Hakea heaven

A COUPLE of years ago I planted a hakea bush on the front nature-strip amongst some grevillias and now it's a blooming delight.

Bees make straight for the nectar as do honey eaters and other native birds and the flowers are such a lovely beacon on these grey winter days.

It is not simply a gorgeous shrub with its beautiful flowers, fast growth and thick foliage it is also a marvellous screening plant.

Recently the local council put in footpaths on my side of the street and they dug up most of my nature strip garden, despite not needing to place the concrete there. In their wisdom, the workers dug up most of the plants leaving the grevillias roots to the sky.

Somehow amidst the carnage the bottle-brush and hakea survived.

I managed to save a couple but the majority have died.

But every morning when i walk outside and see the hakea in flower, I'm grateful it's still there.

On the verge

GROWING edible plants on the nature strip is always a chancy business - will someone steal my pumpkins or use them as a footy?

How about natives? Some councils are happy to have you greening uo the street while others seem to take pleasure in ensuring the strip stays plant-free.

When I moved in down the west coast over five years ago, I did the right thing and rang them to enquire about nature strip gardens. Go ahead I was told by council, but remember, if we need to dig the pipes or something it could be disturbed.

Tough-as-old-boots native iris will hopefully survive in the replanted verge garden

So inspired by many gardenerswho have had fun with more garden space and went for it. My plan was for a mix of natives and exotics with a focus on attracting more birds and bees to my front and rear gardens where I grow fruit and veggies.

Soon a 'captain cook' bottle brush, some tube stock of grevillias and a handsome hakea were surrounded by a dash of nasturtiums. The plants all bloomed there and soon little birds including blue wrens and New Holland honeys eaters were flitting in and out of the vegetation - until last month when the workers came through to put in a footpath.

Alas, I came home one night and found a ripped up mess - just a hakea and the bottlebrush looking worse for wear while the grevillias were upside down, roots to the air and foliage buried in the mounds of dirt.

Go figure.

So I've replanted the grevillas, hoping for a recovery but despite watering they are looking pretty shaky. They have been joined by some divided clumps of mature native iris, a 1m protea which popped up in my front garden after i took out the monster a few years back to make way for a fruiting cherry and some more nasturtium's.

Here's hoping they take.

So it was good to see Gardening Australia's Costa's take on verge gardens.

Despite this setback, I'm all for everyone to get out and plant something that makes your heart sing, the birds and bees a bit happier and the street a greener place to be.

Autumn in your patch

THOSE stalwart folk at Sustainable Gardening Australia are at it again - this time with heaps of good ideas for getting our veggie beds all sorted.

But although my veggie garden needs some attention - and more rain, I concentrated on the front non-food garden today.

Not a lover of chocolate, after breakfast I spent Easter Sunday weeding and replanting the front nature strip garden after it was decimated by the local council when they constructed the (unwanted) footpath in our street.

Good old native iris - it divides easily and is a great plant, enjoy and neglect options and produces lovely flowers.

Thankfully, while the poor old grevillias were upended roots to sky (they have been replanted but it's not looking good), the bottle brush and hakea survived. So this afternoon I divided and planted out loads of native iris which if grows a smidgen as well as it has in the front garden, will soon grow nice and bushy and keep any weeds out.

Hopefully we will see some rain tonight and the grevillias will recover, thrive and survive.