My previous garden was 10 years old, and we shifted to almost a clean slate here, with a few nice tree ferns and some rhododendrons. I decided I wanted to get there in 5 years this time, as I am getting older, so we bought large deciduous trees. The trident maples were $70 reduced from $120 as the nursery was closing. These are glorious at the moment in their autumn colour, and I will try and get 2 more big ones this year. The deciduous trees are the backbone of my garden so I tried to get them in first, but had to at least form some ideas about how I wanted it laid out. The garden has developed it's own character as i have gone along. I can happily say that, 4 years on, I have achieved what i wanted, but I certainly have many more things to do in the garden on a smaller scale. Currently we are building a fence to enclose the rear portion of the garden, which gets rather wet in winter. I prefer my mostly indoor dogs not to look as if they have been swimming in mud :-) This fence is creating many more small garden bed ideas that I will work on over the next year or so. My big achievement last year was the landscaping of the front garden, after we finished renovating the house. We designed the garden ourselves but had the hard landscaping done professionally to our design and closely supervised by me. We had the job of filling in a driveway along the front of the house. This now looks like an established garden after less than 12 months from completion. I feel that the most important thing here was leaving in the already established diosmas, buddleias, viburnums, etc and working around them. The landscaper wanted to start with a clean slate but i stuck to my guns, and I'm so glad I did. Artie you must be fairly young if you aren't aware of how rapidly time goes by. It takes much patience to make a garden. enjoy it as it develops and take many photos.

Hi Lea, You really cant go past local knowledge, so I'd strongly suggest that you take a good look around gardens in your area. Nurseries are also helpful, but you have to balance their advice against their profit motive - the good ones will make recommendations based solely on the best possible outcome for you. I also look at council landscaping - the plants might be doing it tough, but its surprising to see how well many species perform in the harshest of conditions. My current block has the same characteristics you've described, without the advantage of North-South orientation. My experience has been that the following do well in clay, and will be excellent foundation plants within 2-3 years of planting (from a 6" pot): - Xanthostemon Chrysanthus (Golden Penda) : takes the brunt of the afternoon Rocky sun and just looks sensational, even without flowers. Not so much as a single pest, despite the exotic Syzygium opposite being regularly gnawed on :) - Syzygium Australe Southern Form (Aussie Southern) : all LillyPillies arent the same, and this has a fantastic growth rate. I also like Wilsonii and a host of others, but this is the pick for a site such as yours, IMO. - Murrayas : both exotic and the local species - fast growers, tough-as-nails and great foliage / scented flowers. Others might suggest wattles, palms etc as pioneer plants - again, you need to see what works in *your* location. Be very careful in your choices re large trees - in addition to issues with roots and falling branches, I'm coming to the realisation that too *much* shade might be just as difficult a challenge as having too little. Having stood in a baking 40deg backyard 18 months ago, this was inconceivable, buts its definitely an issue with the new block. I'm also going to try wire trellis and climbers at the new place : my lone Pandorea Pandorana was never given the start it deserved here, but has hung in there magnificently. There are a host of exotic climbers, too - my personal preference is for natives where possible. Speaking to a local gardener recently, I was reminded of the importance of regularly checking the acidity of your soil - I started at 6.5, but all the compost, fertiliser, watering etc is bound to have an impact. He told me of a mate who grew 5 acres of lucerne purely to provide compost to his own garden - thats one serious gardener :) I believe that the main challenge facing all mainland gardeners at the moment isnt soil, plant choice or orientation - its rainfall. I remember Coffs as a lush, subtropical paradise with abundant rain - I sincerely hope that remains the case while you establish your own oasis. Cheers, Artie

I would trim it back a bit to give it a fighting chance. I have moved heaps of trees, even when I lived North of Townsville I moved trees 3mts tall and they survived in the heat, did you cut the roots of nice and neat with the secateurs you could give it a feed with seasol thats should help the roots. Cheers..MM.

Remembering that xanthostemon chrysanthus is a rainforest plant, you might have a double problem there. First, though it's regarded as not having an invasive root system, it does tend to have a fine mat of surface roots, adn I think in this case you don't have a deep enough drip line, and there is too much competition from the grass. If you want a neat line for mowing rather than a free-form, I'd just get something new for a surround, widen it to about 3 times its present width and gently remove the grass, then mulch the ground. Secondly though they will take full sun when fully grown, and stay a reasonable size instead of soaring for the sun as they would if competing with trees, you might find that spot is just too hot for it at its present time. Factoring in reflected heat from the grass and the edging, and the fact that, as I say, its surface roots may be suffering in hot weather while the lawn sucks up the moisture. Maybe a little shade enclosure for summer while you improve its conditions?