There seems to be a trend to steer away from traditional gardens that are formally arranged and high maintenance. Josephine Noyce, Landscape designer says, ” almost every client of mine asks for a low maintenance, water-wise garden”.
Lately, we often have discussions with our clients about “How to design a garden with Aloes as a feature”. The many different aspects of our Sunbird Aloes hybrids like Colour, Adult size of the plant, Flower Time, Frost Tolerance and Growth Style all come into play when planning a water-wise garden.
Below are some tips on how you can go about designing a garden with Aloes as a feature, accompanied by an excel Aloe selection tool that you can use to make the selection of Sunbird Aloes based on your identified criteria easier. The tool contains links to the catalog pages, to show you what the plants look like.
- Determine your budget: This may not be the most fun part of the garden planning and design process, but it’s a good idea to set a realistic budget for your project.
- Make a list of features you already have in your garden and identify features you would like to create:
- If you haven’t done this already, look at some water-wise garden plans to gather ideas. You can go online, or visit local nurseries and botanical gardens for ideas. Our Sunbird Aloes website is an excellent source of information.
- Some of these features might include:
- New and different varieties of water-wise plants
- Interesting types of planter boxes or containers
- Rocks, gravel, mulch
- Determine the Size of the Garden: Is your garden going to cover your entire property, or just a portion of it? Be sure to consider not only installation cost but also maintenance time and expense.
- Don’t Forget Weather Factors: Take time to note sunny and not so sunny areas of your garden at different parts of the day. Also bear in mind that these will shift throughout the year. Plan your garden so that your plants will be able to thrive in their mini-environments. Remember Aloes love thrive in sunny spots !
- Consider Using Native Plants: When planning a garden, it’s tempting to pick out exotic plants imported from somewhere else or to try and re-create a garden from a magazine. But you’ll get better results if you use plants that are native to your area or from a compatible climate zone. They can also provide a valuable source of food for birds and bees.
