Country retreat

A young family needed a garden where their posse of adventurous young boys could play and explore.

When Deb and Gary approached us to do a Masterplan for their 3ha Gisborne property they were a bit unsure of what they wanted. Maybe some fruit trees and definitely a frog pond. They knew they didn’t like formality and wanted a loose, relaxed feel to the property and anything that supported the mob of kangaroos and other wildlife including the maples they hand fed were welcome.

Now they have a long driveway grove of Lemon-Scented Gums, an architectural shelter belt protecting the house from the prevailing wind, a glasshouse with deciduous trees for summer shade, an extensive Orchard built on swales, a chicken and compost area, raised veggie beds, commercial garlic beds, perimeter plantings of commercial crops, nut trees, a crazy paving terrace overlooking an ornamental lake, feature trees, a white Correa hedge and four large areas of perennial beds featuring white scented plants.

THE BRIEF

Although large, the site had been scalped in the past and had no topsoil so most trees failed to thrive. The sloping block had definite stormwater runoff paths. The house was lashed by the prevailing South-West wind and badly needed sheltering. The Western side heated up on hot Summer days, the owners fought a daily battle against weeds encroaching on the existing garden beds, watering the vast collection of potted plants mostly destined for revegetation and lovingly hand weeding large areas of nNative lawns of Wallaby Grass – literally taking up backbreaking hours each day. They were crying out for a garden that was low maintenance and enjoyable.

They loved a frog pond they had created but it was a fair way from the house and couldn’t be seen, they had a grape covered porch from which they had a glorious view of mountains in the distance, they were slowly creating a dense screen of indigenous Melaleucas around the front and side of the property as a privacy screen and wind break.

THE DESIGN

Working with Deb and Gary to discover what they wanted was the …

Over a few site visits, ideas began to take shape as they admitted to liking sustainability they liked the idea of a low-maintenance orchard, some chickens, using existing runoff, xxxx

They were committed to the existing plantings on the site so any design had to work around that.

We started from site problems wrapping the house in the shelter belt and made these trees mostly native and boldly architectural. We added a long driveway grove to provide additional wind protection and to conceal the house so that visitors driving up could catch glimpses of native lawns but only get a full reveal of the residence at the end of the driveway.

We added tall feature trees to create silhouettes against the sky line, raising the height of plantings.

An orchard in the path of runoff to get the benefit of free watering was created on a downhill slope on swales to capture and slow the stormwater, allowing it to percolate into the soil rather than run over the slope and cause erosion. Long rows were planted with low-maintenance trees and fruiting shrubs. Small varieties were used to keep pruning to a minimum, and fruiting season was extended with the use of early, mid and late fruiting varieties. Fruit trees included plum, apple, banana, crabapple, quince xxx along with varieties of blueberries. Underplanting was a thick grown cover of lucerne, which grows for sever years, adds nitrogen to the soil and can provide additional much through a chop and drop method.

A chicken house and wide bays designed for a 18-day hot compost allowed runoff to flow through the compost and carry nutrients downhill.

The orchard beds were prepared over three seasons through a sheet composting method using paper, cardboard, straw, manure, green waste and food waste and planted with green manure plants.

A walkthrough glasshouse made from reclaimed windows that could be accessed from either end would house the collection of potted plants and water through overhead sprinklers set on a timer - an element that along would reclaim hours of hand watering each day through Summer.

Raised veggie beds would be irrigated and two large bested circular beds were earmarked for a commercial crop of garlic.

These utilitarian areas lay behind a large existing order of Juniper hedge that kept them out of sight.

What was in sight was beds of white perennials framing the Juniper hedge punctuated by a central axis path with a bird bath ringed by purple Hidcote Lavender.

We created a crazy paving terrace overlooking an ornamental lake where frogs could sing amid the white aquatic plants, framed by a lakeside white planting and curved bench. Shady oaks xxx

The front, side and rear of the house were given large garden beds featuring plants with white flowers and plants that naturally grew into mounds and perfectly rounded shapes punctuated with grasses and white gauria that moved with the slightest whisper of wind.








Taking cues from the plants the family loved, we designed a low-maintenance Native Rainforest full of flower, scent and culinary plants that gave the garden a sense of lush enclosure and privacy, and shaded the house from the hot Summer sun. No pruning required.

An important part of the brief involved engaging the boys. On this steep block, we turned to water. Ponds and billabongs are fantastic for children – this is Nature Play at its best – with a fascinating array of plant and aquatic life including fish, frogs and tadpoles, lizards and dragonflies. We turned the entire front garden into a large billabong that could only be crossed by stepping stones – home to frogs, aquatic plants, water snails and a solar fountain fed by rainwater from the house roof. The billabong fed into a dry creek bed that ran down the side of the house and collected into a lake at the bottom of the garden with its own jetty, sandy beach, fire pit for cookouts and benches for conversing, day dreaming or gazing at the stars.

Rainwater collected from the enormous roof area – 26,000L – was more than enough for the entire household and garden. This was stored in bladders under the new wraparound timber deck, which was built as a series of billowing curves to create a more rounded feeling to the property, giving it a less angular feel and allowing it to sit in the landscape more organically.

The steeply sloping back garden was terraced to create a series of functional areas – the space outside the house for lazy breakfasts at the weekend and entertaining on the deck – the middle terrace with open areas for playing covered in long soft native Wallaby Grass (Austrodanthonia racemosa), while the bottom terrace was reserved for the lake, which was stocked with fish, water snails and a different suite of aquatic plants from the front garden. A zip line from the house above landed the boys safely on to a sandy beach. Nearby, a fire pit with comfortable benches was ideal for cookouts on warm summer nights.

The dry creek bed was planted with elegant native Knobby Club-Rush (Ficinia nodosa) and and ran from the top billabong to the lake below, flowing down each terrace, creating waterfalls during heavy rainfall.

Benches around the garden beneath shady trees created places to stop and rest, read and reset.

The edible Native Rainforest provided habitat for wildlife, especially native birds, while tall perimeter trees gave a sense of enclosure and privacy. We added shady eaves around the house and deck with deciduous vines to screen the harsh summer sun and allow winter sun, ensuring the hot west-facing sides of the house was shaded and cool during summer. The Native Rainforest trees provided tea, nuts, spices, fruit and flowers, thanks to a wide variety of trees including Macadamia (Macadamia tetraphylla), Lemon Myrtle (Backhousia citriodora), Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata), the native citrus White Aspen (Acronychia oblongifolia) and Native Tamarind (Diploglottis australis). And, needless to say, no pruning needed.

Creating a true low-maintenance garden meant replacing all existing lawn – which had turned to bare muddy patches in Winter – with native grass in some areas while in other areas, including the driveway, with granitic sand set with sunken pier timbers. Keeping the site free of hard paving meant the dry creek bed could function like a rain garden with all rain falling on the site able to penetrate the soil, adding to the lushness and ongoing low-cost of the garden.

The rear wraparound porch, the front porch and the driveway pier timbers were all hard-wearing Ironbark timber that were left to weather to a soft silvery grey amid the golden granitic sand and handsome tan and rust mudstone.

The result was a lush, private garden full of different areas that could provide spaces for the adults to relax and entertain with plenty of areas for the boys to play, explore and have adventures in – spaces that could grow with the young family.