A reader asked whether a list existed whereby Australian native plants could be substituted to create a Japanese Garden.

To my knowledge such a list doesn't exist, until now that is.

First, we have to pull apart the Japanese Garden style to understand how the substitution is going to work. Predominantly this form of garden design features the use of rocks and pebbles, water, conifers and evergreens, flowering deciduous trees (cherry, peach, magnolias etc), many flowering shrubs (azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias) and then there's the quintessential bamboo.

The rocks and pebbles aren't a problem. It's fairly easy to locate granite rocks and river stones/pebbles. Even the water (as it is being constantly reused) isn't too difficult to source.

So how do we choose water-wise Australian natives that will replace these plants and still pull off the effect of a Japanese Garden?

Let's start with the conifers. Australia has a few conifers of its own and also a few plants that easily resemble this group of plants.

Australian native conifers (or conifer-looking plants)

• Huon Pine - Lagarostrobos franklinii
• Bunya Bunya - Araucaria bidwillii
• Grey Honey Myrtle - Melaleuca incana
• Acacia "Limelight" - Acacia cognata "Limelight"
• Mountain Plum Pine - Podocarpus lawrencei
• Pencil Pine - Athrotaxis cupressoides

That should get you started in that department. The next type of plant you're looking for is some evergreen shrubbing plants that can be used as hedges or balled specimens. Options in this area are;

Australian native shrubbing plants

• Westringia fruiticosa "Smokie"
• Golden Diosma - Coleonema pulchrum 'Aurea' (Origin: South Africa)
• Green Honey Myrtle - Melaleuca diosmifolia
• Gold Dust Wattle - Acacia acinacea
• Metrosideros umbellata

Australian native flowering shrubs

Most flowering shrubs used within a Japanese garden style are fairly tidy and compact specimens. Most Aussie natives on the other hand are quite sprawling and leggy. However, there are newer species coming onto the market all the time that feature more compact growing habits. Try some of these on for size;

• Callistemon "Demense Brown" could easily rival a camellia - though flowering a few months later than its competitor.
• Grevillea "Austraflora Canterbury Gold"
• Hairpin Banksia - Banksia spinulosa
• Silky Eremophila - Eremophila

These should get you started but keep your eyes peeled for newer varieties that offer longer flowering periods and a compact shrub habit.

Australian native flowering deciduous trees

In a typical Japanese garden there are many trees to choose from that lose their leaves in the cooler months and then look resplendent with their new spring foliage and flowers. Australia doesn't have any flowering deciduous natives and only two that will at least shed its leaves each autumn - the deciduous beech Nothofagus gunnii.

To my knowledge, I'm not even sure these are available in cultivation but if they were you would be limited to growing them in very cold climates such as Tasmania.

The second is grown at the other extreme, in Northern Australia. The baobab tree, Adansonia gregorii (or commonly referred to as the "boab" tree) would be a great starter in a Japanese garden.

However, neither of these trees flower - not siginificantly anyway - and wouldn't be able to replicate the beautiful magnolia soulangeanas or flowering cherries.

Australian native bamboo

To those who know, this is an oxymoron. There are actually no native bamboos that grow in Australia as most either originate from Asia while a few grow natively in parts of Africa.

However, it doesn't matter as most bamboo plants are very drought-tolerant once established. Give them six months to get their roots in order and they'll fit right in.

If you need some tips on which species to buy read up on this post I wrote earlier on how to grow bamboo without losing your garden. Clumping varieties are your best option but if you have to grow a running type then ensure that you've taken precautions to contain it.

Australian native creepers/ climbers

While the typical Japanese garden would use Wisteria chinensis to grace arbors and cover walls, the Australian substitute would be Hardenbergia comptoniana. This beautiful pea-shaped flower literally drips off its entwined branches and can easily replicate the stereotypical japanese vine.

Wrapping it all up

It's not difficult to find indigenous alternatives to use a style in your garden. It certainly takes a little more effort but most styles can be achieved by researching the core fundamentals and substituting native plants for them.

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If you need to ask the question then you obviously haven't seen one. And, if you haven't seen one then it's obvious that you don't believe in them. For if you did believe in them, you would see them everywhere.

I've never seen them - and I accept that my lack of belief has probably caused this seemingly irreversible condition.

My daughters, on the other hand, see them everywhere. And they're quick to point them out - well, at least they were until they realised I was an unbeliever. Now they just shake their head and cuss at my inability to see the unseen in the same way Morpheus was bemused by Neo's initial disdain for what he couldn't see.

I'm talking, of course, about the garden sprite - fairies. Pixies, elves, nymphs, sprites are all part of the world our children enjoy despite their parents ineptitude at grasping the imaginary.

Garden sprites are those little creatures that adorn fairy gardens. If you have children you won't need to add them in a physical sense because they just turn up. You may need to decorate a few shrubs with tinsel and allow them to store a few pieces of doll house furniture in the garden beds, but you won't need to add any pixie characters - they're already there.

No. Garden sprite adornments are not for children. They're for the unbelieving parents who need to reminisce their childhood.

When you think of garden sprites there is only one name that comes to mind - Frank Lloyd Wright. Arguably the greatest American architect, Wright created the Midway Gardens in Chicago and with the help of sculptor Alfonso Iannelli positioned Sprites to protect the gardens.

Their geometric shape is instantly recognisable and reproductions of Iannelli's work are quite common for many gardening enthusiasts. Their purpose in the garden is supposedly the same - protecting it.

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For non-gardeners, or those who like to garden - so long as it can be done within TV ad breaks, designing your garden for low-maintenance doesn't have be a chore. In fact, if you design your garden well then most of your gardening activities can be spent on enjoying the things you like to do - like planting, cutting flowers and trimming your plants to shape.

To achieve this there are certain gardening jobs that you may want to avoid in the planning process. These chores are usually quite time-consuming, take a heap of effort and in some cases be quite banal. So which jobs can be avoided? Check these out;

1. Lawn Edging - this is by far the most time consuming task one could perform in their garden, especially in the warmer months. Design your lawns to butt against a wall or a fence rather than run into garden beds. This will allow you to use a brush cutter or line trimmer to keep the lawn under control. Exposed edges will always require edging to keep them from extending their boundaries and looking neat.

Time saved each week: For a small lawn at least 20 minutes in spring and summer.

2. Hedge Trimming - if you would rather watch football or clean the oven than get out in the garden, plan your landscape design without hedges. Depending on what plant you are trying to hedge will determine how much effort is needed to maintain its look. You can still grow a hedge but choose plant varieties that look good without the formal trim.

Time saved each month: Obviously it depends on the hedging plant and how many hedges you have but conceivably it could save you an hour or more each month by not trimming them.

3. Lawn Mowing - no prizes for guessing that this would be a job to avoid. Rather than spend time mowing and manicuring a lawn opt for ground covering substitutes. These could be plants that don't require as much mowing such as dichondra and chamomile or it could be non-organic coverings such as paving, concrete or gravel.

If you really want lawn, design your areas in such a way that it cuts down the time needed to manicure them. Round your edges rather than allowing them to butt into a 90° corner and try to keep obstacles at a minimum. You could always contract someone else to mow your lawn for you.

Time saved each week: Easily 20-30 minutes.

4. Weeding believe it or not this is one job that can easily be avoided. Design your gardens so that plants grow closely to each other thereby inhibiting weed growth. Use semi-permeable weed-control mats to lay under your mulch or just mulch heavily enough to restrict their growth.

Time saved each week: 10-20 minutes.

5. Digging if you plan to grow vegetables plan not to dig. Create raised beds that don't require any tilling of the soil but are grown on top of last season's compost or layers of straw. Buy yourself a compost tumbler rather than using the bin method.

Time saved each week: 5-10 minutes.

6. Watering this is one job that I'm not a big fan of as it can be incredibly time consuming. Install some garden reticulation and set it up with an automatic controller to come on when the plants need it the most. Then, it's merely maintaining the system for leaks and breakages which in comparison is little time at all. You can even put your hanging baskets and container plants on the same system.

Time saved each week: Upwards of 2 hours or more.

7. Pruning and deadheading this job comes down solely to plant choice. If you opt for plants that are high maintenance in the flowering department you will spend forever keeping the plant in shape and free of dead blooms. This is why many people select foliage plants that don't require this much effort.

Time saved each week: 10 minutes or more.

So, as you can see, with a little design forethought you can easily save yourself a couple hours each week in garden maintenance. Which will give you more time for...gazing.

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Landscaping with gravel is not a new idea but it is a concept that many gardeners struggle to come to terms with. Especially if it means replacing the sacred lawn. Then the idea either enters the "Let's consider it" basket or it's relegated to the abyss of stupid gardening thoughts.

But, landscaping gravel doesn't have to replace your lawn. There are many uses for gravel in your garden design than just surfacing large areas. Mulching, laying as a pathway, or even creating a focal point with a pair of chairs and table positioned atop.

The real charm of gravel is that it comes in many different forms yet they can all be retailed under the same name. Landscaping gravel can be sold as pea gravel, horticultural grit, decorative gravel, coarse-grade stone chippings, stone aggregate and even shingle. And as it ranges from different source materials so the colours available differ as well.

Depending on what application you have in mind and what has already been established within your garden setting so far, you are sure to find a landscaping gravel suitable. Rustic, earthy tones; dulcet hues of depressed greys to brighter, decorative gravels can transform your garden almost immediately.

Using landscaping gravel as a mulch

As a mulch, gravel can be quite ornate and fulfil a variety of functions. The best function of gravel mulch is its ability to allow moisture through to the plants that it surrounds. Many organic mulches that contain plant materials can often trap moisture and become impermeable. But gravel doesn't suffer from this and it still reduces the rate of evaporation, as a mulch should.

However, landscaping gravel often fails to suppress weeds when used as a mulch due to its coarseness. So, to make it more effective, a semi-permeable weed-suppressing membrane such as perforated plastic or shade cloth needs to be layed underneath. This is even more important if you are using horticultural grit as its fine grains can eventually seep into your soil.

Another downside of using gravel as a mulch is that it can become quite hot in the summer months and really hurt some of your plants. So be mindful which plants you use gravel to mulch around.

Using landscaping gravel for a pathway

And why wouldn't you? Gravel is a great medium for constructing paths throughout your garden. It offers rigidity yet flexibility that you don't get from paving or concrete and it's more long lasting than sawdust or lawn paths.

Gravel even has a great sound to it when you walk or wheel items over it. The 'crunch' comes from the individual stones being able to move, accommodating your step pattern - much like walking along a pebbled beach.

If you use landscaping gravel for a pathway you need to consider how other areas of the garden join with this medium. If the pathway runs between garden beds then you should have no problems with it. But, if it borders a lawn you may need to consider edging the gravel so that it doesn't become a projectile when you're mowing.

Surfacing large areas with gravel

Many non-gardeners find this an attractive landscaping feature because of its low-maintenance qualities. Even these days more gardeners are being attracted to it for their water-wise or xersicape gardens. And as a surface medium it has plenty to offer.

At it's most basic level landscaping gravels in large areas look fantastic. They're immediate and take very little effort to install and maintain. They also have the ability to create a mood within your garden that can only come with using a stone cover such as gravel.

If you want to keep the weeds from growing through these then underlaying the gravel with a weed-suppressing membrane is still a helpful idea.

For gardeners who have little children, landscaping with gravel may not be the best choice as they provide very little protection for their hands and knees and can be quite awkward for young feet to walk across.

So, maybe it's time to reconsider using gravel in your landscape.

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How time's are changing... Centuries ago, the sundial was an important piece of technological advancement and essential for keeping the time. Today they are just another garden ornament.

But, garden sundials have a certain dynamism that normal statues and ornaments don't. For we can gaze upon a statue and enjoy its beauty but that's where the interaction ends. With a brass sundial, not only is it aesthetically pleasing but it seduces you to enjoy its workings as well.

A garden sundial can feature in many types of garden from the formal topiary design to the informal cottage garden. They work just as well in a Mediterranean setting as they will in a xeriscaped urban garden. In fact, it seems that with the right type of garden sundial it won't become a misplaced object of beauty.

So, how should they be positioned?

Firstly, as garden sundials work via the sun's movement across the sky (or to be technically correct, the earth's rotation around the sun) they have one essential requirement - the sun. It's no use hiding a brass sundial under a grove of trees unless, of course, you wanted it purely as an ornament - but even then, it might look a tad silly. The best position for a garden sundial is in full sun.

Garden sundials are available in many shapes and sizes and can either by displayed on a plinth, set into the ground or attached to a garden wall. Depending where it is located will determine how much effort is required to prepare the sundial's position in advance.

Most sundials will come with a north indicator (if you live in the southern hemisphere) or a south indicator (if you live in the north). This indicator needs to be aligned with True North or True South which is different to the north or south displayed on a compass. True North is approximately 11 degrees west of magnetic north and True South is 11 degrees east of magnetic south.

Most garden sundials are made of brass because they can withstand the elements and still retain their appearance. Over time they will even mature with an aged brass patina look.

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As lawn mowers get more and more bad press, properties shrink in size and keeping a lawn healthy seems to contradict every thought on environmental harmony, maybe it is possible to see artificial lawn in a new light.

When I was offered to review Artificial Grass Ltd, a UK site selling this product, my initial reaction was not a positive one. But I knew I owed it to readers of this blog to be more open in my views on what products and services are out there.

Now, don't get me wrong, you won't be seeing it at my place anytime soon. Certainly not while the Sir Walter soft-leaf is wooing the neighbours, anyway. But, I can concede that there are places that artificial lawn would be suitable and probably more so than natural grasses.

What if you suffer from chronic allergies? Many grasses are highly allergenic and can keep sufferers indoors for days, if not weeks. For the elderly, having a soft undertread and the visual aspect of lawn is now a possibility where they would have needed to hire a contractor in the past just to maintain it. And, then there are those postage stamp lawns which seem a waste in upkeep and could easily be replaced with some artificial grass.

So, while there will hopefully always be real lawn to manicure and dote over, there are more than a few applications where the 'real thing' is more nuisance than a help.

Artificial Grass Ltd. has a good range of lawns for different situations. If you want the putting green - it's possible. If you want something a little more 'family-friendly' it's also possible. And you're no longer stuck with the same dark green that we mocked at the shopping centre. Variegated colours and tones make the lawn almost appear real but with less hassle.

The site offers some great helps as well including some Guidelines for Measuring, a list of local installers (albeit in the UK), and some answers to frequently asked questions.

An artificial lawn won't suit every garden, but it might suit yours.

Sponsored post. Read my view on sponsored posts.

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Hours and hours of back-breaking, blister-inducing, sweat-covered work have finally culminated in the garden that you have always dreamed about. The garden structures are completed, the plants are melding beautifully and the piece d'resistance (a tacky $29.95 concrete garden ornament) is in place.

Whoa! Roll back the video...Is this another B-grade horror movie?

Unfortunately not. It seems to happen more often than not as gardeners succumb to making bad choices on garden ornaments.

Consider choosing a garden sculpture or ornament the same way a painter considers a frame. Or, with the same creative eye that a chef uses to garnish an extraordinary meal. These professionals would never choose 'tacky'.

It appears to me that gardeners choose garden ornaments based on a few selective criteria; price, purchasing convenience, and fads. Yet, all three have nothing to do with gardening. Even less they don't take into account your specific garden and how you can enhance it to give it the WOW factor.

So here are the criteria I use to choose garden ornaments for my garden;

• Originality - The question I ask myself is, "Will someone point to my garden ornaments and say, 'Did you pick them up at Bunnings?'" Of course you can't stop the person completely devoid of any gardening acumen asking this question but most gardeners should be able to spot that it's an original piece.

  And, by 'original' I don't mean expensive one-offs that were hand-sculptured by Alexandros of Antioch.

  Originality usually means a garden ornament that you won't find in every second backyard. It needs to show that I've really thought about this ornament and it enhances my garden more with it than without it.



• Continues the story... Let me give an example here to better explain this point. One of my 'garden rooms' is planted entirely with Australian natives - correas, grevilleas, banksias etc. If I were to put a concrete garden ornament in the shape of a lion amidst my wattles this would look completely stupid. Why? Because the last time a lion was seen hiding in Australian flora was when the last one escaped from the circus.

  It goes without saying. If you have a japanese garden then use japanese garden ornaments - and I don't mean that they're made in Japan.

  Find garden ornaments that continue the story that you're trying to portray based on your landscaping features and plantings.



• Made from materials that continue the story... Not all garden ornaments are made alike. If most of your garden has been landscaped using wrought iron or rusting copper then using a concrete urn may border on the sublime.

  For the same reason, if you've landscaped a Mediterranean garden with terracotta everything, then using a sculpture constructed from aluminum or stainless steel is going to look a little out of place.

  Try using garden ornaments made from materials that fit in with their surroundings. This will make them less obvious and they won't stand out like the proverbial 'pimple on a naked bum'.

Obviously price is still an important factor and you wouldn't pay a fortune for one if it's likely to be vandalised or broken by your children. Many of our garden ornaments have been sourced for free or quite inexpensively because we've taken the time to look around or be creative.

Your garden ornaments could be the special thing that creates the WOW factor or they could let the side down and make your garden look cheap and tacky. Choose wisely.

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Most gardeners don't build fences for the sake of it. There is always a reason. Some erect a barrier between neighbours, others try to block out unwanted views while some may build a fence merely as a decorative ornament. Whatever the cause, the garden fence has been as much a part of gardening as compost and earthworms.

I'm not sure how it works in other countries but in Australia the boundary garden fence is owned by both sets of neighbours. The installation, upkeep and maintenance and any legal obligations are shared by both parties. This can be good but it also has it's down sides too.

For instance, our home was the last to be built in the street so our neighbours had already erected fences around their properties. With four bordering lots we found ourselves with four different garden fences. All similar style but each one was a different colour. Then we received four bills asking for our half share for the cost of materials and installation. Nice...

Yet, while these fences have kept our home and garden private we still manage to interact with the neighbours and sustain healthy relationships with them.

But for some, this isn't always the case. The garden fence can actually become the common denominator in "neighbourhood rage".

Most councils allow home owners to remove any part of a plant or tree that oversteps its boundary and invades your garden. Which is all helpful unless you have a crotchety gardener next door abusing you when you try to prune that invasive hardenbergia.

Or, worse still the neighbours next door have no intention or desire to garden and their unkempt yard produces more seeds than Yates. It's worth checking your local council bylaws to understand your neighbourly rights on your side of the fence.

It's not all bad though. In Britain it's been reported that more than 50% of neigbours enjoy a gossip over the garden fence. Considering that our lives are becoming more reclusive and introverted this is an encouraging statistic.

Maybe we might consider building lower fences and be better neighbours in the future. But not too low just in case we see things we may not want to see.

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For all you hard-core vegetable growers who are already pouring through seed catalogs, salivating at the thought of harvesting in spring, I have found a great online planner for you.

Plangarden is an online program that can help you organise your vegetable garden plots from the time of seeding right through harvesting. It's drag and drop functionality allows you to plan your garden plot to scale (great for allotment gardeners) and then add the vegetables that you wish to sow or transplant.

Plangarden also offer the option of making your designs available to others by providing a Cut & Paste URL that you can either add to a blog, a forum signature or include within your email stationery.

After having a quick look around the site, here's my review;

Advantages of Plangarden

1. The ability to drag and drop different size, and shape, garden plots. It is only limited to 5ha of gardening space so most home gardeners and allotmenteers will be well catered for.


2. Cheap. It only costs US$20 per annual subscription. (It might be interesting if Plangarden were to add a long term subscription option)


3. Ability to record your successes and failures and look back over this history in future years


4. URL for sharing with friends or as a blog experiment

Disadvantages of Plangarden

1. US-Based. For the other 95% of the world's population that doesn't reside in America this will have limited benefit to you. The Harvesting and Best-time to Plant features are all related to US climate and hardiness zones based on your postcode.


2. The range of vegetables is limited to the very basics. What no bok-choi?

Although it has some major disadvantages for those outside the US, it can still be a helpful guide to planting and harvesting times. I would certainly recommend that this program would be well-suited to most home vegetable gardeners.

Source: eMediaWire

Disclaimer: This is not a paid for infomercial otherwise you would see the abbreviation (aff.) after the companies name. I stumbled across this and thought that readers may find this a very useful tool to aid their vegetable gardening.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

A great tip from Andrea at Heavy Petal for those who are garden design challenged. Garden Planner looks like some great software to help you set out your garden design.

This site offers a demo online version of the software package they sell for US$19.95. The demo version allows you to play around with some ideas, adding and subtracting different elements so that you can get a feel for the software before buying it.

It doesn't allow you to save your creations so don't spend too much time trying to work out the detail but it does give you a good trial of what the software can do. It looks incredibly user friendly and for the price is certainly within reach of even the most amateur gardener.

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One style of garden that I really enjoy - in other gardener's backyards, that is - is a Japanese Rock Garden. Their intricate formality and simple design concepts are breathtakingly beautiful.

So if you are planning a Japanese garden (make sure to add me to your visitors list) here is a great collection of photos that will inspire you to continue designing.

Just make sure you purchase a high-quality rake...

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Just when we thought we didn't have enough projects on our plate we decided to start another one. The shed is still on hold, the water feature is waiting for some design stuff to be done and our outdoor room needs the paving to be finished.

So it seemed like the logical time to start another one.

To be precise we've been waiting for a friend, who has the knowledge I lack in erecting a pergola, to have some free time to guide me through the process. It's not that constructing a pergola is a particularly difficult task it is just that we've decided to use bush poles as our supports.

Bush poles are as the name suggests "poles from the bush" meaning they haven't been sawn or dressed to conform to any straight lines. Therefore, rather than using a spirit-level or plumb line to keep things straight you have to rely on your eye. Not an easy task.

We didn't start construction on the pergola until after noon however we were able to get this far and have all five poles erected. This meant that each pole needed a couple of notches cut out from the bottom and the majority of excess removed from the top. Then they had to be positioned delicately atop a galvanized metal stirrup and braced against anything that wouldn't move.

They will sit here for another few weeks until we can coordinate a time for both of us to place the ring beam around to support them permanently. In the meantime, I wil have to start work on the trusses that will support the roof.

It's all very exciting. We might even have some of these projects finished before Christmas.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

Described as the hybrid saint of soil-based gardening and hydroponic gardening there are many gardeners who profess to this style in the same way that devout followers of Islam espouse their religion.

But is it a veritable gardening method or just another way to sell a heap of DVD's and books?

If you want to know the truth, you need dig a little below the surface because the proponents of the Mittleider Method are the ones making the most from it.

To understand the method you need to understand the man. Dr. Jacob Mittleider was certainly an enigma in the sustainable gardening world and his efforts have helped families, communities and nations. He transitioned traditional gardening practices into a method that did more than become another alternative.

Mittleider understood that food production was more a management system than it was an environmental rape and pillage. Fruit and vegetables required minerals in the soil to produce better yields and healthier foods and that crop rotation, while it's good, cannot give everything back to the soil. So he developed a 13 mineral formula (which you obtain when you buy the books and DVD's) that fertilised the soil and continued to build it up regardless of what was being planted.

History has proved Mittleider's methods and I would certainly advocate on behalf of implementing his philosophy. Whether you need all the books and DVD's to start practising his methods is another question entirely.

So where does Jim Kennard and the Food For Everyone Foundation come into the picture? Kennard has been a Mittleider gardener for more than two decades, even teaching courses with Dr Mittleider. He started the FFEF in 1998 with the aim of helping gardeners implement better gardening practises.

Dr James Mittleider took his method throughout the world, especially developing countries where good gardening knowledge was in short supply. There have been projects in more than 30 countries and currently the Food For Everyone Foundation is working in Madagascar.

I'm really intrigued to know who has had experience with this method and what results they have had with it. If you have implemented the Mittleider method in your garden please share via the comments.

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