Inner City lush ..

Lush textures & foliage colours meet ground floor house sight lines

Shady relief from high summer heat.. to enter a place that’s visually cool is what this inner city court garden is all about. Uses Madagascan Felt Plant (Kalanchoe beharensis) with bromeliads (Aechmea comata foreground & Vriesea fillipo-cobergi ‘L’il Phil’ background) with Iresine herbstii left side.    

Hot reflective surfaces and harsh visual ‘bounce back’ from the built environment of the inner city, can make such places hard to find. That’s why we must make our own.

Heroic giant landscape bromeliads (alcantarea) pushing into flower, with companion pentas & ruellia,  Kurrajong (Brachychiton rupestrus with bidwillii X acerifolia ‘Tangerine Bells’ grafted hybrid) right side for future summer shade

Open to the northern from the street end, it’s good to get shady relief from a tree canopy for twin step out spaces from respective Living & Kitchen.

Kurrajong (Brachychiton rupestris trunk with B. bidwillii ‘Little Ripper’ from master hybridiser Brent Verietz at Colours of Eden Nursery)

Beware though, to match vigour to available space or the welcome dappled shade you had in mind might turn into a monstrous maintenance burden that will swamp your small space ! Brachychiton or  Kurrajongs are a beautiful tribe of natives adapted to the wet or dry sub-tropics. Vibrant early summer flowers cover almost leafless branches, followed by a lush canopy just in time for summer shade. Even though a relatively small grower compared to other species, B. bidwillii is made even more compact by grafting its ‘Little Ripper’ or ‘Tangerine Bells’ hybrid onto a QLD Bottle Tree (B. rupestrus) trunk.. 😮 Being winter deciduous, bare stems then also allow weaker, low angled sun to warm your back on days when that’s that’s really appreciated with your Saturday morning cuppa.

Conceal block wall with Grow Cable supported Costa Rican Bow Tie Vine (Dalechampia aristolochiifolia)

Provide a ‘green-back’ for all to read against with a cascading cover of Grow cable supported Costa Rican Bow Tie Vine, that will soon be speckled with rosy mauve metallic flower bracts and your inner city heat refuge is complete.

Costa Rican Bow Tie Vine (Dalechampia aristolochiifolia) flower bract detail

Perhaps your sister, friend you went to primary school with or twenty years long work colleague is facing the exciting but sometimes daunting prospect of home renovation, a new build or just wants to transform a section of the garden that’s been on their ‘to do list’ for longer than they can remember .. ?

Ask them to make contact at info@peternixon.com.au or 0418 161513 or head over to www.peternixon.com.au …. just to have a chat about how all their pain could be taken away and transformed into a daily Paradisus 🙂

Cocktail Court a place to relax

Special thanks to Lindy Ryan for allowing pix of her Paradisus design to be published on Garden Lovers 

  

     

 

        

 

 

  

Xmas Beachy is soon ..

 

Seaside fresh .. Copper Spoons (kalanchoe orgyalis), Coastal Poa (Poa ‘Eskdale’) with Madagascan Felt Plant (Kalanchoe beharensis)

Late December & a beachside Xmas are things that go together for a lot of Australians. A salty marine breeze with the drowsy drone of cicadas, bring on the great exhale. A chance for most of us to turn an undivided attention to beach umbrellas and a glassy clear wave to wash away the years that’s been.

High contrast Opuntia ‘Burbanks Spineless’ in the garden bring year round interest as ‘living sculpture’

Of course, some are lucky enough to live year round, close to the seductive charms of coastal living. This doesn’t mean a sea side garden has to be located close to the ocean to make a marine theme convincing. If a coastal combination pings hard on the must have qualities for a garden you’re thinking about, its just a matter of the right planting to suggest a coastal location to come home to every day.

Carissa macrocarpa ‘Desert Star’ ‘mounds’ separate the 2 step out spaces into the rear garden
Salt textured concrete steppers with sandy coloured oxide

Heat sink winter growing conditions facing north, store warmth and can incline minimum overnight temps higher to above 10 degrees, to encourage a micro climate that can allow for planting from the warmest sub-tropics to excel.

Bauhinia tomentosa a lacy tumble of sulphur yellow summer flowers

    

 

 

  

   

Bauhinia tomentosa sulphur bells
Hamelia patens – Fire Bush is a great nectar feeder attractant
Texture patch of crassula, sedums, stapelia and euphorbia makes an intriguing alfresco dining feature against the appealing roughness of an off form concrete retainer

Make this summer the time you chose to make lasting changes in your garden, to your new build or reno. It could be a ‘sea-side’ garden with plants that will be a pleasure to come home to every day. 

Special thanks to my dear client Tania Wilson, who kindly allowed these pix of her MacMasters Beach Paradisus design to be published in Garden Lovers Blog.

Tania Wilson loves her Paradisus designed garden

Peter Nixon for Paradisus 0418 161513 info@peternixon.com.au 

www.peternixon.com.au                          Consultancy Sequence

Paradisus Instagram

 

 

Pool-side Summertime … !

Pool, deck, ocean .. the more simple the better

Summer days are upon us and as increasing warmth draws us poolside, you might be thinking of the best combination for your setting. Least obstruction to this enticing Balmoral outlook uses frameless glass, with the beauty of plantation hardwood decking and large limestone pave units for the least joins and greatest cohesion across a handsome combination of finishes. 

Lush greenwall planting brings abundance to spare finishes ..

And if every deck meter is precious entertaining space for you, why not consider a greenwall in a ‘Green-band’ horizontal orientation. Can be independently supported behind and above a glass balustrade, bringing soft-cover balance to the built environment without space consuming pots or the high maintenance that comes with them. 

‘Greenband’ greenwalls, for year round screen AND a space saving way of bringing deck interest.

Leverage a foliage colour blast green-band, with deck up-lights for nocturnal glamour while your greenwall does double duty, providing visual buffer to give the deck experience more enclosure without reducing a desirable open sky aspect.

Get pool companion planting enclosure with Viburnum ‘Quick Fence’

Simple textural contrasts in poolside planting can give the greatest impact year round without having to rely on fleeting flowers. Maybe the perfect radial of a Giant Landscape Bromeliad (Alcantarea imperialis ‘Sugar Plum’), against the ultra fine of Ice Sticks (Senecio cylindricus) and backed with a ‘living of fence’ of glossy leaved Viburnum ‘Quick Fence’ (that stays non-transparent unlike the basic V. odouritissimum it come from ..).

Laser cut panels add focus as a foil for lush garden plants to read against

One end of your pools in need of focus ? Enter unframed laser cut panels, that merge and contrast with feature planting, without a harsh frame that would emphasise the panel rather that the planting.

Outdoor showers make a handy and swish convenience

Don’t forget to include an outside shower at the poolside, allows you to make the most of garden life so you can stay longer in your little piece of paradise.

Peter Nixon – Paradisus 

Garden Design – Project Management – Maintenance

Exciting gardens made from plants

0418 161513         info@peternixon.com.au  

Paradisus Garden Design Facebook

Paradisus Garden Lovers Facebook

Peter Nixon Instagram

Mark Paul – Greenwall Company

Rourke Hartwig – Equilibrium Pools  

Mark Hartwig – Amanzi Landscapes  

Geoff Chew – Waves Constructions

Andrew Maitland – M.E. Lighting

… and don’t forget Northern Beaches Botanical Artist Julie Hickson’s new exhibition Nutshell and beautiful hand made art for Xmas gifts (or just a little something for yourself ! )

Wishing everyone and very merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!! 

 

 

    

 

    

    

 

         

 

 

 

 

Between a wall and lush place ..

Combination Green Wall & Eco Pillow runs transforms built hard surface to lush abundance

Apartment living is here to stay and as many choose the lower maintenance option this lifestyle brings, interesting challenges are being met with innovative and sustainable outcomes for the ‘garden in the sky’.

So you’ve decided to leave the expense of a high maintenance family home for apartment living. Ok, well while there are going to be some adjustments to be made now you’re ‘living in the sky’, you’ve probably noticed a big change from a garden growing on terra-firma as a ground dweller. While its lovely not having to worry about gutters and rising damp, unrelieved hard surface surrounding your every moment might be a little jarring to get get used to …. 

What to do to trade off some of that unyielding hard surface for lush green cover .. to bring back balance in a living surround.. ?

Transform hard surface visual ‘bounce back’ for lush visually absorbent green cover

Combination Greenwalls with Eco Pillow runs are the new frontier in transformation of the built environment. Super water efficient with their own irrigation system and drip trays, 2m x 1m panels cover majority vertical spaces in ‘portrait’ orientation and are extended across horizontal expanses using 800 x 400mm Eco Pillows end to end in ‘landscape’ orientation.

Once reliable water is connected, the impact of high exposure aspects from the 4th floor and much higher, can be made sustainable with a fertiliser injector for easy nutrition to a vast band width of plant selection adaptable from epiphytic and lithophytic habitats. A myriad of various bromeliads from aechaea, neoregelia, vriesea, canistropsis, canistrum and even the Giant Landscape species alcantarea. These can form a majority planting space at uppermost reaches for the most sun tolerance, with native hoya australis on grow supports to extend cover to higher horizontal hard surface. Progressively self shaded, the lower reaches are best for a  mix of foliage contrasts as understory in peperomia, plectranthus, begonias, streptocarpus, epiphyllum and ferns to take up lower position micro climates.

Eco Pillow run made into a ‘green-band’ in high exposure doing so well in its first season

Growing media comprises a majority of inorganic component parts that won’t disintegrate, leaving plants in ‘root block’ depletion and susceptible to predation with nothing to grow in after the first year. Instead available pore space is kept above an acceptable minimum, so your Greenwall has a beautifully long life expectancy. Maintenance is built into your installation contract and can be arranged after the initial grow in period.

Why live in a hard surface environment closer to the polar bear exhibit at the zoo, when you could frame the view, back the bathroom or grow a wreath of rich contrasts just where you need it most !        

Mark Paul – Greenwall Company  0418 631 351 & 9969 2682‬ inquiries@greenwall.com.au 

.. and if your Greenwall requirements are just part of your scope of work to be Project Managed together, call Garden Designer Peter Nixon or call 0418 161513