Landscaping
Rays Retail Nursery has decided to take their expertise further by expanding into Landscaping. Our founder Christopher De Sousa is a graduate from Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute – a degree in agriculture provides him with a firm grasp of many aspects of plant and animal life. “If you understand the principles of science, everything else is application.” – a belief that has allowed Christopher to utilise his degree in agriculture to begin and grow Rays Retail Nursery into what it is today. With 4 years of experience in the industry he has the technical know-how, experience and artistic flare to get the job done. A vast and diverse network of suppliers and an extremely practical approach to projects places Rays Retail Nursery at a junction where affordability and practicality work in unison.
Our approach to landscaping
Being a Retail Nursery means our business lies in plant sales – the benefit to you? This means no ridiculous charges to your project. Our charges are limited to the consultation fee (if proposed project is accepted consultation fee is refunded), cost of the plants and the installation fee.
Step 1:
Contact
Contact us for an obligation-free consultation. We will come out and view your space. This includes an hour where we will be able to discuss the plans or desires of the landscape. We have a practical approach to landscaping and believe in landscaping with a purpose (view our list of Purposes). Whether it be for landscaping for attracting wildlife, indigenous landscaping or minimal maintenance; we have a solution for you.
Step 2:
Design
After we have confirmed a purpose and we have mapped out your area we will be able to issue a design. We try to keep this process as streamlined as possible for your convenience. Once the design has been accepted, we will require a deposit to reserve the stock. This deposit is dependent on the size of the project and other factors such as timeline.
Step 3:
Planting
We will confirm a date or dates for installation with you and when we have agreed on a time that suits us both we will get our team to install. We try to reduce costs as much as possible on installation by keeping our team as small as possible. This also reduces any issues we could have on site.
Landscaping with a Purpose
We believe in landscaping with an end-goal. A garden is an investment and besides aesthetics we can find a purpose for the garden. Browse our list of purposes and find what calls to you most. We can combine Purposes; for example, and indigenous garden that attracts wildlife or a low maintenance garden that creates privacy. Let us help you make the garden of your dreams.
INDIGENOUS
Rays Retail Nursery are pro-indigenous gardens. There is no easier way to garden by adding plants that have spent thousands of years adapting to our soil and climatic conditions. There is beauty and practicality in Indigenous planting. Indigenous gardens are usually water-wise and are great islands of biodiversity for wildlife. If you want to create an Indigenous Paradise, contact us today.
ATTRACTS WILDLIFE
Whether it be butterflies, bees or birds – we have the keys to attract wildlife to your garden. Humans have created so many ecological disasters over the centuries – it’s the least we can do. There are many ways to attract wildlife, plant selection is the most vital and with a few key species and some time we can turn your concrete jungle into a wildlife sanctuary.
LOW MAINTENANCE
Some of us want the beauty and tranquillity of a garden but just don’t have the time for all the pruning, weeding and mowing. We know how busy life can get, let us make gardening easier for you with a low-maintenance garden.
SUCCULENT
Water-wise succulents are a spectacular way to add permanent colour to your garden.
Unlike flowers that only bloom in certain seasons – succulents add reds, blues, purples, yellows and all colours of the rainbow to your garden throughout the year. Winter being an excellent time as the cold accentuates these colours. Let us design a succulent garden that leaves Picasso envious.
PRIVACY
Sometimes our neighbours know a bit too much about our lives. Whether you enjoy karaoke sessions while weeding or swimming in the buff, let us help you add some privacy to your home - screening out your neighbours is our speciality. The same way we add privacy to your home, we can also add noise buffers to help reduce sound pollution, whether it be a busy highway or a loud neighbour adding some noise buffers can help reduce your headache.
FOOD FOREST
Rays Retail Nursery are somewhat experts on fruit trees. Having sold 100’s of fruit trees over the years let us help you design a food forest or orchard of your own. No more Wednesdays sitting in queues buying fruit and veg, just walk outside and harvest the fruits of your labour in your own garden.
AESTHETICS
Of course, the most obvious reason why we garden. We all want something pretty to look at – allow us to design that pretty garden that catches your neighbours eyes and leaves them green with envy. A beautiful garden adds a sense of tranquillity and calmness to the property, and in this day and age we all need a safe place to centre ourselves.
INDOORSCAPING
The biggest department at Rays Retail Nursery is our vast collection of rare and common indoor plants. Allow us to curate your living space with the addition of beneficial plants to help relax and rejuvenate your space. Whether it be a single family home or a multi story office, let us help bring the jungle into your property.
Highlights from Our Landscaping Projects
The images below highlight some of our past landscaping projects. Each design was carefully crafted to create stunning, functional spaces tailored to our clients' unique visions and needs. Let these examples inspire your next project—imagine what we can create together!
WEX Offices
It’s a good thing to have a plant store as a neighbour. We have indoor-scaped 4 offices, and 2 cafes in the Woodstock Exchange Building. With expert advice and strategic placement of plants we have assisted in transforming a simple space into a warm and cozy environment.
Woodstock House
Our client reached out, looking for some advice for a very small space (5m x 1m) on the side of their home. The space was on the side of the home and was basically a 75cm deep drain. A external contractor was brought in to install decking to raise the ground level to match that of the house. Based on the limited space and the decking we decided to use some planters and trellis work to cover up the large empty wall. A large planter was sunk into the decking to allow for a searsia Pendulina to be planted to create a light atrium feel to the space. The jasmine has been given a kick start with specialty fertiliser and soil mix which will give it the strength to cover all the trellis work.
Boston House
Our client is a young couple who have a new-born bundle of joy. Both full time employed, a low maintenance garden was the solution for their space. We selected drought-tolerant indigenous hedging plants to fill all the empty space in the garden. Once established these hedges will require very little attention and will add the lush greenery we all desire in our yards. A few strategically placed larger trees were planted to provide some much needed shade and we’re sure the garden will be ready before the little one starts walking.
Head Office
Our personal property and experimental gardens has been a major aid in developing our preferred methods of landscaping. No better way to learn but through trial and error.
First pic: A grassland landscape was curated with our feline pets in mind. The lush grass keeps them entertained for hours on end. The large tree in the centre measures about 5,5m tall and was planted to provide much needed shade to the parking area.
Second pic: Rock Water Feature, carefully constructed to appear as natural as possible. Water features and similar small ponds require regular maintenance and cleaning but are worth the effort for the wildlife they attract.
Mature Tree Structure
To show our range of work, we have included a structure we built for our landscaping department. In fact, all of our greenhouses and structures on our property have been done by the Rays Retail Nursery team. No project too big or small.
This space of about 4m by 2m is used to support trees while they’re growing out and will be used in landscaping projects as needed.
Gumpoles of 3m anchored in the ground with pressure treated beams to secure the trees to. Ground covered in crusher-dust stone to give a flat surface to work with. The crusher dust stone will compact with time to form an almost concrete like floor.