Don showed how to use storm water pipes to create a stylish architectural feature for the garden.

Storm water pipes are effectively pots without bases. They're cheap and very strong, and when the plants grow down through the bottom into the soil you don't have to worry about watering them!

How it was done

1. Don chose a bare spot in the garden to set up his nest of three pots.
2. After scraping back the mulch, he dug holes for the pipes.
3. The pipes were buried (fluted end up) at different depths, to provide a gradation in size.
4. Each pipe was levelled, and then filled with potting mix and planted with a yucca (see plant details below).
5. Finally the plants were watered in and the mulch was raked back into position.

Spineless or soft-tipped yucca (Yucca elephantipes)

This small evergreen tree reaches around 9 metres (30') in the wild, but it is usually smaller in cultivation. It develops a thick, branching trunk which is reminiscent of an elephant's foot at the base. From summer to autumn it produces white, bell-shaped flowers in large panicles. The spineless yucca is adaptable to a wide range of climates and conditions and is drought, salt and frost tolerant. It can be grown indoors as an architectural pot plant, or outdoors as a landscaping plant. It is suitable for modern, Santa Fe or Mediterranean style houses and landscapes.

Further details

Pipes are available with or without collars. 300mm diameter pipes cost from $35-$50 depending on length. For more information contact Hepworth Australia on (03) 9874 0303 or (02) 9620 1844. Good quality potting mix costs around $16 for a 30 litre bag. A 300mm (12") pot with a single stem yucca costs about $80.

Copyright CTC Productions 2004