Landscaping Update and Austral Wholesale Nursery

Our front garden with the new Buxus hedge.

We have been happily living here at The Ponds for over 2 years now and are so rapt with our location and suburb.  One of the problems that Phil was encountering was that the Japanese buxus hedge in the front yard just wasn’t thriving, despite copious amounts of love, fertilizing and watering in the long hot summer. 

After some research, it became apparent that the buxus was having problems with drainage (especially since the council put the footpath out the front of our house about 12 months ago).  The water could not drain away from the plants and the roots were becoming waterlogged.

Another view of our front garden

Consequently, Phil dug up all of the old buxus, dug a trench, put in an AG line (for drainage), filled the trench with a little blue metal and soil.  He couldn’t connect the AG line to the stormwater drain unfortunately, as it’s under our driveway.  Instead, he dug a 600mm deep pit, filled the majority of it with blue metal so that the water can drain away.  It has clearly working as we discovered this last week with all of the rain that we’ve had. 

 Buxus in the middle with some of the amazing camellias on the left hand side.

The problem then, was to find some mature to semi mature buxus to plant at a reasonable price as he needed 30 – 35 plants.  After some careful research he came across a fabulous wholesale nursery, which also has an online shop and is open to the public.  This nursery is Austral Nursery located at 165 Sixth Avenue, Austral.  It only took about 30 minutes from The Ponds, down the M7. 

Gardenias

Camellia's (although the photo doesn't do it justice)

He was blown away by the range of plants available at very reasonable prices.  Gregory (contact on 0417 671 475) who is one of the owners, spent some time showing me around and I was able to get some great Japanese Buxus in a 200 mm pot (8 inch) in great condition for under $8 a plant.  This is clearly a significant saving on all other local nurseries and the quality is superior.   He is planning another trip back there shortly as he now has a wishlist of these fabulous plants. 

The camellias were stunning and quite mature, at a reasonable price.  An example was a camellia in a 300 mm (12 inch) pot were under $30.  This is half the price that we’ve seen them elsewhere.  The Murraya’s and Gardenia’s were also well cared for, in various sizes, and priced well.  There were some beautiful magnolia’s as well in 300 mm pot for around $30, which is an incredible price.

Magnolia's

If you are looking to do some planting, we would strongly recommend giving Gregory a call.  If you are buying in bulk, you can negotiate a further discount.