Wise gardeners know that buying tubestock is the smart choice. It just takes a little bit of patience. In just a couple of months, our low-cost tubestock will have caught up to those pricey larger-sized plants.But you might be wondering how long it will take for your newly-created garden to look like something you can enjoy...
So we thought we'd share one of our latest nursery garden projects with you!
We built a flight of wide concrete steps to run from the top of our nursery to the lower levels to improve access. We installed a schmick new rustic handrail for safety, and the steps were a success - much easier to get up and down the hill. But they weren't very...aesthetic.
Here comes the plan!
Our nursery production manager tired of using this ugly staircase every day. So in October 2023, she planned a fragrant walkway, to run all alongside the steps leading from the top of the nursery to the bottom.
Wire mesh was attached to the fence, to fill in the spaces between each post. This made the perfect support for climbing plants.
The plants she selected for this new garden area are pink jasmine - Jasminum polyanthum ; and Italian lavender - Lavandula stoechas
Lavenders and jasmines are two of our most popular plant families, always in demand.They'll create a beautiful effect - and provide valuable nectar for local bees and other beneficial pollinators. Because at Australian Plants Online, we always garden with nature in mind.
Eight weeks - and it's already starting to take shape.
Here's the walkway garden already showing how much it's grown and filled out, after exactly two months in the ground. You can see the jasmine is already climbing up the wire mesh, and the lavender has filled out and put on new growth.
Lavenders love a light well-drained soil, and the steep slope of the bank alongside the steps will really help to drain away any excess water and rainfall.
We can get a lot of that here on the Sunshine Coast!
We can get a lot of that here on the Sunshine Coast!
Three months on from planting. You can see what a difference another four weeks of summer sunshine has made.
The lavender is lush and bushy, and the jasmine is already reaching the handrail and curling over to the other side. Jasmine is fast-growing so you won't have to wait too long for your new garden to start looking mature and established.
Ten months on from planting the walkway, it's now early August here on the Sunshine Coast. The jasmine is in full bloom; and the lavender is starting to regrow and bud up after a winter clip. We'll update you as soon as it's in full flower, later this season!
The jasmine flowers smell wonderful - and against the blue spring sky the white petals sparkle. The lavender foliage is deliciously aromatic too, especially when we brush against it walking up and down the steps.
For a slightly different look, you could swap the Italian lavender for English lavender. English lavender is rounded and bushy; the stems are more slender, and the flowers have small petals all the way along, instead of the large tufts at the top. English lavender comes in white, pink, pale lilac, and deep purple, giving you a wider colour palette to match with your climbing jasmine.
You can also swap the pink jasmine (Jasminum) for star jasmine (Trachelospermum). Star jasmine is also fragrant and fast growing; the leaves are larger and deeper green, glossy, and dense on the stems for thicker coverage. The flowers are a creamy white and very heavily scented.
Both pink jasmine and star jasmine are self-clinging, twining their new shoots to attach themselves to trellis or mesh - so you won't have to worry about tying them in to achieve the look. Just direct them to where you want them to grow and they'll do the rest!
Climbers are fantastic plants for creating lush green gardens quick smart. For more inspiration on using climbers in your garden, read our post The Best Fast Growing Climbers; or shop our Scented Plants category to create your own fragrant walkway, at home.
