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A tropical garden in Perth
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Posted by BenWA z10 Perth (My Page) on Fri, Dec 17, 04 at 1:53
| This is my first posting and I'm after advice on setting up a tropical garden in Perth. I've planted several plumeria from cuttings that are doing nicely and intend to develop an upper canopy with self-cleaning palms (Alexandra, foxtails, etc). Hopefully this will create a microclimate suitable from growing tropicals. I'm particularly interested in heliconias, gingers, cordylines, cannas and bromeliads. Any advice on which varieties work well in Perth (near the coast) and where I can obtain plants would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: A tropical garden in Perth
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| Be careful of not planting too many palms, something we tended to do when we first started in tropicals (probably because we were palm collectors). We also had Alexanders & Foxtails (plus others). As the palms grow large their root systems make it very difficult for other plants to compete. Cordylines, Crotons and many other understorey plants will eventually suffer quite badly from root competition with trees and large palms. Broms are fine. |
RE: A tropical garden in Perth
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Ben,
There is a magazine out by the name of ´Gardens & Outdoor Living´ out now in which the Jan 2005 edition has an article on creating a Balinese style garden in Perth. The magazine is easy to spot - the photo of the garden on the front cover gives it away. The article details the plantings used in the garden so I suggest it as a source of info for you. Scott. |
RE: A tropical garden in Perth
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| One of the earlier threads refers to a story they did on Burke's Backyard where Don used plants like NZ Flax to create a 'tropical-looking' garden in Melbourne. 'Instant' gardens aside, this isnt the first time that I've seen this, so I'm sure that its possible to have the same look in a temperate climate. The key lies in finding plants that can deal with your combination of humidity, soil and rainfall distribution : Melbourne and Adelaide have wet Winters and dry Summers (great combo ... brrrrr), while I believe that WA has very little humidity and infertile soils (generally). Good luck, Artie |
RE: A tropical garden in Perth
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- Posted by BenWA z10, WA Aust (My Page) on
Thu, Dec 23, 04 at 3:46
| Thanks heaps for the info. I'll definitely have a look for that magazine next time I'm near a newsagent. We do have very little humidity and gutless soil, which doesn't make it easy. At least the soil is something we can fix. We just got back from Hawaii and saw the Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden on the big island. Very inspiring and highly recommended. Ben |
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