Well, Here It Is

The southern courtyard is done. And I don't like it. Still trying to analyse why. Something to do with a lack of purpose, a lack of form.... 

I like the materials. 

I love the pebbles. Bungendore Brown 10mm if I recall correctly.

I like the lomandra. I'm hoping this variety is the more upright one I have been admiring in other gardens. My previous attempts at grouping lomandras looked good for a few years before turning into a  'bad hair day' type mess. I've thinned them out and they look much better when allowed to cascade individually. Now I just have to figure out where to put the ones I removed. I'm hoping these ones will work as a group.

I like the scaevola. A little nervous because this is a wider spreading one I haven't used before.

I like the liriope. Looking out the window the other day I thought why didn't I just fill the space with liriope years ago and be done with it.

I like the hebes. They were grown from cuttings from one of our original hebes which was removed when we redid a garden bed. 

But I don't like how it's come together. Is the space too small? It ended up smaller than I wanted because the steps had to be moved when the overflow pipe from the water tank turned out to be closer to the surface than I realised. I kept the basic idea, just shuffled a few lomandras across. Maybe I should have rethought it all, come up with a square design instead of a shortened rectangle design? Hubby wants to add a tree. What part of it would block the view and we're not growing anything large near the retaining wall does he not understand? So it is still a work in progress.

At least it isn't a dust bowl any more.

A Solar Passive Disadvantage

As the garden has matured I have realised there's a downside to having a solar passive house with most of the large windows facing north (in the southern hemisphere). In winter when the sun is low the edges of the garden disappear in the shade. The seasonal view wasn't something we thought of to plan for, we just made sure that trees near the house are deciduous to allow the winter sun into the rooms. 

The Rules of Geometry as They Apply to Garden Beds

So this is the garden bed where the ajugas failed. It was interesting to read on another blog that I am not the only person to have trouble growing the so-called bugleweed. Weed indeed, hah! 

We decided to try Grevillea lanigera as a groundcover. Now that I've had a chance to go and take a photo I'm updating this post.

I would have planted the two plants an even distance from the front. The way I see it, that would make it more likely the plants will look reasonably even at the front. If a third plant turns out to be needed then an infill grevillea would look less conspicuous at the back, or there's the option of planting something else, perhaps a small strappy ornamental grass for contrast.

A History of the Garden

I thought before I go any further I should provide some history of the garden.

We built this house well over a decade ago and established the garden from scratch. The soil is typical Canberra clay, with various attempts to improve areas over the years. The block slopes upwards from the street, which means soil, mulch, pavers, etc, have to be carted uphill from where they are delivered to the naturestrip. The original design had no retaining walls and included a large lawn in the back and a smaller one at the front. When water restrictions were introduced it was very discouraging trying to hand water sloping garden beds and we had many rocks on the site so I started using them to terrace the slopes. I also started putting paths through the plantings to make maintenance easier. Creating some definition and structure in the garden has made it look and work better. Seeing this, my husband has become more agreeable to spending money on things like retaining wall blocks. More recently we have reduced the size of the back lawn, replacing the central section with paving and enlarging the surrounding garden beds. We have also installed a rain water tank, and while on the one hand I am disappointed at the loss of more planting space on the other I am glad we had the space available in a rather undeveloped back area of the garden.

I think it says a lot about our early design abilities that one of the first things we did was plant a tree and within a few months realised it would need to be moved to make way for a footpath. I think we've improved since then but I don't think you ever stop learning.

What would I do differently? I would do the hardscaping before the planting! I would start earlier and do more to improve the soil. I would research plants more thoroughly before deciding whether/where to plant them. I would plant more groupings or patterns of the same plant rather than one of everything that catches my eye in the nursery.