Saltbush Balnarring Beach

Saltbush Balnarring Beach is one of our Giving Program recipients this year and here's an update on their 'Australian Native Garden Project' created with the help of our funding.

This organisation provides housing for vulnerable and disadvantaged people and the tranquil native garden will enhance the garden surrounding these houses.

"With the generous support of Open Gardens Victoria and some in kind help from some local contractors, we have developed two large gardens on the sides of one of our houses. This house previously was surrounded by grass, with two rock retaining walls almost completely covered by the encroaching grass. The area was very hot in summer as there were no canopy trees.

Our new gardens feature a range of Eucalypts, some providing a light canopy such as E. leucoxylon dwarf, as well as some for their foliage and sculptural habit, such as E. kruseana and E. pressiana.E. erythrocorys with its wonderful blooms and E. pauciflora with its beautiful bark have also been used. Under this canopy we’ve featured a range of colourful natives with a variety of heights, so as to maintain the view through the garden from all directions. We’ve also featured plants with a range of leaf colour and textures creating year-round interest. Already the spring colour has been a delight.

Some of the plants we used include: Pimelea rosea, Phebalium stenophyllum, Grevillea leptobotrys, Gastrolobium celsianum, Thomasias discolor, purpurea and pygmaea, FC Payne Thryptomene, Kangaroo Paws (big red), Banksias plagiocarpa and tricuspis, and a range of Correas and Epacaris. Dwarf Acacia cognata and Lomandra ‘Limewave’ have been repeated for their soft, unifying effect.

Hibbertia, Kennedia and Gastrolobium have been used to scramble down and through the rock walls.

We sourced plants from favourite native nurseries and also propagated some of our own plants.

We have enjoyed this project immensely and are very grateful for the support of OGV. We hope you’ll visit us - we’d love to show you the garden and how it fits into our wider vision for the property."

Many thanks, Louise King (volunteer)