Miranda You appear to be making all the right choices in life. I will be a little bit presumptuous by offering some advice on helping you to raise your child in touch with nature in this age full of all the electronic lures that keep the kids indoors. or, when outdoors, glued to a small screen, rather than the glory that surrounds them. I am writing a book about landscape architecture and have a section regarding the importance of embracing nature in the preschool years. - which I would like to forward that section to you. However, my computer skills are limited to email and US Mail. I don't even know how to attach a picture to the text. If you would like to receive this draft from my future book, send me your email or postal address, and I'll get it right off to you. My email is cascio.offsite@gmail.com Good luck with your new challenges and opportunities. Joe Cascio

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums in that URL we found the austrelien gardenweb forum

So many great suggestions here for you! What a fabulous house to work with. I would extend the pergola out to where the BBQ is, but scrap it. I also suggest replacing the brick paved area with large creamish pavers & use the bricks to pave the path in a bit if a curve. Utilize the curved area for seating widening the steps as suggested. A couple of large pots with citrus either side. These could be planted later as the garden progresses. Also a grape vine or wisteria planted to grow over the pergola would give summer shade & let light into the house in winter. I would screen the granny flat with either a few hardy bushes or a lattice type screen & grow a passion-fruit, kiwi fruit or climbing rose. If you don't like the climbing thing something structural like yucca's or cordylines, both low maintenance - talk to your local nursery, they are the experts. They may offer garden design too. Also have a look at http://plantselector.botanicgardens.sa.gov.au/ Just put in your postcode & you get a list of plants with pictures, descriptions etc. Enjoy your garden room. Good luck.

I love Irene's photos and the suggestion to build a wall inside the boundary to square off the front angle, with plantings in front of it. This would be a brave move (I would probably get a landscape designer in for this if you go this way). Otherwise (I haven't read the previous comments, apologies in case I repeat or contradict), I would plant a fuller medium sized tree in the front right side (the deepest part), though centred, not in the point itself! Something like a full Manchurian Pear (though be committed to pruning it to keep it from growing too large, they don't grow too fast, it should be manageable - otherwise try a pretty Snow Pear (my favourite!) or a Bradford for a more compact but pretty shape - you can even pleach (ie take off the lower branches to keep the first metre of trunk nice and bare for a more sculptural look), or if you want something that will keep more compact without too much trouble, a beautiful crepe myrtle (Ilove the white Natchez variety) makes a lovely sculptural feature tree. You can underplant this with a square garden bed with star jasmine (just keep it trimmed to shape) and they look amazing with some under lighting at night (easy DIY kits available these days). Then along the right fence line I would add plantings to keep it private and looking lovely, again I would go Chanticleer ornamental pear (or Capital are even more narrow but I don't love them, though they're very popular). Again you can underplant with hardy, quick growing and low maintenance star jasmine. Then along the driveway on the right side, plant something lower and along the left side (if you have soil here), plant Sweet Viburnum (I love this, we've planted the Dense Fence variety), again, quick growing, beautiful foliage and low maintenance.