Designing a Landscape Garden for Sydney’s Climate
When designing a garden one of the first considerations is the local climate. – Sydney’s climate is temperate to sub tropical. This climate affects how you landscape for Sydney gardens and especially what plants to grow. Here are our Sydney Landscaping Ideas and Tips.
Sydney has a temperate climate with warm summers and mild winters. Rainfall is spread throughout the year. The weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, and more extreme temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. The warmest month is January, with an average air temperature range at Observatory Hill of 18.6–25.8°C. An average of 14.6 days a year have temperatures of more than 30 °C.
In winter, temperatures rarely drop below 5 °C in coastal areas. The coldest month is July, with an average range of 8.0–16.2°C. Rainfall is fairly evenly spread through the year, but is slightly higher during the first half of the year, when easterly winds dominate. The average annual rainfall, with moderate to low variability, is 1,217mm, with rain falling on an average of 138 days a year
Sydney Landscape Garden Design Ideas
Sydney gardens are heavily focused on outdoor living. There is generally a large outdoor area dedicated to entertaining and generally hanging out and enjoying the sun and outdoors. Pergolas and paved areas are common place in the Sydney landscape garden. Adding to the outdoor appeal is the strong use of water features. Water has a soothing effect both visually and aurally. The sound of a gently trickling water feature is most relaxing.
Sydney Landscaping also often involves an informal relaxed layout with the use of curves and rounded garden beds and structures. Plantings are also often relaxed groupings rather than straight hedges.
Australian gardens have a certain feel, a sense of place, there are several elements that help evoke this sense of place; Natural plant groupings, your plants should be clumped as they would be in nature, use random groupings, numbers and arrangements. The use of timber helps give a sense of Australiana, timber sleepers, timber steps, timber decking all help achieve an natural feel. Crushed granite, or sandstone is another lovely garden element to include in a garden, it gives a soft appearance to garden pathways. All these elements can be easily achieved by a DIY gardener.
Sydney Landscape Design
Ensure that your Sydney landscape design is an open, free form style. Avoid rigid straight lines and formal hedges. Try and add contrasting clumps of foliage to create interest and excitement to the planting design. Native grasses planted in clumps is a lovely effect. Water is often used in a Sydney garden design, a simple pond of water feature can transform a garden space. Winding, flowing pathways and garden rooms add a sense of intrigue to any garden. Pathways are often made up of natural stepping stones, or recycled sleepers to give an added rustic feel. A dry river bed or creek is another interesting element that can add some interest to your garden layout. River pebbles laid out to mimic a river bed is a simple and effect landscape feature.
Common Sydney Garden Plants
Selecting native plants is generally wise for an Australian garden, however there are many exotic plant species that will grow well in Sydney. Here is a list of some common Sydney plants – including native trees, shrubs, grasses, under story plants and ground covers;
Eucalyptus
Grevillea
Wattle
Lilly Pilly
Bottlebrush
Kangaroo Paw
Gymea Lilly
Carex Grass
Lomandra
Native Violets
Blue Fescue Grass
Westringia
Austromyrtus
Angophora
Grass Trees
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NSW – Sydney Council Landscape Plans
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