First Home - Outdoors

From inside to outside! Compared with the interior, I wasn't as diligent taking exterior shots. This post is definitely a hodgepodge of photos (from different times) within the first few months of settling in.  

The garden was full and blooming when we first got it. It possibly looks less pretty now because we went mad with pruning. Ben's Mum is a stronger advocate of the cut-back, whilst Ben and I had loads of resistance to the idea. To us, pruning meant being exposed and making the garden (temporarily) less pretty. Months later and as the trees are starting to bush out I can see it was the right step - always trust the experienced gardener! Ben's Mum still likes to mention how we could have pruned back harder though :P 

We unfortunately have a textbook invasive-pest garden. We slowly want to replace the invaders with new plants. The garden is a big work-in-progress but it brings me ridiculous amounts of joy to plant and watch things grow and see the space transform.

Invasive species number 1, bamboo.

It's so darn pretty and it completely blocks our neighbour but it's also the exact bamboo species they tell you not to plant.  This guy has sent out roots to at least 50% of our block so we are constantly cutting back bamboo stalks as they sprout.  Ben's Mum wants us to get rid of it but it would leave us soooo exposed!

 You can see in the picture, it has sprouted underneath the house.  When we first arrived I crawled underneath and cut it all back and 6 months later I've had to do it again. It's a prolific grower.

As you travel down the side you will get to the back yard with a huge cadagi tree.  Even though this guy is native he is also on the environmental weed list for QLD, due to the negative impact upon our native bees - this article has a good summary. 

When I look at this picture, I feel like this guy has doubled, he is insanely huge.  I've been rallying for at least one branch to come down due to stealing sunlight from our washing line but Ben is super protective of him.  I understand, the cadagi makes our backyard beautiful, a complete joy to sit under in its shade.

The leaves (although slightly annoying) provide amazing mulch for our garden  :)

 and a perfect home for my orchids

Lowy was storing his coconut trees at the back before we started to turn this zone into our jungle section.  It already has monstera, heliconia and lots of other amazing plants.  We have easily planted 100 new plants in our garden since moving in - very exciting!

Ben heard about the plight of fruit bats and how they were struggling through the drought in 2019.  They suggested to make an apple wreath! It was fun to watch apples slowly disappear over a week.

Unfortunately our jungle section has the most invasive weed of our entire garden, cats claw! Ben and I sporadically go on missions trying to dig it out.  It's intense! The battle is still very much raging.

 The ginger, in the back corner, is one of my favourite, OG plants.

You can see the cats claw creeper on that blue shade cloth.  We have a council embankment which we are sneakily planting natives on.  This whole section is covered in cats claw - forever digging out new little sprouts.

 One of the first things we did was set up two veggie/herb garden beds.

 Collected some free mulch

Lowy was a big help!

 Joop not so much

Despite the effort of the garden bed.  We decided that planting the screening natives on the bank was a better idea to block out the street.  When they grow to their full height, they'll eventually block the sun needed for my veggie beds.  When that happens I'm going to set up shop at the front of the house and catch the sunlight there :) 

Can't wait till this pink bougainvillea spreads out across the fence!

 In this shot the veggie beds are just out of slight, to the left of the washing line.

Flipping around.  

We have lovely camellias which started to bloom just shortly after we moved in - such a treat!

In this shot you can already see one tree we pruned back and have since attacked all the others. Also that cement rectangle is the old sceptic tank we're hopefully going to turn into a lily pad pond.

 Turning the corner

 Looking back.

This shot was taken after we pruned (severely!) the bird of paradise.  During our pest inspection the guy said this plant (which was previously right against the house) was a potential entrance for the termites to get in.

Ben started a tradition of placing the fallen camellias on the fence - so cute! 

 Ben's Mum assured us that the twiggy, dead-looking vine, weaving through the fence was wisteria and very much alive and would spring back into life when the warmer weather hit...check out below!

*gasp*

It has amazing purple trailing flowers which for some reason I didn't photography when they were in bloom.  Since it was my first experience with wisteria I was a noob and thought they would be around longer than they actually were.

This is the front corner of the block.  We dug out the garden bed, re-mulched and fertilised and planted kangaroo paw and succulents and a banana tree.  Behind that I snuck in some passionfruit to cover that ugly pool fence needed stop Joop escaping.

 Baby banana plant that Lowy put in for us.

This is the front right side.  I've since put in a weeping willow and two frangipanis and a bunch of ivy to descend down the rock wall.  Actually I've put in heaps and heaps of plants but I'll wait to post photos of them flourishing rather than simply list them off. I'm excited to share the updates!

You can see the bamboo has spread to the right hand side!

 Standing over on the left looking to the right

The left hand side.

 If we'd let it, the bamboo would fill this entire space. You can also spy another banana tree Lowy planted.

 Cant wait for bananas :)

BAMBOO!!

 Back to the house. We've since painted the roof, a blue/grey (ready for solar panels!).  I haven't thought too much about the exterior colour of the house, I think the original blue works quite well.

I love the curve in the house and the verandah is so sweet but unfortunately structurally unsound.  Eventually I want to build a big wooden deck that comes out and swings around to the side of the house.  My dream is to have a little art studio built onto the deck with huge windows looking out to the bamboo.

 Standing on the verandah looking out.  

Big plans for a vertical succulent garden here, a pizza oven and a fire pit for those winter nights :)

You can see the interior here
and the video walk through here (which includes the garden)