Real World Gardener Conifer Gardens part 2 in Design Elements

REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney, streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network. www.realworldgardener.com

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The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition. The new theme is sung by Harry Hughes from his album Songs of the Garden. You can hear samples of the album from the website www.songsofthegarden.com

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Conifers in the landscape

with landscape designer Louise McDaid
Are you looking for something out of the ordinary to kickstart your garden?

Have all those gardening and lifestyle magazines left you a little bit bored with the same old same old?

Unique ideas are as rare as hen’s teeth but I think we've got some great ideas in part 2 of garden design with unusual themes-ground cover conifers.
Conifers are really tough and can take dry conditions – and there are some fantastic ground covers. Many of them spread to create carpet like covering over the soil which is an excellent weed suppressant.
For a large area or slope they are a very useful plant used en masse.
In a smaller garden situation, they perform well too and look best if used just like you would other ground covers, teamed with plants in a range of sizes and forms for a cohesive arrangement. Or use them as spillover over a retaining wall.

One of the most spectacular of all feature plants, conifer or not, is the weeping Atlantic cedar Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’. It’s long cascading branches drip with blue-green leaves – it can be grafted onto a standard form and the branches look fantastic flowing over an arch.

Hope you’ve found a bit of inspiration to grow some conifers in your garden!