Integrated Water Management Using A Rain Garden

When winter comes around we tend to spend a great deal of time inside with a nice hot drink looking out at the frost covered grass, foggy skies and endless rain. While it's not really an inspiring time to be thinking about being out in the garden, there are so many ways you could be using all this rain to your garden's advantage while helping out the environment at the same time!

Our innovative solutions in water capture and conservation mean the majority of our landscapes require no mains water to keep plants healthy and alive throughout the harsh winter. If you are looking for a sustainable way to use rain capture more effectively at your house, why not build a rain garden? This is a simple way to help the environment while also providing a self-watering garden for your backyard.

A rain garden is a specifically prepared garden designed to receive and filter water run off from roofs or hard surfaces such as driveways, roads or paving. A rain garden can be a planter box, positioning it to collect water from a disconnected down pipe or rainwater tank overflow.

The rain garden planter box is made using a bottom layer of gravel and soil, a slotted pipe and a top layer of mulch or gravel. The rain garden works by allowing the water to percolate through these layers, slowing down the waters entry into storm water and reducing storm water capacity in addition to filtering the water from harsh pollutants and preventing these from entering our waterways.

Once your rain garden is established with plants (we prefer natives like Anigozanthos sp.- Kangaroo Paw), it will remain low maintenance as it will not require you to water or fertilise it in order for it to grow!

So what are you waiting for this winter? Don't let all that rainwater go to waste! Build your rain garden now and help improve our precious waterways!

If you have questions about building a rain garden, contact our office or visit  http://ow.ly/mx2Kk for more information on water wise solutions!

The Victorian Government’s Office of Living Victoria Commends Chelsea Flower Show winners

Yesterday, the Trailfinder’s Australian Garden team were commended at Parliament House for their ‘Best In Show’ success at the Chelsea Flower Show in May.

The Victorian Government was one of the gardens leading supporters, providing $350,000 to help make the design a reality. The Minister for Water, The Hon. Peter Walsh, hosted the official reception congratulating the team and all their supporters on an amazing success.

‘There are lessons that Victoria can take from this award-winning garden. We need to be much more sophisticated in the harvest and use of all available water supplies if we want to ensure Victoria has liveable, sustainable and productive communities into the future.’ Mr Walsh said

‘Just like the Trailfinder’s Australian Garden, we need to be harnessing the water that runs off the city – more water runs off Melbourne rooftops and streets every year into the bay than the city’s population draws from the Melbourne Water supply system.’

Mr Walsh commented that not only had the Trailfinder’s Australian Garden showcased Victoria’s horticultural & landscaping skills, it also boosted the profile of our states water cycle management on a world stage.

Contact us for more info on how we create a space at your property with water capture and conservation at its core!

RHS Chelsea Show - it's time to head home!

After such an exciting week, it's an emotional time as Phil and the team prepare to deconstruct the award-winning garden and head home.

Better Homes & Gardens visits RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Better Homes & Gardens and special guest, Kim Wilde, were taken on a tour through our winning RHS Chelsea Garden by Phil, Wes and the team.

Click here to watch the episode.

Phillip Johnson interview with Gardening with Angus

Australian native plant guru, Angus Stewart, caught up with Phil at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on the weekend. Click here to listen to the interview.

Timelapse of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show build

Watch this fantastic timelapse video of the build at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The finished garden took a total of 17 days and 2,500 man-hours to build!

Phillip Johnson and Wes Fleming interviewed on Lateline

Phil and Wes Fleming were interviewed by reporter Mary Gearin on Lateline. Click here to watch the clip.