Garden
To build an architect-designed home, prices range from about $2,000- $5,500 per square metre, and for volume homes it’s about $1,600 per square metre. Our projects cost around $1,000 per square metre, which quickly adds up. At Acre, an average 600-square-metre block costs around $200,000 to landscape, or around $350,000 with a pool. The days of spending $15,000 to get your garden landscaped are long gone.
The paving stones in the secluded seating area are spaced out amid the ground-cover plant, Vinca minor, to add to the lush feel of the garden. The lime trees along this wall are original – some of just a handful of plants that remained when the space was cleared. “They create a wonderful screen to hide the houses on the other side,” says Bernstein. The pompom grasses seen here and in the planters at the front of the lawn are Hakonechloa macra. The tall purple flowers are Verbena bonariensis. “I didn’t actually plant these,” says Bernstein. “They self-seeded, possibly from a neighbour’s garden, so they were a happy coincidence.” She suggested these purple outdoor chairs, which tone beautifully with the planting.
The patio and steps are laid with porcelain tiles, which was chosen to create a seamless indoor-outdoor look. “It was used for the floor of the library as well,” says Bernstein. Rather than white, she chose a very pale pink for the walls of this planter and the ones on either side, which is then echoed in the delicate purple and pink planting. “The owners love colour and this is a lovely soft pink,” she says. “I have to admit it was the second attempt. The first colour we chose, even though it seemed a beautiful soft pink on the swatch, ended up looking like bubble gum. That was a really good lesson to learn: go even paler than you think. This was the second attempt and it was spot-on.”
Unlike timber, aluminium decks do not require sanding, staining or painting. They also withstand stains from entertaining and spills, meaning you can spend more time relaxing on and enjoying your deck rather than maintaining it. “Aluminium decking is so low-maintenance that all it should need is a wash using a hose or high-pressure attachment twice a year with a pH neutral detergent to remove any stains from foot traffic, trees or wildlife,” says Anthony Fagan, director of Point to Point Carpentry & Joinery.
The office walls and ceiling are white panelled wood. Exposed reclaimed-oak beams provide some structural support, but they’re mostly decorative. “The office is simple and utilitarian,” she says. Built-ins and organised storage contribute to the clean, functional look. A local builder designed and installed the 3.6-metre-long floating pine desk. Floating shelves are made from MDF painted to match the room. Plain white binders and boxes store materials and office supplies for the firm. A pegboard wall holds architectural tools, and white filing cabinets offer additional storage. “The idea was to hide everything in the white storage wall,” says Mennes. A leaning ladder with wire trays holds the materials and paperwork for the firm’s current project. The flooring is bleached oak and does not have radiant heating. “We do have a little Panasonic heat and AC unit in the main office. We tend not to need it,” says Mennes. The new shed’s tight envelope and the radiant heating in the other rooms keep the whole space comfortable.
This view is from just in front of the bench and fire pit. To keep the lawns looking pristine, Maufe installed an automatic lawn-mowing system. It’s so clever,” she says. “It comes out once a day and takes off one millimetre, depending on the rainfall. It follows its own random pattern, so you don’t get lines across the grass. “It’s guided by wires beneath and around the edges of the lawn, so it’s best to design for this sort of technology at the outset,” she says, “though it can potentially be added retrospectively.”
Maufe designed another smaller circular lawn at the top of the shallow steps, adjacent to the accessible path, which can be seen on this plan. “This ‘satellite’ lawn is a more intimate space, somewhere it would be really nice to have a picnic,” says Maufe.
The warm-toned plants include orange tulips, Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’, Uncinia rubra ‘Everflame’, and Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’. The cooler-coloured sections include rosemary; lavender; Alchemilla mollis, and Nepeta racemosa.
The dropped garden beds in front of the lawn are an important detail; Maufe wanted planting that wouldn’t block the view of the rest of the garden from the house or patio. “The Corten steel allowed us to create planting at lawn level rather than above it, meaning you can see beyond it,” she says.
“We crisped up [the original lawn] and re-landscaped it,” says Maufe of the new area. “Within this slightly squiffy, kite-shaped garden, it anchors the design, then all the other features radiate out from that central point.”
‘Golden Goddess’ hedge bamboo (Bambusa multiplex ‘Golden Goddess’) is a particularly attractive yellow-stemmed clumping form that grows well in containers and can be maintained at 2.4 metres tall.
The soft, moss-like carpet of zoysia grass under the olive tree looks almost irresistible to touch.
The addition of a two-storey-high stainless-steel curtain that slides along the back edge of the deck is a theatrical element that allows the big room to feel more enclosed at meal times. The young family performs plays and has fun finetuning the garden’s atmosphere with the pull of the eye-catching curtain.
The creeping fig covers everything with greenery
Bates Landscape Stepping stones don’t need to follow the rules – they can be a bit wild A refreshing retreat A row of stepping stones, artfully laid out by [landscape architect] Tom with his signature cut-outs, leads to the pool area. A glass box containing a fish skeleton sits at one end of the moat between the pool and the lawn. It’s a sculptural feature that both functions as a pool fence and draws on the site’s zoological past. The modern pool sits right up against the tall boundary wall covered in Boston ivy, and features a snug sun deck. A remnant door from the old zoo was added to enhance the sense of intrigue of what lies beyond. A stream of water tinkles into the pool, amusing both the designer and the clients.
sydney landscaper michael bates The deliberately broken corner of the residence draws the garden inside We laid a series of sandstone kerbstones against the driveway, preserving the paths, corner borders and landings. Some extra sandstone was added to the driveway, infilled with stabilised decomposed granite. We used a special compound imported from the United States that promised flexibility while remaining rigid. It felt like the emperor’s new clothes at the time – but it has held up and has allowed roots to continue to grow underneath.
7. Quiet elegance A zinc table topped with a pot of succulents stands out like an elegant statue against a backdrop of olive trees, juniper and silvery coast rosemary (Westringia fruticosa) in this Los Angeles, USA garden by Studio William Hefner. Where other areas of the backyard may have more colour and activity, this planting vignette provides a peaceful place of visual rest.
5. Garden house Set within a shaded woodland garden carpeted in ferns, this screened-in garden house belongs to Massachusetts, USA-based landscape designer Hilarie Holdsworth. Designed as a spot for reading and relaxing, the garden house brings all of the comforts of being inside – soft cushions and blankets, screened sides to keep out bugs and a lamp overhead – to the serene setting of the garden.
2. Woodland path If you feel most at peace in natural settings, imagine taking a stroll through this New York woodland garden in the USA designed by Deborah Cerbone. Soft planting blocks of hosta, ferns and Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa sp.) form drifts on either side of a stone path, which winds its way through a mature woodland.
Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ was planted on this shadier side of the garden and adds height. A curved bed of deciduous grass, Stipa tenuissima, extends alongside it.
Pleached fig trees help to keep their growth under control while the raised canopy is very uniform. The light coloured trunks are accentuated to create nice geometric lines to suit the sophisticated, linear pool.
English box (Buxus sempervirens): Small pointed, dark green leaves great for general purpose plantings, pots and small topiary shapes. One of the slowest growing. Japanese box (Buxus microphylla var. japonica): The fastest and tallest growing of the readily available box varieties. Japanese box has bright emerald green leaves with a little inverted notch in the leaf tip (I like to use this as a reminder of Japanese slippers). Requires slightly more regular trimming than other varieties but can also be used for taller hedges and taller shapes. Is the best performer in warmer climates. Korean box (Buxus microphylla var. microphylla): A great variety of box that has been popular for low informal hedges as it does not necessarily require clipping, if you are happy with its fluffy rounded look. It has glossy green leaves for a lush look but can become yellowish in full sun conditions. Best variety for low light situations and useful for growing as a neat no fuss under storey planting beneath feature trees. Variegated English box (Buxus sempervirens ‘Variegata’): Similar to regular English Box but with a fine green and cream variegation. Great for using in partly shaded areas where co...
These tiny clipped step box hedges are used to break up the open paved area and create a nice cascading look that leads your eye to the peaceful pond below.
Buxus shaped tufts - look great
For the factory?
interesting division in the garden - could be a seated drop in leval
consider filling a stone basin with water and watching the birds enjoy a drink, or invest in a simple recirculating fountain for the relaxing sound of water.
This planting bed by Growsgreen Landscape Design in San Francisco, USA, features rosette-forming Echeveria ‘Perle von Nürnberg’, Breeze mat rush (Lomandra longifolia ‘LM300’), silver ‘Big Ears’ lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’) and ‘Elijah Blue’ blue fescue (Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’).
walls of draping silvery plant
glass protection
Raised bed with grass surround - perhaps at seat height
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