Bold architectural garden

Unique, striking, handsome and bold: a coastal garden is transformed from its origins as a neglected 'paddock'.

When Cheltenham residents Joan and Ev reached out for some garden landscape help with their “back paddock”, they had no real idea of what they wanted apart from reducing the sea of Kikuyu grass in their rear garden which they battled every few weeks armed with a lawn mower and edger.

They dreamed of being surrounded by flowering plants, colour and texture but their many attempts at getting a garden to flourish had become a series of expensive and frustrating failed experiments.

To make matters more complicated, the coastal site – their home was only a short drive from the beach – had mixed soil: sandy coastal soil endemic to the area and heavy sub-soil that had been dumped on the site during public works. Any plants destined for this site had to be able to cope with both types of soil in order to survive.

Starting from the site's issues and problems - views that needed screening; areas that needed summer shade; a cosy nook for reading and entertaining and an area for growing veggies - all guided what had to be included in the garden and the shape of what was to come.

Although Joan and Ev initially felt adrift in a sea of possibility where everything they had ever loved in nature was a possibility, it soon became clear that plants with architectural flower forms such as Proteas, Leucodendrons, Banksias and Hakeas were an underlying passion.

They also discovered they had a passion for grey and silver plants.

The pair were open to the idea of adding large curved perennial beds that would give reduce the lawn area and give the garden the feel of a botanic garden.

As this was all to be done in stages and on a tight budget, low maintenance was key and irrigation was ruled out, which made the tough and striking dry-climate plants they loved an ideal choice.

Joan and Ev wanted colour in both flower and foliage, texture and variety. The trick was to get a balance of all of these layered elements so that the garden was continuously in flower while contrasting foliage gave year-round interest.

Deep curved beds gave an organic and harmonious asymmetry to the garden while reducing the lawn, providing a secluded garden room and providing variations on the main planting theme. Silver and blue sections melted into grey and green foliage and a whimsical play on different spherical forms abounded with perfectly rounded Lomandras, a variety of Rosemary and Lavender that naturally grows in balls, along with Dwarf Japanese Black Pine so small and bristly it looked like a hedgehog.

And then there were the architectural flower forms: Proteas, Banksias, Leucodendrons and Buckinghamia: handsome, remarkable and wonderful as cut flowers.

Joan wanted an area for raised reclaimed veggie boxes and we surrounded these with steppers for easy access; these were hidden behind the taller rounded forms of lavender and rosemary.

Densely planted groundcovers meant the soil would be covered and protected at all times by living green mulch that outcompeted weeds, while deep root barriers meant the tough Kikuyu lawn would not invade the garden beds.

Screening plants to create privacy from their neighbours included a Mandarin and avocado trees. With careful choice of varieties and pollinators, three avocado varieties meant that the household would have a supply of avocados for eight months of the year.

About a year after we put in the Rear Garden, we were asked to design the Front. The idea was to have more flowers while still speaking to the Rear Garden to form a cohesive whole. The same themes were in play: silver and blue sections that melted into grey and green foliage, whimsical green spherical forms, flowering plants that naturally grew into balls and striking foliage. Bold floral forms remained a feature but a different variety was showcased and softened by African Daisies, Lavender, Salvias, Ornamental Alliums and a gorgeous soft pink Brugmansia.

Unique, striking, handsome and bold: the garden became a far cry from its origins as a neglected “paddock”.

REAR GARDEN

FRONT GARDEN