Gardens at Geoff Mutton's SILICON SHEEP Paddock

I enjoy gardens - I can sit and watch Kerry weeding all day! Floral displays are quite enjoyable.

Our garden is designed on the principle that since Australia is a dry continent, we'd best plant drought-tolerant natives, mostly. However, I love azaleas and orchids, so I break my rules. Oh well. To make up for it, we have installed drip-watering systems, mostly of 13mm pvc tubing, and 4L/hr drippers supplying water to the root zone of each of the plants. For larger areas, especially of Kerry's cut flower beds, I have 20L/hr fan spray adapters in place of the drippers. During summer, the systems are run for about 2 hours two or three times weekly, down to at most once a week in winter. Of course, if it's raining, or ground conditions are good, no watering at all.

The area we live in is based on Wianamatta shale overlying deep beds of Hawkesbury sandstone. The shale has weathered to give thick beds of variously coloured clays, with all the problems that raises in getting good footings for home foundations. It also makes for heavy soils for the poor plants to grow in. The callistemons and grevilleas, being native to the zone, do cope quite well, but they also love the soil being dosed up with liberal quantities of dolomite - phosphorus free of course.

Our patch of ground is a modest 19m x 30m, or close to 60' x 99'. This translates to roughly an eighth of an acre, or 560m^2. This isn't big enough to grow grass as well as other plants, so the grass is mostly gone. Beds of annuals, bushes, trees, pots, vases, weeds all grow in profusion. A typical view in the front of the block is this:

The suburban jungle! - 20kB (280 by 282)

OK, updates - pix taken 1998-08-28 to -30, late winter here, and a couple of house pix, which show a bit of the tilt of the paddock - from the lower left (SW) to the top right (NE) corners, the block averages a rise of 1 in 5. So you'd think the drainage is good - nope. Remember all that clay? Yes, it drains poorly.

Verandah view, looking south-west to Holsworthy and Bankstown airport - 54kB (500 by 342)

Verandah view, zooming in a tad - 31kB (500 by 269)

Verandah view, looking west along the street - 43kB (500 by 406)

Azaleas

A pink azalea - 32kB (720 by 360)

Another pink azalea, a 1.5m shrub, a bit straggly yet. - 60kB (502 by 640)

Azalea Hino de giri, a kurume hybrid. 29kB (350 by 476)

A mauve azalea in bud - 72kB (756 by 504)

Azalea kiri, another kurume hybrid - 39kB (756 by 504)

Callistemons/Melaleucas/Grevilleas

Callistemon citrinus, bottlebrush, in bud - 35kB (620 by 250)

Grevillea Robyn Gordon, permanently in flower, my "hedge" - 87kB (436 by 620)

Grevillea rosmarinifolia, a native species, taken after sunset - 35kB (500 by 280)

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus melliodora (Yellow Box) looking up - 85kB (520 by 400)

Eucalyptus melliodora in my yard - 52kB (600 by 460)

More of the paddock

The view from my bedroom to the right - 129kB (756 by 504)

The view from my bedroom more to the left - 80kB (620 by 400)

Our back garden; the pavers were laid by Sheree et moi - 32kB (500 by 252)

Other plants

Some cymbidiums - 56kB (522 by 300)

Protea flower, about 2m off the ground - 66kB (500 by 333)

Westringia fruticosa flower, NSW Coastal Rosemary - 61kB (318 by 550)

The rest of the page is photos I have taken: all done last spring (1997-September/November)

So, photos: a flowering Cymbidium orchid. The little image links to a larger version (450 by 500), 47kB.

An azalea from the front patch: the image links to a larger version, 250 by 177, 20kB.

A close up of the flower on another azalea bush. This is a link to a larger version, 250 by 276, 27kB.

From the back garden, a birdsnest fern, about a metre high, and 10 years old: The thumbnail pic here leads to a larger (250 by 319 pixels, 29kB) version. In the background are the flowers from a bottlebrush nearby, of which I have about 10 specimens in my paddock.

A Callistemon (bottlebrush) in full flower from my front yard. It leads to a larger version, sized 400 by 289, and 46kB

Melaleucas are closely allied to bottlebrushes, and I have several varieties. This one is named "Snow in Summer", and will (if we can swing it) grow to small tree size, say 5m tall. At the moment, it is 2m tall. The thumbnail leads to the linked version (300 by 450, 73kB)

This melaleuca is called Flame, and hails from the home of the spectacular plants, south-west Western Australia. The thumbnail closeup leads to the larger copy, at 398 by 232, 36kB

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Contact Geoffm at eagles.bbs.net.au (Replace the " at " with "@" to actually be able to mail me)
I made the address this way to cool the ardour of email spammers. Sorry about that.
This file's URL: http://www.eagles.bbs.net.au/~geoffm/gardens.htm
Author: Geoff Mutton
First created 1998-01-31
Last updated 1998-10-24 - International Organisation for Standards rules OK !