Gardens of Delight
We are a unique boutique Landscape Design consultancy based in Melbourne, Australia, that takes sustainability seriously and helps people create the garden of their dreams.
Our smart designs work hard so that you don’t have to. We relish a challenge and the results speak for themselves: low-maintenance, sustainable havens full of birdsong, wildlife, blossom and harvest –beautiful spaces in which to unplug, relax and connect with the natural world. Our designs even save on household energy bills.
When it comes to designing gardens many people don’t know where to start – even if they are lifelong gardeners. Collaborating with a designer can take you out of the paralysis of indecision, making the creative envisioning journey a rewarding one, ensuring that the end result is a garden that delights you.
Our designs have a strong back end, using approaches from centuries old ideas to the latest science, including forest and soil ecology, biophilic design, biomimicry and Permaculture. We use these principles in our approach to solving site issues and problems, and this becomes the backbone of our beautiful low-maintenance landscapes: what we call smart hard-working designs that work with nature. For a case study on how a design can transform a landscape and drastically improve the liveability of a space, see here.
We love the low maintenance, productiveness and design flexibility of Food Forests, but we know they are not for everyone and have used other approaches for many of our clients. Our focus is on turning a client’s dreams into a garden they love with sustainability and liveability always front of mind. A garden needs to form its own ecology in order to create the many low-maintenance benefits of a self-sustaining system but a client must also enjoy their landscape – the garden should entice them out of the house and enhance their lives.
Founded by Landscape Designer and writer Yvonne Pecujac, we believe in creating beautiful sustainable gardens that nourish both people and wildlife.
Yvonne has a Masters of Urban Horticulture from Burnley (Melbourne University), a Permaculture Design Certificate and is a member of LDI. She sits on several advisory boards and writes about the environment.
A garden that could be taken directly from a Tolkien novel, Gardens of Delight has created an edible Eden. When first walking into this outdoor oasis I felt a calm wash over me: life is bountiful and abundant in this garden. I cannot deny the wonderful energy that is cultivated in this garden along with being created with complete sustainability in mind.
– Demitria Pates, Chicago
I have worked with Yvonne on various design projects, she is a powerhouse! She is passionate, overflowing with ideas and has an absolute wealth of plant knowledge. She uses a down to earth approach and an eye for detail to create wonderful, productive gardens.
– Tessa Wallace, East St Kilda
I don't know where she hides her magic wand, but I have seen Yvonne transform – in three months – a dry, rock-hard weedy slope into a lush, productive multiple-layer food garden (with big fat shiny leaves on everything) that looks like it had been established for three years. And this is with no chemicals, commercial fertilisers or hand watering. Just great design and working with nature.
– Teaine O’Brian, Mill Park
We've been delighted with Yvonne's design and garden advice for our food-forest in a tiny suburban place. She has put in so much effort from the tiniest details to the greatest, from advising us at every turn in terms of landscaping, to sourcing plants and materials, to giving us much needed pep talks when our spirits flagged and it all seemed much too hard. Achieving all this despite lockdowns and restrictions has been a miracle. Our heartfelt gratitude. Thank you. Just. Thank you.
The garden really does look gorgeous. Wow! We honestly couldn’t be happier.
– Anke MacLean, Dandenong
In any area of life, it’s rare to find something that exceeds your expectations, but Gardens of Delight do this by going out of their way to create wonderful gardens. They are not only passionate and creative but knowledgeable, hard working and get the details right. I wish them all the best in the future.
– Denese Carter, Maribyrnong
Many designers just want to give ‘their’ stuff. It is quite a different thing to discover what others really want and like, then to put your own ego and preferences aside and put all your knowledge, skills, and experience to work in service of the other. And to add to it with things people don’t even know they would like until you have posed the questions or made the observations.
Yvonne is genuinely interested in others. She knows how to ask and to listen. She takes time to get to know people and to support them to work out what it is they like and want. It means she will deliver to people something that really satisfies them at a deep level and meets their inner needs.
– Jane Evans, Ballarat
Yvonne provides a very thorough and very personalised service to ensure the design she creates is a perfect fit for the client. I've thoroughly enjoyed the 'discovery' process of evolving the design of our garden, balancing all our ideas with creativity, knowledge and expertise.
– Andrew MacLean, Dandenong
Gardens of Delight has been a delight to work with. We had no clear idea of what we wanted when we started the process but Yvonne guided us into an exploration of local gardens, sent us photographs as ideas and took us on excursions to nurseries to see and touch the plants themselves. It was an unfolding process and has resulted in a garden design that fits the dream we didn’t know we already held in our subconscious. I would highly recommend Gardens of Delight.
– Joan Beveridge, Cheltenham
I highly recommend Yvonne to anyone who wants a truly individual and personal garden. While being sensitive to the client’s needs and wants, I think it would be difficult to find anyone as expert with the “nature” of all things to do with beautiful landscapes, as well as so empathic and creative with design.
I trusted Yvonne entirely and it has been borne out to be well founded.
My garden is now my “delight” and is very personal to me and my childhood – a “hidden” garden with tropical influences and Moroccan/Tuscan hardscaping:
totally on the money for me. It is early days as my plants are young, but they are already thriving and I can see the vision “growing” before my eyes. The design makes the rear garden feel much larger than a courtyard. It feels like I am surrounded by nature and the garden is gorgeous and getting better all the time.
– Bronwyn Anderson, Princes Hill
