The Challenge of a New Garden - by John Stephens

In 2001 we moved to a new residence in Traralgon South where the plants endemic to the area enjoy a deep, black sandy loam.

We had lived on the south side of Traralgon for twenty-five years on deep, rich clay soil. Over that time we had established a fantastic garden devoted entirely to Australian native plants. Although the garden was not large there were quite a variety of plants, including the Xanthorrhoea australis, many Callistemon, a garden devoted entirely to Grevilleas (including a Grevillea chrysophea for two years) and numerous Hakeas, Melaleucas and others. There were three Melaleuca armillaris covered in Kennedia rubicunda near the back door and this combination provided magnificent shade in the warmer seasons and a place for honeyeaters to nest in Spring. Further down the garden was an extensive concrete pond that I had built shortly after we had established our garden. Surrounded by several ferns including half a dozen Dicksonia antarctica and filled with water lilies and up to as many as eighty fish at one time, it looked very natural. The pond was surrounded by rocks, with river stones in the shallows, and was always filled with water as the run-off from the shed was directed into it. An overflow pipe attached to the storm water determined the permanent level of the water. It was a haven for all sorts of birds and an extremely pleasant place to while away some time on a hot evening. While our children were accustomed to the pond, visiting children were invariably attracted to the water with frequent disastrous results. Out the front we had a special garden bed with a large rock and the three Xanthorrhoea, Susan's pride and joy. Well I consider the rock was large as it took two hours for me to lever it the few metres required to set it in place to the boss' satisfaction. I must admit that I had not met Colin at that stage. I am sure that with his advice I would have had it done in five minutes at the most. Needless to say we loved our little native garden and were very sorry to see it go when we decided to sell the property.

I must admit that some of our garden went with us. All of the rocks that were easy enough to shift were dragged to Traralgon South and now adorn various parts of the garden, the Xanthorrhoea were raised and potted and have been replanted with great success. I even took three trailer loads of fertile vegetable garden soil to supplement the local sandy variety.

The new garden posed a very new set of challenges. The block being eighty-three metres long and thirty-four metres wide, meant that four of our previous house blocks, side to side, would have just fitted in to the new one without touching each other or the sides! Now I know to some of you "landed gentry" that does not sound very large, but to us 2770 square metres to play with was enormous.

Our first challenge was to terrace part of the block as we were on quite a slope. I purchased approximately ten cubic metres of large "honeycomb" rocks and made a "natural looking" retaining wall across the back yard to retain a level area as a "proper" lawn. We had plenty of soil from the house site and used some of that as the basis for the lawn, topped with ten centimetres of purchased soil. In fact the amount of soil from the house site was another problem, it covered a huge area, approximately twenty-five metres wide by fifteen metres deep and to a height of 1.5 metres. We were quoted $2600 to have the soil removed by a local contactor. I made mention of the fact that I had lots of soil to Colin Jackson and he came with his trailer after work, for a number of weeks and removed quite a lot to his property. However, with as much as he took there still remained the proverbial mountain so we ended up hiring the contractor to truck the soil to Col's place. No wonder his plants do so well! Eventually we had our backyard again, thanks to Col. Unfortunately the expanse of Pterostylis nutans that existed where the soil was dumped will never return and the patches of Viola hederacea may also have disappeared.

Another problem was to determine which plants would be suitable for the climate and a very well drained soil. Should we mound the beds or not? Should we use the existing sandy loam or bring in better soil? We felt that Grevilleas should do well however a Grevillea Robyn Gordon, our first planting, refused to grow and has only taken off recently. Would some of the West Australian plants enjoy the well-drained soil or would they dislike our wet winters? We have planted numerous plants and must confess that we are still finding out. Some things are certain. Local plants are not certain survivors, our several dead Grevillea chysophaea are testament to that. Eucalypts literally grow like weeds, we have not had a plant wilt let alone die, with three Eucalyptus ficifolia, a leucoxolyn ssp. rosea and others performing well. Most of the Grevillias have progressed with some of them being superb. Others doing well are the Banksias, Calothamnus and Hakeas.

We have left patches of original growth around the trees and are often surprised by the "arrival" of a variety of plants at different times of the year. For instance Xanthorhorea minor ssp. lutea has made an appearance as have a number of orchids including Glossodia major, Caleana major and Dipodium roseum. We left a number of the original trees and these with our numerous nectar producing plants, attract a variety of birds on a daily basis. It is a pleasure to watch the parrots, honeyeaters and others use the shelter of a Eucalypt to drink or bathe at the birdbath.

While we have solved a lot of our problems, some still remain.

We have discovered a spring that produces a flow consistent with that of a half-running hose from the embankment at the front of the house. While this could be considered to be a "find" the water will have to be drained away so as not to undermine the house. While I have installed "aggi" pipes, I need to somehow divert the flow before it soaks into the ground. I do know that frogs enjoy the pond that accumulates where this water reaches the back of the block.

Gardens established under the existing mature Eucalypts do not succeed and have given us our biggest disappointments to date. Regardless of the species planted they do not do well and we may have to prune or remove the trees or rethink our planting strategies.

When we moved out into our paradise, as we were the only dwelling for some distance and located in the lightly treed "park", we felt like the park rangers. As development has taken place the trees have been removed, the native plants are disappearing and even the types of birds and the frequency of visits of some have changed. The kookaburras sang to us almost every morning at about six o'clock in the beginning, now the magpies and spur winged plovers have taken their place and even the dreaded rats of the sky (Indian or Common Mynas) have adopted the area. The kangaroos once regularly visited our lawn right at the back of the house however do so less frequently now. Each year we also see a marked increase in the number of European wasps. Such is the price of development!

Despite these changes we still live in a beautiful place. The extensive wild flower reserve a matter of metres away provides ample opportunity for walks and exploration and will also ensure regular visits from the birds and other wildlife. We enjoy our garden more with each new season and should continue to do so for many years.

After the soil had been removed and site levelled.

Some months later with some garden beds looking quite good.