January is for... turning over a new leaf

I have a confession to make. I've been accused of being grassist. In general I can find something to appreciate about most of creation, and plants especially, but for a long time grasses have left me cold. It's just that I find their strappy leaves predictable, the lack of colourful flowers a bit uninspiring, and most of them you can't even eat! Part of the problem is that I feel like grasses and grassy looking plants are overused in 'modern' or 'low maintenace' gardens without much thought going into the combination or design. Once my garden discrimination was pointed out, I felt the need to find some sort of common ground with grasses so that I could better appreciate their unique qualities. Over the last couple of months, a few major benefits have come to light.
1. Finch food
One main objective of our garden design is its ability to attract and feed birds. I have a couple of wonderful books to guide me; my favourite being 'Birdscaping Australian gardens' by George Adams. I've learned that different birds all eat different food, whether insects, fruit, seeds, nectar or other garden goodies. To provide for a variety of birds, I will need a variety of plants. Simple, right?

At work I have been taking more notice of where I see my favourite birds regularly visiting. The white-plumed honeyeaters and eastern spinebills seem to love chinese lanterns and salvias at this time of year, and the blue wrens, silvereyes and yellow thornbills seem to form mixed groups, hunting ferociously in dense bushes where the best little bugs hide. The red-browed finches and double-barred finches, however, feed in flocks as they carpet the ground, eating grass seeds in the open areas. I have seen a couple pass through my garden at home, stopping only for a drink in my little waterbowl. I would hate for them to feel left out of the grand plan!

2. Pool maintenance
My next project is the garden that edges the pool area, now that the fence is up. Now as much as I love being outside, cleaning the pool is really not my thing. We have a great gadget that crawls around on the bottom vacuuming everything up. He's not perfect, however, and I'd like to make his life as easy as possible by not planting things around the pool that will drop too much leaf or flower matter into it. Most grasses will be perfect for the pool area, I just need to avoid any with big fluffy seed heads.

                                          Anigozanthos 'Bush Diamond'

And so, I began shopping around for plants with just the right attributes. My first choice was a lovely kangaroo paw that has been catching my eye around the nurseries lately, called Bush Diamond. Its velvety white flower is held above the strappy leaves to bring a bit of brightness to the garden and attract nectar feeding birds.

 

                                            Anigozanthos 'Bush Pearl'

I also bought a few pots of Bush Pearl, its cool pink cousin, to add colour, and the taller black kangaroo paw for some height in the back corner. Aiming for a cool palette,  the silver-blue Festuca was a must. Small and feathery, it will be mass planted to tie the whole garden together. Lomandra 'Shara' is a native that looks a bit like a larger version of the Festuca, so I will use it to fill out and accent areas.

                                          Festuca glauca

To soften the effect of all those spiky leaves, I have made sure to plant in curves and waves, and have also added some mound-forming native plants for their lovely rounded shape. Acacia 'Limelight', Banksia 'Rollercoaster' and a lovely endangered plant called Zieria 'Carpet Star' will be dotted singly through the bed.

                                          Zieria 'Carpet Star'

                                         Banksia integrifolia 'Rollercoaster'

As per usual the month has flown by and I would have loved to include a finished photo of the bed, but January has somehow escaped me and it is not yet complete (a good gardener knows that a garden is never finished!). I will include a finished photo as soon as possible, until then I will leave the rest to your imagination...