Every time I step outside into nature I see design inspiration. Take a look at this incredible ficus tree and out crazy aerial roots. Or this one’s giant buttressed root system.

VERY HAPPY with the colours and shapes I could find!! They don’t seem to detract from, but rather complement each other’s appearance. Ask yourself, what is so great about this? THE COLOURS We have not too many colours altogether: purple, green, blue, red. You could say the punch of red made it an extended Analogous Contrast. I’ve attached a colour wheel and marked the colours I used with a green X, the red line marks that we’ve accidentally used more than half of the wheel, but i find it still works! Plenty of colours are repeating themselves, balancing the design nicely. The blackish purple repeats itself in the Mother of Millions (star-shaped boi up top) and the black-green aeoneum. I LOVE that the light green is the exact same in the aeoneum and and the walking iris (the simple green strap leaves) From that light green you have a soft transition to the same tone of a light blue, which is present in the flower’s frilly leaves and the mother of millions. I felt like I really needed the extension of range in colour when I grabbed an insane purple cabbage with lots of bloom on it (the whitish powder that you can easily rub off) YES VEGGIES CAN BE ORNAMENTALS TOO 😊 THE SHAPES The main shapes we have: straps and circles. Those two contrast perfectly! There are smaller and larger versions of each shape, as I’ve sketched out in Photo 3 If I was to add another shape it would look messy!! The flower fits so well because it’s a repetition of shape to the Aeoneum. Being the only red thing that still fits in there MAKES ME HAPPY. The purple cabbage has a bigger version of round leaves. The strap leaf boi cleanly contrasts all the other intricate shapes, so they’re not giving you a headache from looking at it. I’m quite happy with this design, but it’s only something very cheap. I know it there’s endless more potential. If I had better plants available (eg i would’ve bought a f-ton of the nicest stuff online or from marketplace) then this could’ve looked seriously mindblowing.

LOOK HOW IT POPS. So pleasing on the eye with many well-flowing textures and leaf shapes. Tastefully selected contrasts are THE SAUCE. Sure this setup can still use upgrades. But we used: Turquoise, Neon Green, Dark Red and Blips of Purple amongst Fresh Green - not too much (but a bit too little red) . The neon pops so hardcore in this fairyland!!!!!!!!! We see diamonds and round shapes, some rows of stripes surrounding the whole scenery. The neon green coleus looks like dragons wings! Comment down below what combinations of colours and shapes you find incredible!

Making any plant Micro can be an incredible boost for your design. Keep its pot extremely reduced or keep them in water and only give the tiniest amount of nutrients so they don’t get too big. (Eg 0.1x recommended amount) You could add tiny pots, hidden between bigger plants or on ricks, so those micro bois can unusually pop out. You can restrict many other plant’s growth too. Syngonium for example can be less pretty when it’s covering half your house! What would you like to experiment with?

I’m talking whole landscapes made from succulents and aloes! Since they are kind of “plug and play“ in the way you can just break branches and grow which makes them not just easy, but practical to get big specimens fast. The same applies with aloes! They’ll grow from a stem cutting. Even a pretty large aloe can be planted from a stem cutting. This allows you to have instant satisfaction. One day no aloe, next day a big ass mature specimen! How good is that?! On the other hand, aloes and succulents both need very little in terms of water or nutrients. So they are very maintenance free and always look good. Actually allot of succulents express more colour when they’re a bit hungry. Mixing exclusively succulents and aloes makes a wonderfull pairing. There are so very many varieties of aloes from small flat grassland aloes to massive tall tree like specimens so you can fill in all the dynamic spaces in your landscape. Succulents to come on so many varieties and can be grown in tiny spaces too! Both these varieties like being wedged between rocks. The rocks hold heat from the day and hold water in the soil by preventing it from evaporating. It just so happens that large rocks are the perfect compliment to your aloes and succulents. Don’t think flat! Think dynamic. Create undulating landscapes. Aloes often grow hanging off rock faces and succulents too. Why not mimic some of that dramatic vertical design in your garden!? Build up some ground, ad some big exiting rocks in complimentary colours to your chosen plant varieties then plant it densely with succulents starting with the smallest firsts and as the spaces start to fill, move onto your smaller aloes then the medium ones. The only exception is the really big ones need to go on first as they may need to be dug deep. Experiment and have fun! Co founder Warrick Pics Aloe-aloe.com.au Gardendesign.com Lotusland.org