HOW many times do we go into a store, see a nice plant on display and buy it for your garden only to regret the decision, because you find you don’t have the right soil or position and it slowly dies.
Many store-bought nursery plants may not be suitable for your area or the conditions.
Planning your garden and where plants should be placed is an important part of this process.
Your soil type will allow certain plants to grow, not others, and the climate may influence their growth.
Does it frost? Is it too hot an area?
There are many things that the home gardener should be aware of.
You find a nice tree or shrub for your garden.
Do you check its height on the information label, or how big it may grow?
Where should you plant it, will it be a wind break, or will it reach nearby power lines and importantly will its roots damage the pipes or foundations? There are many questions that one should ask before purchasing.
It’s worthwhile planning your garden even if you only have a small area to work with, especially moving into a new home in an area not built on before.
Most new areas have sandy loam type soil so a lot of different plants can be grown.
But as with most new housing estates they are developed from bushy areas, then cleared, but they have potential to still have white ants in the ground and care should be taken that a protection barrier is placed around the house and that gardens are not placed up against the exterior of the house.
Old timber on the ground, shaped tree branches in the garden, although looking good may harbor these pests, A costly exercise if things go wrong.
There are many plants available for various types of soils, so do your homework.
You may find that a developer has just put ‘fill’ on your land, and this could be a mixture of anything in the area, so it pays to check on your soil type with a test kit, before you start, with samples taken from different places in your garden.
A lot of native trees and shrubs grow well in Ipswich.
Many have beautiful flowers that can bloom many times in a year or even in a season.
I think of the grevillea, the native blue hibiscus, acacia (wattles) in their various types, tea trees with their masses of flowers, crepe myrtle in their vibrant colours and the native candles with their huge flowers in many colours.
A lot of the different types of grasses can be massed together for dry areas or there are different types for wet areas, while the good old, (though can be quite expensive), native plant commonly known as ‘ black boy ‘ could be a feature in your garden.
There are many plants for rocky, wet, acidic, clay or sandy soils, you just have to look for them. The internet can help in deciding what you should plant.
The Ipswich City Council have a wonderful choice of native trees and shrubs at their nursery.
A limited number of plants are given out for free on producing your council rate notice on a yearly basis.
Till next time.
