This garden at a terrace house in Paddington, Sydney, was planted only three months ago. Designer Ted Whitley chose a clever mix of colourful natives, exotics, grasses and succulents with strong contrasting foliage. These hardy plants require a minimum of watering.

Design approach When Ted was called in, the garden was planted with date palms, star jasmine, clivias and ivy. These plants were completely wrong for the conditions so Ted stripped everything out. He removed the soil from the planter boxes and replaced it with a coarse, well-drained, organic mix more appropriate for the new planting scheme. The new planting consists of colourful Australian natives (mostly grafted) underplanted with tufty grasses and a mix of hard and soft succulents, such as aloes and agaves. The biggest shrub has the potential to reach 6m but will be kept compact with pruning. Scoria was used for both mulch and drainage. It also looks attractive when the garden is first planted and each plant can be seen individually.

Plants

The plants were chosen because of their suitability for planter boxes. They do not have big root systems and will cope with minimal watering.

These drought tolerant plants include grevilleas such as 'Old Gold', 'Bonny Prince Charlie', 'Orange Marmalade' and a hybrid between 'Superb' and 'Ned Kelly'. There are flaxes such as 'Maori Maiden' (Phormium 'Maori Maiden') and a wispy, grey paperbark (Melaleuca incana).

Plants in the green glazed pots include golden cane palm (Dypsis lutescens), Mediterranean fan palm (Chamaerops humilis), agave (Agave attenuata), Bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis), foxtail palm (Wodyetia bifurcata) and native frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum). These are underplanted with cordylines, bromeliads and calatheas. The beautiful red cordyline (Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’) looks particularly striking against the coffee-coloured walls.

Further information

Ted Whitley
Garden Landscaper
Sacred Grove Gardens
Mob: 0417 219 109

Copyright CTC Productions 2004