If you are interested in rain gardens, I am going to invite my Master Rain Gardener class to post in the Great Lakes Gardening forum here. Please come and help out newbie rain gardeners! I'd love your support and help from experienced gardeners. Sometimes the questions are general gardening, like how to remove sod, or other general questions. Your comments are welcome!

re NZ and Oz - some favourites you may like to try are: NZ - auckland domain - wintergarden - glasshouse/fernery complex - edwardiana auckland regional botanic garden, south of the city wellington - botanic garden, in thorndon, in the city wellington - Otari native plant garden (need a day here!) new plymouth - pukeiti rhododendron trust /native bush as well as rhodos galore, a day trip new plymouth - Tupare garden, large private valley garden new plymouth - Pukekura Park, in the city Christchurch - botanic garden Oz - Canberra - Australian National Botanic Garden - natives only - need a day here too Canberra - gardens of Old and New Parliament House (insist on a courtyard tour of the New - v. interesting) Canberra - sculpture garden of the National Art Gallery (all native and quite something) Canberra - Commonwealth Park, north side of lake Sydney - Botanic gardens - need all day here Sydney - Bicentennial Park - brand new parklands next to the site of the 2000 Olympics at Homebush Bay Syd - Mount Tomah botanic gardens - cool climate plants including interesting Gondwanaland garden and formal use of Oz native plants Syd - Mount Annan bot gardens - natives only Mount Wilson, Northern Blue Mountains - many private gardens, very lush hill station - atypical for Australia Cairns - botanic garden in the tropics Brisbane - botanic garden in the subtropics Brisbane - Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens - relatively young and fascinating Cooktown - botanic garden in the hot tropics! This list looks very institutional - apologies, there are thousands of private gardens in both countries which are open to the public, some all the time, some only for certain days etc. I have a guidebook to Oz open gardens if you want me to look up certain places - happy to - it depends what sort of thing you're interested in really - as well as horticultural show-off pieces there are many historic gardens open too, often only known about by locals... enjoy! Adelaide - botanic gardens Perth - King's Park, botanic gardens (not to mention wildflowers) Hobart - botanic gardens Melbourne - Royal Botanic Gardens Melb - Fitroy Gardens Melb - Cranbrook botanic gardens - new and native only Mount Macedon - half an hour's drive north west of Melb - a Victorian hill station with lush, bush girded gardens, & the Dandenongs, similar but to the south east... Dromana garden, large private garden on the Mornington peninsula - about 45mins drive from Melb - Rippon Lea, suburban Mansion garden - boom era gold/merchant's paradise Victoriana - National Trust icon Thailand/ Bangkok - visit Jim Thompson's house - not far from the city centre and quite charming - the house is worth a look too - tropical plants and intimate scale, water much in use /blended traditional thai architecture/ silks and antiques galore - a heady mix and an oasis in a busy city... Vietnam/Hanoi - visit the Temple of Literature - a 1200s university with again very tranquil courtyard gardens, in the middle of the...

Shax, perhaps it is you who is in the firing line. Proteas native to Australia make up more than half those found worldwide and along with the suggestions made by Nathan that are the more commonly cultivated genera of Banksia (73) and Grevillea (250), Shanna could grow Australian Telopeas (4), Stenocarpus sp.(6), Hakea (125), Persoonia (45), Isopogon (35), Adenanthos (32) which are readily accessible and grow in many types of conditions from sand to water bogged clays and could be groundcovers to shrubs and large trees. Credit to Shax's website link as it had some good info. Sorry Shanna, no good websites to link to from me but perhaps some original soil conditions would be helpful as well as what you are trying to achieve. Important info is aspect with respect to new soil conditions sun, wind and rain. I assume you want a fast draining sandy loam in a full sun position and you probably have a clay soil. If the plants that you have suit this then perhaps grade the soil to a low spot, put in some agricultural pipe and crushed rock and bring in atleast 300mm of your sandy loam. Be careful with fertiliser but you probably already know which to choose. I am basing this on the assumption of what people do in my area with the South African Varieties that like a fast draining soil compared to our clays. Having said that, in future you could choose proteas that are better suited to your soil type and hence limit the amount of raised garden beds that are needed. For a special feature in any garden a weeping grevillea is sensational. Some clever people graft a ground covering Grevillea on to a 6ft Grevillea robusta with stunning results as a feature plant. Not sure if you can get one in the states Shanna but they do look great. Here is a link to a page that show a couple of weeping Grevilleas amongst grafted grevilleas. You need to scrooll down and look at the pictures on the left. There are two shown http://www.australisplants.com.au/ornamentals/graftedgrevilleas.htm Danili Here is a link that might be useful: Grafted grevilleas

Hi R.Harrison - what a nice photo! I know where this is. I like how it shows the waterbody that this rain garden is protecting. "You (pollution) shall not pass!" a la Lord of the Rings.