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Gardening in the Hills around Perth, Western Australia

© John Bottomley

What is it all about?

Is gardening a hard life? Is it a good way to relax? Is it really hard in Perth, Western Australia where rainfall is low and reaches a maximum of 900 mm (35 inches) in a good year?

The Perth Hills are about a half to three-quarter of an hour's drive east of Perth and are part of the Darling Range. The Darling Range is a scarp running almost parallel to the coast of Western Australia for 80 km (50 miles) north and 240 km (150 miles) south. It is the western edge of the great western plateau. The highest points are Mount Cooke, 582 metres (1900 feet), Mount Solus, 557 metres (1800 feet), and Mount Dale, 543 metres (1780 feet). so you can see the hills are not very high compared with the hills and mountains in America and Europe, or other mountainous regions of the world.

Of course there are those who live in the Hills who want to turn their garden into an English Garden, a Cottage Garden, a garden with a swimming pool (with little room for anything else), or a Mediterranean Garden. Some like to make their garden a microcosm of the bush, and plant native trees and shrubs. All these different styles are found around the Perth Hills. So, there is not so much a Hills Style as a people's style.

However, with the shortage of water over the last ten years or so - some years the rainfall has been as low as 660 mm (30 inches) - gardeners have been encouraged to plant more native gardens, keep the area under lawn to a minimum, and spread mulch and fertilizer around garden beds. Yes, gardens are looking more natural.

Late Autumn and Early Winter in the Hills

The ground around the Perth Hills is rock hard for most of the year, being in the main clay-based, and at this time of the year (May is autumn in the southern hemisphere) the soil gets softer. So, you will find gardeners spending time: digging, erecting retaining walls, and repairing or installing a drainage system. As well, plenty of rocks exist to use for landscaping, and granite and woodchips are easy to find to help with laying paths between flower beds.

Heavy Hill's soil can be improved, as far as texture is concerned, by blending sand in with heavy clay ground; and structure can be improved by adding organic matter or by the use of clay breakers like Gypsum.