John Sullivan’s garden, Oak Beach, Port Douglas, Qld
A little piece of native paradise in the north.
Anyone who’s driven from Cairns to Port Douglas knows that gorgeous stretch where the road hugs the coast, so close to the sea you can’t wait to get your bathers on. At Oak Beach the road swings inland for the last 10-minute run into Port, and that’s where John Sullivan has his little piece of paradise.
“It was a bright blue beach shack when we bought it four years ago,” says Sullivan, principal of Hortulus Landscape Design. “We’re on tank water and septic so it was always going to be a bit of a challenge, but it had some mature palms and eucalypts that give a sense of permanency and scale.”
The long, low bedroom wing, which he and his partner added to the house and its skillion-roofed deck, enhances the home’s mid-century vibe. Full height glass louvre windows are ideal for the tropics, admitting cool breezes from the adjacent pool and the sea beyond. The aesthetic is pared back, aided by a neutral colour scheme in both house and garden.
The jellybean swimming pool is original but the land originally sloped away from it. By building a 1.4m-high retaining wall, Sullivan not only created a generous level area but cleverly negated the need for separate pool fencing. Sitting on the deck or by the pool, the effect is of an infinity edge between garden and sea. The view is wonderful. “We get stunning sunrise and moonrise reflections on the water with incredible light off the mountains behind us,” Sullivan says.
He wanted to use unusual plants, especially natives from the Top End. “I’m fascinated by the lack of tropical native plants to use in landscaping,” he says. “There are so many same-same gardens around that it pushes me to try new things. I look at plants in the wild and wonder ‘Can I grow that?’”
An example is the vetiver grass (Chrysopogon elongatus) that fortuitously reaches just above the retaining wall so its dainty flower plumes waft in the breeze. He loves the effect of it set against the dark foliage of Casuarina ‘Cousin It’, which oozes over the wall. Exotics with white, fragrant flowers include Ixora odorata and Tahitian gardenia (Gardenia taitensis). After years of experimenting with different varieties, Sullivan found Lotus ‘White Dove’ is perfect for the large bowl that sits by the pool – if he repots it each year.
Below the pool he has planted hybrid grevilleas such as ‘Cooroora Cascade’ and ‘Golden Lyre’ that perform in the tropics and whose huge blooms attract many birds. The lawn of native Zoysia matrella, from a local turf grower, has exceeded expectations, even when watered with salty bore water.
“We can go three months without a drop of rain here,” says Sullivan. “In August and September it’s like autumn when everything drops its leaves. Two weeks later it all bursts into flower, then all the foliage comes back. It’s like having autumn and spring in one go. People who holiday in Cairns and Port Douglas in winter miss out on seeing that.”
Q&A
How should we manage our clumping bamboo? Do we cut them back or cut them at ground level? Can the cuttings be used as mulch? Jan Paulga, Canberra
You can hedge bamboos if they get too tall or wide. To limit the clumps’ spread, remove new shoots when they emerge but leave a few to mature to keep the clump going. Removing the largest new shoots promotes thinner, shorter stems. You can also thin the clumps Japanese-style by removing canes over three years old annually so the clumps stay fresh and uncongested. Shredded or chopped-up cuttings are fine as mulch.
I’ve had wonderful seedless fruit from my pawpaw tree but it’s getting too tall. Can I chop the top half above some new side shoots? Will these continue to grow sideways and not up? Patricia Cowley, South Perth
Pawpaw trees get too tall to harvest and can be short-lived, so cutting back the hollow trunk in spring or summer is a good way to rejuvenate plants. It’s ideal that you already have new shoots and they should grow upwards once you remove the main trunk. Cover the cut with a can or plastic container to keep water out.
Can I use casuarina needles as mulch around plants like camellias, vegetables and a box hedge? Alison Tomlin, Austinmer, NSW
Almost nothing grows under casuarinas or she-oaks, partly because of the thick root mass and leaf litter and partly due to allelopathy, where plants exude chemicals that suppress growth of other plants. Eucalypts, bottlebrush, walnuts and many conifers do this. As fallen needles age and compost the phytotoxins break down, making them suitable to use sparingly as mulch.
Send your questions to: helenyoungtwig@gmail.com or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. Website: helenyoung.com.au. The best question for March wins two bales of WhoFlungDung mulch, 8kg Gyganic citrus fertiliser, and 1 litre GOGO juice from Neutrog, worth $100.
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