GROW AN ORNAMENTAL ORCHARD

An orchard is a collection of fruit trees, but who says it can’t be scattered across your pretty ornamental garden or add height and volume to your practical vegie patch!

1 when you’re against the wall...

Steep land presents many obstacles and creating tiers is one solution. Here’s an innovative way to fill a tall, blank, bland wall – put in an espaliered apple tree. You get its lacy frame in winter, its brilliant blossoms in spring, its floaty foliage in summer and its fruit in autumn. It’s a chance to get up close and personal with the seasons.

Long gone are the days of an ornamental garden in front and a veggie patch and orchard out the vast back. Unless you have acreage, the area around homes now may have room for just one of these types of garden, not all three. Or, if you enjoy the thrills of high-rise living, it may seem there’s no option at all – especially the orchard part. But if you replace nostalgia with a different mindset, you can have an orchard in your ornamental garden, veggie patch or balcony and even combine all three. Start planting now!

TRY THESE FOR YOUR GARDEN

You can’t get fruit without flowers, so a little orchard can be a key part of your ornamental beds – and here’s the result!

GRANNY SMITH APPLE

So crisp, so tangy, so firm and juicy – so Aussie!

PASSIONFRUIT

Such a welcome friend to lonely fences or poles.

AVOCADO

Smash every breakfast, lunch or dinner with this!

GRAPE

Drape your pergola in vines for fruit on the go.

LIME

Tart up your food with both the juice and leaves.

PEACH

A tiny blossom made this sweet, juicy beauty!