This is the back of the house..

I would removed the yukkas as soon as possible before the stumps and root system get too big( notoriously hard to remove if let go) a Lilly pilly hedge along fence line, set aside an area for a climber like star jasmine on vertical wires, plant murraya for its lushness and divine flowers and perfume, large white planters to compliment your furniture would look beautiful, lovely area.

If you want a little more undercover space , add a sail for shade, an outdoor mat and some fab soft furnishings, a room for the warm weather and watching the sunset.. gorgeous

Thankyou for your ideas!! I’m afraid the sail shade might obstruct the sun from the house (I have lots of indoor plants so want loads of sun!) and the grass??

But yes, I love jasmine! But think it could take a while to grow.. maybe potato vine? Also like Lilly Pilly! But want it to look a bit rambley…

Thanks for saying it’s a nice space, I hope so one day!

Good to know about the yukkas too! I’ve now (mentally) prepared my partner.. I hope we can move them!!

Potato vine is great because it grows so fast, that would look great, yes the shade sail might not work for your indoor plants, so glad you are taking out the yukkas, they are nice while young but as they mature they are almost impossible to get fully out, try waterhousia, a weeping Lilly pilly, absolutely love this for it’s beautiful foliage.

That looks lovely! Not familiar with it though, wonder if it’s suitable for an Adelaide climate! Looks like it’s more popular in QLD. Looks expensive too so maybe not very fast?

And yes, would like to get rid of the yukkas, not my style! They’re also sharp. I like softer, rambling, prettier gardens ☺️

It grows well in Melbourne, it’s a gorgeous thing, good luck with your lovely space, whatever you do I am sure it will look beautiful.

Oh it’s soo boring!! Thanks for your great ideas Kate. The back of the house is north facing.

• I recently planted a lemon tree in a pot and then wondered if I should have planted in the ground towards the back?

• love the idea of a fire pit, not sure quite what you’re envisioning, but I like where your mind is!! 😅

• we had thought about a couple of veggie beds towards where the gravelly area is. Which feels a bit unuseable at this stage. It needs to be mildly sloping to allow the back gates to open (we just use it to take out the bins!)

• I ended up getting a vertical garden as we were going to install it where those two random steel posts are. We thought it would act as a screen to hide some of the ugly back fence and the bins but also concerned it will “cut off” the garden and make the space appear smaller.

Thanks for your ideas!!

☺️

If you wanted to do a bit of hard landscaping you could add a fire pit as Kate suggested, this could run off your paving, a raised veggie garden at back leaving enough room to navigate your bins, add a path using pavers, love this idea of a cluster of planters along opposite fence instead of garden bed, the beauty being you can take them with you when you move.

I also really like those copper metal round beds!! Some great ideas, thanks everyone. I don’t have the quid for any heavy landscaping so I’ll need to do it on my own. I’ll be incorporating the plant suggestions and I think I’ll try and turn that shed on its side and then have something growing up the side of it (the side that faces the house, currently we sit and look at the front of that shed from our lounge 😅🤦‍♀️).

I might put in a veggie plot or two or regravel and put an outdoor setting there that’s weather proof- near the bbq. A tree and some stuff growing up the fences should help too.

Will show you the results when they come to fruition!! 😃

Don’t be afraid to “cut off” the space. A visually interesting garden with multiple zones will be more appealing than the single rectangle you have now.

Thankyou tangerine9, I am afraid! But I will try :-)

Hello LauraME, I like this little space.. and it has huge potential! I too would loose the yukka: boring and spiked. Create a "room" with a feature tree and seat. Block the view to the shed and make it look like the garden goes on forever with a bit of wind and twist to it! Lilly pilly good for hedge. I thought potato vine was a weed? Jasmine is good but can get out of control. A lovely deciduous tree 3/4 down the site for summer shade would be great with seat under it.... Show us what you do!! Cheers Margot

I've looked , and focussed on different things .

I don't like grey , I think its boring . So look at the base you have -- the rear view of your house is a steel bluey grey , while the fence is a greeny grey . And then , all the trim is in the same two tones .

Things like that bamboo curtain don't help ( its too narrow , so its basically been bought and added with no focus on how it looks or adds to the layout ) , and personally I prefer warm stained timber rather than white , but the white furniture is livable , and at least it isn't a grey tone ! So assuming you are keeping the furniture , buy 10 litres of white paint , some 150x100 timber , some trellis , and some 100x50 timber , for a start .

Paint the uprights and beams of your roofed area in white , and probably that raised 'style line' that is above the windows .

Run white painted 150x100 beams all around the top of your fence -- that will tie the fence in with the back roofed area , and the white will lighten the overall look too .

The left hand side fence ( looking from your sliding door ) seems to have enough plants and variety that the white cap will be all thats needed , but that shed and the right fence look pretty boring , so add some white painted trellis with 100x50 framing . The shed could be maybe have one piece added that is ground to roof , and 800mm or so wide ; the fence maybe 2 or 3 smaller framed pieces -- here , you can have say 1 that is 800 wide and quite tall ( similar to the shed one ) , the other 2 could be 800mm tall and say 1200 wide , so basically you have a mix of vertical and horizontal orientations , all based around that 800mm measurement .

THEN you can do some of the above plant variety ideas , add some large white pots or even some orange ones ( orange , of course , ties in okay with the greeny grey and the bluey grey , but adds that punch of colour ! ) , maybe even some more white furniture , maybe even a piece of white concrete 'sculpture' -- 60 years ago you would have added a bird bath , but I suspect that would age the whole place if you did that now , but you get the idea .

Basically , hide the ugly before you start trying to up the Wow ; you do that by distracting and re-focussing the eyes .

Thanks everyone for your ideas!! I’ll see what I can do. I’m not sure I can paint the fences a different colour in the way described as the property is part of a community title scheme and so any outside visible work which can be seen as impacting on the visual theme of the area won’t likely be approved. The purple/grey is part of the (delightful 😅) colour scheme of the set of townhouses. Alternating with a beige colour. Perhaps white or timber trellises could suffice to break things up?

Re the potato vine as a weed, you’re probably right! I’m thinking of the Solanum jasminoides which is a vigorous grower- which suits my timeline well! I have found star Jasmine a bit slow to take off? But yes, looks like some- I.e. NSW refer to it as a weed..

It’s a gorgeous’weed’ ❤️

I know you are on a budget but consider one of our amazing clotheslines on the house because they look amazing, last forever & will impress andy discerning buyer....good luck!

I think the fence colour is fine. You'll see that colour used by a lot of landscapers because it makes the plants in front stand out. I'd consult a local nursery about how lilly pillies grow in Adelaide. In most places they are quick growing and form lovely informal lush hedges. Or ask what other plants might be suitable. I've put in some grevilleas which gave grown quickly to 2-3 m and flower just about all year. No good me saying which varieties as I live in a different climate to you.

I think the basics are fine,  just remove the spiky plants, put in new plants and think about shed tarting up. It won't take much to look great and the dark fencing is a perfect foil for greenery.

Also look at adore magazine house on instagram. They did a great backyard makeover and did up garden shed and it looked great.

Great, thanks for the tips!! 😄

Hi LauraME,

You've probably had enough suggestions to blow your mind but I'll just add a bit more.

Keeping a small budget in mind, definately ditch the Yuccas. They are a nightmare in the domestic situation and will cost a lot later.

Adelaide has a specific climate with the hot dry summers so keep the planting suited so you spend money wisely for fewer losses. You say you like gardens a bit softer, prettier and rambly. I would look at the shed side garden and curve that so it is as wide as the shed at both ends and closer to the fence in the middle. That will give you more dense planting to screen the shed from view. That could be a 2 weekend project. Dig the curve and lift the excess grass and prepare the soil. The next weekend buy the plants and arrange them and plant. Mix height and colour and texture. Don't go with too many varieties but a balanced mix is good. I'd plant a Grevillea Honey Gem at both ends of the garden. Lovely golden yellow flowers that attract birds and it's either a large shrub or small tree in size. Enough to screen the shed in 3-4 years if it likes the soil and aspect. Throw in a bird bath if you want to attract birds too. There are also some good ground cover grevilleas that could go along the front, mainly red and crimson flowers with darker leaves than the Honey Gem. Mix that maybe with some grass like plants to give contrasting texture. Avoid the really big growing ones and ones like Lomandra that have spikey seeds and cut if you rub your hands in them. Maybe taller ones at the back and smaller varieties at the front. If you like them, roses will do well in the low humidity but require some care and deadheading through the flowering season to keep them flowering longer. If you just have 3 or 5 in that bed, it wont be too much work. Alternatively or as well, the good old hydrangea will give some good colour and green balance with the grey green Grevillea. They are a once a year big prune and you can have cut flowers for indoors. It sounds like an eclectic mix but if you set them out well it can look lovely. If you like gardening, put in a few perrenials to fill out the space like echinacea or shasta daisies.

On the other side of the garden, keep the straight planting with something with a scent like the murraya or lavender and underplant these with a ground cover. Half way down in the lawn about 1.5 - 2m out from the garden, plant a reasonable size crepe myrtle. They come in colours from white through all the pinks including peach to purple. The pinks are the most common so if you are planting lavender, make sure the colours sit well together. All around this you could place curved seating. To protect the trunk from the lawn mower or weed eater, create a small circular bed around it and plant bulbs or irises in it. Irises will need sun.

At the back between those posts, create a screen with the star jasmine. You can do this with wires and timber or another metal top plate. Keep the structure part of it simple to keep in budget but make sure it is strong so you don't have to replace it in a few years. This way you can keep the jasmine under control in the one space by just hedge trimming it a couple of times a year. Beware of the sap on your skin if you are sensitive to it. You can also do the raised garden beds in the gravel area but my preference is to have fruit and vege near the back door so you use it and look after it more often. Alternatively you could plant all fruit and vege in the straight garden. Do a few espeliered fruit trees against the fence with vege and berries etc below. If you are gathering things together like this, check out companion planting charts first so things will grow well.

Have fun.

Christine.

Christine!! This is so helpful!! Thankyou. Feels feasible too- and thankyou for the plant suggestions.. I admit, with a partner who is not at all keen about the garden.. I did get a bit overwhelmed!! You have made a few suggestions that I was considering, the crepe myrtle as well as the round seating I was only thinking about yesterday! So I’ll map this out. Since my last post I have turned the shed to the side so there is less to disguise and taken down those two what then appeared to be footy 😅 posts.. My new plan is to have the jasmine growing up the side of the shed and a screen across the other side to disguise all the bins (I need to get the council to collect some bins, not sure why I have so many!!)
It’s opened up the space at the back, still not 100% sure what I want to do with that yet!!

Next goal is to remove yukkas!!

The back fence looks odd because I erased the pole from the image as they have since been removed 😀

I was also inspired by this backyard- love the Redcor planter.. and having all those herbs at hand along the wall. Crepe Myrtle looks great too! And the Jasmine on the shed.. Unsure whether the rusted colour would work with my grey pavers though (also pricey, which will mean less money to spend on plants 😬)

Love what you have done with the shed, incredible difference, love your inspiration photos, that would look fabulous, the corten goes well with the fence colour. Should look beautiful.

Thanks Julie!! 🙏

Laura

I bought my corten steel garden edging from Bunnings, also some Corten steel planters for herbs. Yes, it is more expensive than some other edgings but I think it's worth it. Your back garden is not big, so splurge if you can afford it. Everyone always says buying small plants is more cost-effective because they grow faster than advanced ones. (Not that I follow that advice all that often!)

Kath

That inspo pic is perfect.  You should consider some succulents in Adelaide as well.  They are often really easy to propagate and can look quite cottage-y or modern.  Echinops and euphorbia do really well and shouldn't have to buy much

Hi Laura,

I also love your inspiration photo. I think you're on the right track for what you want. It looks like an early summer image due to the jacaranda flowering so I would try and get a bit more colour in the planting and spread your flowering season to be as long as you can by choosing winter, spring and summer flowering plants.

It appears that you have the ability to build one side of the garden up as you have a foudation below the fence. You shouldn't build it up in front of the actual fence as it will eventually rust out. If you do build it up in part, you could build seating into this to make two uses out of the retaining. You could intersperse this with the cortens to reduce the cost as that wont work so well for seating. Recycled timber could do the job and maybe mix with some gabions, which you can do on the cheap yourself if you have a source of rubble or stones.

C.

Excellent tips everyone, thankyou!!Christine, truly appreciate it!!

Will continue with my planning incorporating your ideas 😊🤞

Goodness, gabions! Never even knew such a thing existed!!

Traditionally gabions are filled with rocks of some sort and used for retaining earth, however, small scale in a garden they can be just decorative and filled with almost anything. See images below. You can scavenge from construction and demolition sites to keep the cost down, with their permission of course, or even a refuse station or forests after the main plantation has been cut and removed. If you don't mind the rust look to match the cortens, you can make them yourself out of reinforcing mesh and strong wire. You can also plant into them and make bug homes in them for your children to explore. You could slope them up to the middle from each end so there is not as much soil needed behind them.

Good luck.

C.

Thanks for the inspo Christine! I quite like your seat idea and have found some pics with them used this way which I like the look of.. will keep them in mind!