For the last few years I kaven't had much time gardening. But late last year I felt there was an empty space (metaphorically : certainly not in the garden because it was full of weeds). I was looking for a project to fill that space and the small bed beside the driveway seemed a good place to begin.
It was probably the most neglected bed on the block. It was the bed at the furtherest point of the watering system and hence had the poorest water pressure (back when we could water). The bed can't be seen from any point inside the house and was therefore easily forgotten. It had no edging and attracted every piece of scrap paper in the street. We had never really done anything with this bed and so it was filled with seaside daisies. When we moved in there were seaside daisies everywhere.
Now don't get me wrong. Seaside daisies are alright. They are almost impossible to kill and can look great with regular watering and a trim. They are also ideal for catching scrap paper go a very unattractive brown/burgundy color when they don't get enough water; not an ideal plant in a drought.
So what we decided to do was to edge the bed with sleepers, remove all the seaside daisy, mulch and re-plant. It's a small bed so there wasn't room for many plants. Looking around at what was working in the front garden we decided to go for Correa's. Correa's seem to thrive when they have a support like a wall or fence to grow against. This made them an ideal choice for this bed. We chose:
- Correa Glabra x Decumbens
- Correa Reflexa Dwarf
- Correa Decumbens.
Each has very different and distinctive leaves. The Correa Glabra has been particularly successful and has had a constant showing of flowers since early November. To finish off each end of the bed we planted Grevillea Curviloba as a groundcover.
I was inspired by this beds transformation and this has spurred me on to tackle the rest of the front yard. But that will need to wait for another post.
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