A Small Garden Transformed With Smart Zoning and Layered Planting
See how a landscape architect maximised the potential of his compact garden with out-of-the-box thinking
Georgia Madden
6 November 2021
When it came to his own small backyard, landscape architect Ben Scott of Ben Scott Garden Design pulled out all the stops to create a space that not only serves multiple functions, but is also a joy to spend time in all year round. Here’s exactly how he did it.
Garden at a GlanceLandscape architect and commentator: Ben Scott of Ben Scott Garden Design
Location: Hawthorn, Victoria
Description: A rear garden off a contemporary extension of a 1870s Victorian brick home that includes an alfresco space, pool and deck. The new contemporary wing was designed by Matt Gibson Architecture + Design and was added to orientate the house to the north.
Who lives here: My wife and I with our two daughters (eight and 10 years old)
Garden/courtyard size: Around 115 square metres
Budget: About $200,000 for the garden and pool
Location: Hawthorn, Victoria
Description: A rear garden off a contemporary extension of a 1870s Victorian brick home that includes an alfresco space, pool and deck. The new contemporary wing was designed by Matt Gibson Architecture + Design and was added to orientate the house to the north.
Who lives here: My wife and I with our two daughters (eight and 10 years old)
Garden/courtyard size: Around 115 square metres
Budget: About $200,000 for the garden and pool
The garden plan after works
Brief
We wanted a swimming pool for our family to use including a pool deck for lounging, an alfresco space for relaxing and entertaining, screening planting along the boundaries, and a seamless feel with the house providing a verdant outlook.
How did you want to use the space?
Swimming, lounging by the pool, relaxing in the alfresco area by an outdoor fireplace in the warmer months and barbecuing. The space also needed to be visually exciting from the interior.
What was it like originally?
A blank canvas. Everything here is new.
Where did the $200,000 budget go?
Around 60 percent of it went on the pool and 40 percent on the landscaping.
Is it time for a garden makeover? Find a local landscape architect or designer on Houzz
Brief
We wanted a swimming pool for our family to use including a pool deck for lounging, an alfresco space for relaxing and entertaining, screening planting along the boundaries, and a seamless feel with the house providing a verdant outlook.
How did you want to use the space?
Swimming, lounging by the pool, relaxing in the alfresco area by an outdoor fireplace in the warmer months and barbecuing. The space also needed to be visually exciting from the interior.
What was it like originally?
A blank canvas. Everything here is new.
Where did the $200,000 budget go?
Around 60 percent of it went on the pool and 40 percent on the landscaping.
Is it time for a garden makeover? Find a local landscape architect or designer on Houzz
What was your thinking behind the new design?
As a large section of the rear extension opens right up to the garden, the design of the pool was critical to ensure we didn’t have a traditional pool fence in front of the house, which would have felt closed-in and disjointed.
I designed a raised swimming pool with an infinity edge whereby the pool wall conforms to pool-fence standard. Similarly, the steel planter box and limestone-clad planter box also conform as a pool fence, so the design of the pool alleviates the need for a traditional pool fence.
As a result, the pool is essentially a giant water feature for the house, providing a tranquil outlook.
As a large section of the rear extension opens right up to the garden, the design of the pool was critical to ensure we didn’t have a traditional pool fence in front of the house, which would have felt closed-in and disjointed.
I designed a raised swimming pool with an infinity edge whereby the pool wall conforms to pool-fence standard. Similarly, the steel planter box and limestone-clad planter box also conform as a pool fence, so the design of the pool alleviates the need for a traditional pool fence.
As a result, the pool is essentially a giant water feature for the house, providing a tranquil outlook.
I decided on a lovely dark-green tile for the pool, which results in a pool colour that changes with the light. When the sun is out the pool has a lovely natural turquoise colour, whereas when it is overcast the water is like a reflection pool. The raised pool also means people can swim up to the edge of the pool and interact with people beside them in either the alfresco area or inside the house. The pool deck allows another space to sit and gets the western sun.
The alfresco space has a strong connection to the architecture with an in-situ concrete fireplace designed by the architect with a pergola beam that wraps around it. Beside it is a built-in concrete bench with a barbecue and firewood stack below.
A Tait outdoor sofa setting is located in this space for relaxed living. The Virginia creeper climber will eventually grow above this space on tensioned wires.
The alfresco space has a strong connection to the architecture with an in-situ concrete fireplace designed by the architect with a pergola beam that wraps around it. Beside it is a built-in concrete bench with a barbecue and firewood stack below.
A Tait outdoor sofa setting is located in this space for relaxed living. The Virginia creeper climber will eventually grow above this space on tensioned wires.
What are the pavers made from?
The stepping stone pavers are a natural stone (Alba from Better Exteriors). The paving to the alfresco area, the pool coping (the capping or edging on the walls) and planter box cladding is Wyndam Limestone from Eco Outdoor.
Why did you decide to add ground cover around the pavers?
To get as much greenery into the space as possible. I used Korean velvet grass here, which has a wonderful sculptural form and doesn’t need mowing (it’s a no-mow grass).
The stepping stone pavers are a natural stone (Alba from Better Exteriors). The paving to the alfresco area, the pool coping (the capping or edging on the walls) and planter box cladding is Wyndam Limestone from Eco Outdoor.
Why did you decide to add ground cover around the pavers?
To get as much greenery into the space as possible. I used Korean velvet grass here, which has a wonderful sculptural form and doesn’t need mowing (it’s a no-mow grass).
How did you design features to perform a double duty?
The raised planter box beside the pool conforms as a pool fence. It also conceals the pool gate that is tucked behind for access up to the pool deck.
A spillover planting will eventually cascade down the planter wall to soften it. The planter box is at a height on the pool deck side so it can double as extra seating.
Browse more images of stunning Australian swimming pools on Houzz
The raised planter box beside the pool conforms as a pool fence. It also conceals the pool gate that is tucked behind for access up to the pool deck.
A spillover planting will eventually cascade down the planter wall to soften it. The planter box is at a height on the pool deck side so it can double as extra seating.
Browse more images of stunning Australian swimming pools on Houzz
Key plants used
- Weeping lilly pilly (Waterhousea floribunda) is the main boundary hedge along the pool to provide lush evergreen screening.
- Backyard bliss (Syzygium) used as the hedge along the back of the pool deck, providing lush evergreen screening in a very narrow garden bed.
- Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) behind the outdoor fireplace will eventually grow up and over the alfresco area, providing further greenery to the space and summer shade. Being deciduous, it will also provide autumn colour and allow winter light into the space.
- Cousin It (Casuarina) in the built-in planter box to cascade over the sides.
- Korean velvet grass as ground cover between the pavers.
- Little Pal (Lomandra) and Nafray (Pennisetum) around the pool moat to soften the view into the moat and add greenery.
- Silver falls (Dichondra) in the steel planter box beside the pool (which conforms as a pool fence).
- Architectural planting along the pathway includes golden barrel cactus, and flapjacks and Myers asparagus fern.
- Mandevilla climber grows on the webforge mesh panel to soften it.
Your turn
Which idea would you steal here? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images for inspiration, like this story and join the conversation.
More
Want more on greenery? Take a look at this story: 3 Hottest Indoor Plants for 2021… And How to Make Them Thrive
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This is the first gorgeous above-ground pool I have ever seen. Beautiful and very thoughtfully done.
Oh my gosh this is perfection! So beautifully done!
While this pool technically complies with fencing regulations it wouldn’t stop our son when he was young. He was an excellent and innovative climber. When our pool was built the back of the house served as the pool ‘ fence’ and passed Council inspection, however, as a former competitive swimmer with a life saving bronze medallion there is no way we were going to use it as our pool barrier when we had our young son. We erected a high pool fence with glass in front of the house so as to still provide a great view of the garden and water and a sense of relaxation and while the Victorian regulations specified 1.2 m high we increased that to 1.5 m high to be safer. Our son was an inveterate climber and so creative! He was also an escape artist rivalling Houdini. He was also brilliant at creating ‘forts’ with large boxes and stacking things so easy to drag things and climb up on them and over. He also loved water and was drawn to it like many children and it was always a battle to get him out of the water. Minimum standards weren’t relevant for him and that is what they are: minimum only. Our son was not ‘minimum’ or standard by any means and quality and safety for our family goes beyond beauty. Of course, he attended swimming lessons since he was a baby and quickly became a strong swimmer which provided an extra layer of safety. In the pool shown here I could immediately envision our young son either dragging outdoor furniture along to go over the gate or putting a pool noodle or some other equipment or furniture across the gap around the pool and clambering over. I think the pool designer suffered from a lack of imagination or exposure to adventurous children. While close supervision of children around water is also required it only takes a few seconds for a tragedy to happen. I know of a prominent politician’s family who nearly had such a tragedy except for the quick thinking of a tradie working nearby who pulled the child out. The mother was only briefly distracted changing her other child’s nappy and there are so many other similar stories in our community that make the NSW regulations appear safer.