dry garden
This garden is named “The Dry Garden” as it will never get a drop of water apart from natural rainfall. We fell in love with the species Allocasuarina a long time ago and we have celebrated this by planting a large area of these trees. The main varieties used are Allocasuarina littoralis, also known as the Black She-oak and Allocasuarina torulosa, called the Rose She-oak. We call it the Cork She-oak due to the cork like appearance of the bark.
Part of this forest has no under-planting and this gives it a very interesting effect you normally only get in large forest areas. Another part of this garden has a collection of Queensland bottle trees, including Brachichiton rupestrus. These are amazing trees with a bottle-like appearance. They have the ability to store water to use during dry times.
Many of the plants used for under-planting have a strappy like appearance and have the ability to cope with dry conditions. Some of these are Cordyline australis, a New Zealand native, Dianella longifolia and Dianella caerulea. Nandina “Moonbay” or Sacred Bamboo is a dwarf plant that has wonderful colour changes during the year. Ruscus hypoglossum or butchers broom, is a very unusual plant that is a native to northern Italy and Turkey. It needs very limited water but still looks good with its glossy dark green leaves and the tiny pale lemon flowers which sit on each leaf.
