It's rained every weekend since the front garden was cleared. But that hasn't stopped me planning it. I'm going to divide it into sections and plant them one at a time. Adopting suggestions from Lynsey and Chuckie, I'm aiming for all-year-round colour with native species and a rocky serpentine motif. I'm going to work on this section first. I was thinking of a combination of purple and yellow: Alyogyne huegelii 'West Coast Gem' and Xerochrysum (formerly Bracteantha) 'Dargon Hill Monarch'. The Alyogyne blooms from October to March and the daisy holds its flowers forever. Maybe I'll put in a low-growing white-flowered Grevillea to make the birds and insects even happier.
Now for the motif. Lynsey suggested a Rainbow Serpent winding its way through the garden, with clusters of flowers nestling in the curves. As the whole area is on the edge of the volcanic plain, I'll use basalt rocks to form the serpent. Maybe add a few quartz pebbles to give it more colour.
The tail will curl around the base of a bird bath. Something low-key — a terracotta bowl on a tree stump, perhaps. What do you think?
I'll be off to buy the first lot of plants this week ...
