6 minute read
Boutique Gardens
After a two-year hiatus, the Landscaping Victoria Boutique Gardens Competition returned to the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, reminding homeowners that beauty, and meaning, can come from small, carefully designed outdoor spaces.
We spoke with the designers about their winning garden designs.
By Alison Douglas Design
When Alison Douglas first designed her garden for MIFGS 2020, her intention was to create a contemporary twist on the traditional Zen Garden. Inspired by Zen principles of harmony and balance, Alison’s design draws from the five key elements - earth, water, fire, wind & sky.
“I wanted to create a space that looks contemporary, but is a peaceful, relaxing sanctuary where people can either enjoy the space in private, or come together with family and friends,” Alison explains.
A central sunken lounge, featuring limestone benches and a daybed form a central space to reconnect and rest, while the open fire which nurtures motivation and encourages transformation. A peaked lawn points to the sky and hovers over a reflective pond.
Alison explains that the plants were selected to celebrate a vibrant biodiversity. An established Nyssa sylvatica sits at the rear of the garden, providing shade for tree ferns and tropical evergreen shrubs. In the sunnier foreground, angular Correa hedges reference the angles created within the hard structures of the garden, whilst swathes of creeping saltbush and edible semi-succulent ground covers create a contrasting rhythm within the garden.
Bringing the garden to life in 2022, two years after it was originally intended, was an interesting challenge for Alison and the construction team. While some aspects of the garden were prefabricated, and had been placed into storage, other elements of the build were harder to source. “After coming out of lockdown, the experience of building the garden was quite overwhelming. Materials were in short supply, and the costs of building the garden had increased. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have simplified the design.”
Plants were also limited, with some of the plants that Alison had specified in the original design being no longer available. But despite the frustrations, Alison was able to see the silver lining.
“It forced me to go out and visit nurseries, to see what was available. In doing that I made new discoveries, and cemented relationships with suppliers and colleagues in the industry, which has been terrific,” Alison said.
* Alison's garden also features on the Front and Back cover of this edition!
Designed by Invidia Landscapes - Renee Reiter
A desire to show homeowners how they can achieve a functional entertaining space, even if they have a small courtyard, was the inspiration behind Renee Reiter’s design, ‘An Intimate Garden’.
“Homeowners are now really invested in their gardens and having an outdoor space they can enjoy with friends and family. As the size of blocks are decreasing, what is left to landscape has reduced in size, unless you’re lucky enough to buy a large block. I wanted to show the versatility of a courtyard sized garden and how it can be both beautiful and practical,” Renee explained.
Working with a dark curved steel structure, Renee wanted the variations of the Pietra Grigio limestone to become the central focus, accented by layers of lush green plantings. To avoid creating a space that felt cluttered and claustrophobic, Renee was deliberately restrained when it came to materials.
“I wanted to show homeowners how a 4.5x4.5m space can be versatile, and that they can achieve a functional entertaining space, even if they have a small courtyard.”
Joining the Boutique Gardens competition in late December 2021 meant that Renee faced the challenge of sourcing materials in time for the show.
“By the time I engaged my builder in mid-January, we had basically two months to pull everything together. I faced some challenges custom cutting my tiles, as we had no time for special orders. We spent two days cutting all the batons from Granite Works, and a day finishing the tumbled edges on around 600 tiles.
“The timeframe was tight, but the guys were amazing, putting in long days to get it done. We built as many elements as we could in the factory, so it was like a giant Lego set - even down to the crazy paving it was laid on a gridwork in 7 sections.”
Despite the chaos, Renee describes her Boutique Garden experience as a definite highlight.
“It was so enjoyable to work alongside other designers and, and meeting people in the industry that I have admired was such a buzz.
“Having the public take pictures of your garden and admire your work was a real highlight and the feedback I received was incredible. It was such a rewarding experience and has led to more design work. It’s addictive…I’m hooked!”
akas landscape architecture + NRTH landscapes
Initiating a conversation about climate change, and the future faced by urban society was the underlying message behind ‘Coming Soon’, a collaboration between akas landscape architecture and NRTH Landscapes.
The garden features the corner of a suburban weatherboard house, sinking into water, with neon sign perched above its roof, reading ‘Coming Soon’. A second neon sign reads 2.6 BILLION M2, representing the amount of forest which will be lost worldwide over the 5 days of MIFGS 2022 - the equivalent of 1 football field per second.
akas director, Anthony Sharples, explains:
“We wanted to shine a light on the climate change conversation by installing a visual of our potential future. ‘Coming Soon’ features the corner of a suburban house, sinking into water, which symbolises the collapse of societal order, driven by climate change and sea level rise.”
The installation explores what might happen to a habitat if humans were no longer present. Under the decaying ruins of suburban homes, plants have taken over. Common houseplants grow wild, reclaiming structures. Viola hederacea, Ajuga reptans, Lomandra longifolia, Miscanthus, Eremophila nivea and Hedychium garderianum are repeated throughout the garden, with overgrown Pyrus salicifolia, Eucalyptus cinerea and Tipuana tipu trees towering over the house.
According to Anthony, the plant palette was deliberately chosen to incorporate a combination of native, indigenous and exotic plants.
“If the landscape is left to its own devices, plants are going to form a new ecology. We’re going to have so many houseplant escapees, and so many different types of plants meshing together. All the plants that we’ve chosen, we’ve seen actually growing in abandoned gardens in Melbourne,” he said.
