your garden, and it’s tempting to simply choose them all. But the problem with that is you have multiple incredible plants all competing for attention.

Modern garden with stepping stones, a round planter, and greenery surrounding a gravel path next to a white building.It’s very important that you also choose what we like to call ‘the support act plants’, the type of plants that are still beautiful, but much more subdued. Earlier we mentioned a couple great options so be sure to check those out.

We’ll mention a few more here though such as Seaside Daisy, Blue or White Convolvulus sabatius, Silver Dichondra and Catmint.

Okay we have mentioned this before, but we really believe our Garden Design is an incredible service that everyone could benefit from. Whether it’s the small low budget low maintenance gardens, or the grand big designs, it’s never a waste of time to seek help from the experts.

So elevate your garden even further and book here.

Are You Summer Ready?

A group of people enjoy a meal on a covered porch overlooking a scenic landscape. The table is set with food and drinks.We hope this article has helped you prepare for all those fun social things we mentioned before. The garden is so much more than just a bunch of plant stuffed together. It’s a place to relax and enjoy the sun, a place to hangout with your friends, a place to play with your kids and pets. To have a beautiful garden is to have a beautiful place to do all of those things and more.

If you want to level up your gardening, be sure to follow us on our socials. We post educational and inspirational content every day.

Feeling inspired to create your own garden, but want some expert advice? Try our one-on-one garden design service with Chris. Together you’ll come up with a selection of plants along with a layout plan that gives you the look you want, as well as being suitable for your local soil and conditions.

get your own tailored modern garden design:
FIND OUT HOW

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