Yeah lawns are an extremely weird concept in Australia that have become normalised somehow. Like oh yes, let’s just waste all this water, time, and energy growing an entire mat of weeds we don’t actually want. Then you have to use all this energy and tools to cut it back down every week or two. It’s crazy to me 😂. Also lawns are extremely unforgiving. They turn brown, patchy, thorn-ridden, and ugly easily, and don’t really provide much to the wildlife.
I always keep it simple because I have fatigue issues. Weed mat, a nice mulch top layer (very cheap from the gov), lots of compost for a few months to prepare the soil (the dirt around here is completely awful), a basic sprinkler irrigation backup if it refuses to rain for weeks, then just plant things which would naturally survive and look after themselves. Usually natives, but some native plants are too fragile. Usually flowering plants because I love flowers, and so do insects and birds.
Recently I went for Acacia Limelight, lavender, the tiny bush bottlebrush (forget the name), and some cute little grasses that make stunning blue flowers. The acacias drop millions of tiny thin leaves which gives a beautiful autumn floor look year-round. I like the subdued brown/purple/green profile with a bit of bright colours here and there. We had a lot of bird and pollinator activity too, which really brought it to life.
I am poor, but when I have money, if I decide to go with a house over an apartment, I’ll be planting grass trees. I’ll plant young cheap ones, but I’ll do research on the best place to put them, and what other species around will support them. And I want to plant a nice big canopy tree that grows medicine.
Yeah lawns are an extremely weird concept in Australia that have become normalised somehow. Like oh yes, let’s just waste all this water, time, and energy growing an entire mat of weeds we don’t actually want. Then you have to use all this energy and tools to cut it back down every week or two. It’s crazy to me 😂. Also lawns are extremely unforgiving. They turn brown, patchy, thorn-ridden, and ugly easily, and don’t really provide much to the wildlife.
I always keep it simple because I have fatigue issues. Weed mat, a nice mulch top layer (very cheap from the gov), lots of compost for a few months to prepare the soil (the dirt around here is completely awful), a basic sprinkler irrigation backup if it refuses to rain for weeks, then just plant things which would naturally survive and look after themselves. Usually natives, but some native plants are too fragile. Usually flowering plants because I love flowers, and so do insects and birds.
Recently I went for Acacia Limelight, lavender, the tiny bush bottlebrush (forget the name), and some cute little grasses that make stunning blue flowers. The acacias drop millions of tiny thin leaves which gives a beautiful autumn floor look year-round. I like the subdued brown/purple/green profile with a bit of bright colours here and there. We had a lot of bird and pollinator activity too, which really brought it to life.
I am poor, but when I have money, if I decide to go with a house over an apartment, I’ll be planting grass trees. I’ll plant young cheap ones, but I’ll do research on the best place to put them, and what other species around will support them. And I want to plant a nice big canopy tree that grows medicine.