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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Hot news, light pavers

MORE and more homes have large doors opening on to an outdoor area as an extension of the home. If this area is not given some thought, large paved areas can increase the heat in the home through reflected heat on to glass windows.

Dark paving absorbs and reflects more heat. Charcoal-coloured roof tiles are popular in today’s modern homes. However, it is said that these dark tiles can increase the temperature in the home by 5C-7C.

Combine this with charcoal-coloured pavers for the outdoor area and, perhaps, a bitumen drive or charcoal-coloured cement and the home becomes a hot box and air conditioning bills rise.

For these reasons, I always recommend a light-coloured paver for outdoor paving. An ideal size paver is 400mm x 400mm, which is easy to lay and will provide a stable area for a table and chairs as opposed to the small standard 230mm x 110mm paver.

Binks, our local paving company for the last 50 years, has an excellent range of outdoor paving. Its sandstone, grey and off-white range of coloured pavers will suit the colour scheme of most modern homes.

ILLUSTRATED here are two examples of outdoor paved areas.

The first is a garden in North Canberra with a patchy, mainly dead lawn after the drought. The brief was for a small lawn area, mainly for Paddy the dog, combined with a small paved area. The clients only wanted an area to fit a small table and chairs with sandstone-coloured pavers. Ideal for coffee and reading the paper on a Sunday morning. The home had an existing deck on its easterly side. A path of off-white pavers, set apart with pebbles between, leads to the side gate. Still plenty of garden space for their collection of roses. This use of space could easily be adapted for a small courtyard.

The second picture is the rear of a home in Jerrabomberra with a larger paved area opening out from French doors. It is surrounded by a low, 400mm wall, standard chair height, and perfect for seating when one has a party. The wall is topped with 400mm x 400mm sandstone pavers to match those on the ground.

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For an area such as this, I recommend a minimum of 3m x 3m to adequately provide for a good size table and chairs.

In the brick wall I installed small LED lights about 2m apart to provide soft night lighting. The plan is to install a timber pergola over the area with a deciduous climber such as Vitis coignetiae, ornamental grape or Parthenocissus quinquifolia, Virginia creeper providing natural summer shade.

THE Friends of the Botanic Gardens next talk is by Rosemary Purdie on “Wildflowers and Vegetation of Kamchatka, Far Eastern Russia”. Rosemary has visited this area of extinct volcanoes that, despite having ice and snow most of the year, is awash with floral colour in spring and summer. All welcome at the Gardens Theatrette, 12.30pm, on Thursday, April 5.

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In the garden

  • AUTUMN leaves may fall early this year with the unseasonal conditions. It is always recommended to spray fruit trees in spring at the “pink tip” stage for brown rot. Not usually mentioned in garden advice, but it is equally important to apply an autumn treatment with an organic spray such as Bordeaux or Kocide when 90 per cent of the leaves have fallen.
  • I RECOMMEND that you do not plant citrus in the ground at this time unless you are prepared to cover them every night for frost. Best to wait for spring.
  • IT is not too late to core lawns to aid aeration and water penetration.
  • CHECK out the now-flowering Osmanthus auriantacus at your local garden centre, for its stunning apricot fragrance.

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Cedric Bryant

Cedric Bryant

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