Hi Angela, great idea to plant a tree! We lived in Alice Springs for 6 years and found that a couple of shade trees made such a huge difference to our enjoyment of being out in the garden, We loved being outside for breakfast and later in the day/early evening. We noticed that Chinese Elm trees grew well and relatively quickly and we had a fast growing Mullberry tree there too, (although the fruit do stain when you tread on them). Brazilian Peppercorn trees grow very fast there too, but become a huge bush if you don't keep pruning them to the shape you want as they grow. I love that you're planting natives too, as they attracted birds to our garden, along with the trees. Murrayas are a lush green 2-3 metre fast growing shrub which thrive in Alice too. We planted several after realizing they grow there in full sun and/or part shade. They have white flowers with a beautiful perfume.

emerald..don't know how you full time mum does it..I wouldn't be able to cope lol I only work part time and yet on the days I work I don't even look after myself properly lol. took the kids to Yum Cha today so I bought groceries at Melb Central before hopping on the train back .. just making a stir fry tonight..was going to have stir fried noodles..turned out my Hokkien noodles are expired..this is the reason why I don't buy stuff beforehand lol so will wing it and have with rice..one wok wonder with some scallops from the freezer.. my kids are easy they don't ever whinge about what I cook they know better..as sometimes I don't cook at all lol

We have a similar set up to you. I don't recommend seed as we got so many weeds come through. We cleared that and turfed it and love it. Lots of hard work and upkeep but worth it. We have done hedging along fence line and the half acre of grass and the rest we have kept the natural bush. Eventually we will be making it more of a useable bush area with grass surrounding the gums.

Wow amazing advice - thank you!! We are in the mid-hinterland on the Gold Coast. :) Since posting we have planted out the back strip with a mix of Vibernum, Chinese dwarf bamboo, elephant ears, Xanadu and ornamental grass. We still have both sides to do yet and it feels like it will never end! Unfortunately our garden beds were edged with pavers at build stage and we aren't equipped to rip them out to widen the garden beds now. but I am considering culling the mulch in some areas on the sides and putting in feature sections with Riverstones. I love the idea of using water feature/bowl and will try to incorporate one. We went and bought 9 golden cane palms which we haven't yet planted due to some posts online about the root systems and them being problematic, we are thinking about maybe putting them along the retaining wall, any ideas how to manage the root growth? We thought about keeping them in larger pots and planting around the pots, has anyone seen this executed well? Updated pic attached. You can see a bush fire that went across the hinterland yesterday, bit close for comfort! Also the palms we are thinking about in bags against the wall. PS - Whoever would have thought that turf is so hard to keep lush! OMG thats a whole other post! hahaha