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Hi I need some ideas (with pictures if possible) on how to design and what to plant in this garden bed preferably drought tolerant natives
It looks like a great spot to create a really hardy, attractive native garden, and you can get a lot of impact without much maintenance @shelby25. For a space like this beside a driveway, I would build the structure of the garden around three reliable, drought-tolerant feature plants that reach around ninety centimetres or more. Good choices include coastal rosemary, also known as Westringia, a tall variety of kangaroo paw for height and colour, and a compact shrub like a correas or even a small coastal banksia. These give you shape, contrast and year-round interest while still coping beautifully with hotter conditions.
Once the backbone plants are in place, you can fill the lower areas with spreading groundcovers that will soften the space and tie everything together. Native options like myoporum, creeping boobialla, native mint bush groundcovers or even fan flower varieties will cover the bare soil quickly and help suppress weeds. Planting them in repeating clusters helps the space feel fuller and gives the whole garden bed a deliberate, cohesive look. After everything is planted, finish by mulching right across the bed to help with water retention and to give it a clean, finished appearance.
Here's an AI image to give you some inspiration, and also an article on How to design a thriving native garden.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
It does look particularly sandy in that spot, @shelby25, and while most natives will tolerate sand quite well, it does not give young plants much to anchor into or feed from. Improving the top layer of soil before planting will make a noticeable difference to how quickly everything establishes and how well it copes through summer.
You do not need to overhaul the whole bed, but it is worth mixing organic compost through the top thirty to forty centimetres of soil. That gives the roots something more nourishing than straight sand, helps the soil hold moisture for longer, and makes the bed far more forgiving while the plants are getting settled. You can simply spread compost across the area and fork it in, or dig it through as you plant each shrub. Once the plants are in, mulching over the top will help lock that moisture in.
Natives appreciate better structure, but they still like free drainage, so avoid manures or anything too rich. A gentle improvement with compost is plenty. If you do that before planting, you will find the plants grow faster, look fuller, and handle heat more easily.
Mitchell
