Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Dancer, Do

I'm Half Crazy, All For The Sight Of You

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Here in Melbourne as we enter our third week in the six-month period of daylight saving, the weather is starting to hit the 30-degree mark (and we’re talking Celsius here). The long evenings are bringing out the best in the garden and with our severe water restrictions, I’m glad we planted wisely.

When we built this house, I spent hours happily sketching the garden out of nothing. I planned the sweeping, curved driveway to take in the gentle arc of a pathway leading to a gate that existed only in my imagination.

As the house took shape, so did my sketch-pad garden. Fortuitously, I chose hardy plants that would provide vivid colour but that would require little or no water. The northern perimeter of our property is a fairly long frontage and at the moment it is a riot of colour.

The first photograph shows the mature bushes of soft pink African daisies. The second shows the giant white daisies that are interspersed among the flower-carpet roses, azaleas and a mixture of ground cover.

You’re wondering what the background colour is, aren’t you? You’re curious about the intense scarlet splashes, right?

Here they are, up close. The distinctive colour that is coaxed by the sun into a wide, striking carpet is a simple little plant that we call "pigface". I call them PNF plants. That's not scientific jargon. If you want to know what it signifies, it's simply "plant 'n' forget" - because you smply plant it and then forget all about it.

At this time of the year, with the Spring Racing Carnival in full swing, the pigface is the gardening equivalent of a neon sign.

Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.