garden design
urban edge Photo Safferine Nydegger
With a little magic, says HELEN YOUNG, this featureless inner-city suburban backyard has become a multi-purpose garden sanctuary.
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The clothesline is attached to railway sleepers, with Lomandra ‘Tanika’ clumped at the base. An existing jacaranda provides sculptural form and gorgeous mauve flowers in November.
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ood garden designers are a bit like magicians. They can take a small back garden and make it look twice as big. In such a garden, boring transforms into exciting. What was originally a barren patch of grass and fences can be turned into a personal sanctuary. That’s the story with this garden in Sydney’s inner west, where designer Nicola Cameron of Pepo Landscape Design has worked her magic. Within a regular-sized backyard that was once featureless, hot and often windy, there’s now an enticing garden that includes an outdoor eating area, paths to explore, a private reading nook, stimulating plants and a productive vegie patch. 48 | gardening australia October 2010
Owners Jim Martin and Sue Hood wanted a distinctly Australian character for their garden, with muted colours and foliage texture rather than flowers. A clothesline, a kitchen garden and a private nook to sit and read in winter sun were part of the brief. The couple were also clear they wanted a garden that was waterwise and low maintenance. They wanted to spend as much time as possible enjoying it with their children, and minimal time working in it. “And they never wanted to mow a lawn again!” laughs Nicola. “In this design, Jim and Sue have a garden that not only works in well with their lifestyle but also has lots of natural elements and materials that take you away from the city.”
Photos Safferine Nydegger/Craig Wall
Clockwise from left Clumps of Carex ‘Frosted Curls’ sit among New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) and groundcover junipers. The path is made from sandstone flagging with Nepean pebbles between; Agave attenuata in flower; an unusual peg basket; to the left, the reading nook is circled by Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’, Westringia ‘Wynyabbie Gem’ and grey-leafed liquorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare), while to the right is the paved entertaining area.
A magnificent existing jacaranda tree spreads its shady canopy over an outdoor eating area. In November, its glorious mauve blossoms carpet the ground. To minimise the garden’s exposure to heat and wind, sculptural windbreaks in rusted steel were erected. The chalky red surfaces make a striking contrast against green foliage, and their positioning creates intimate spaces. Natural materials reinforce an organic feel throughout the garden. The sinuous curves of winding paths, made from locally sourced sandstone flagging, which is also used in seating areas, typifies this approach. Other elements add character to the design, including old railway sleepers used in the construction of
Nicola’s Top tips
If you want to transform your suburban garden, consider these ideas. ✚ Nicola Cameron runs Pepo Landscape Design and Management, based in South Coogee, Sydney. She says that city gardens are best designed with a view to creating an outdoor room for entertaining and relaxing. “A garden that connects with the indoors, is low maintenance and, lately, has an ‘edible’ element is very popular. This take on the kitchen garden is an exciting direction,” says Nicola. Some of the challenges, she acknowledges, are in screening neighbours and space restrictions: “Rarely can you plant a tree and allow it to reach its full potential.”
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Left Nicola’s pet pooch, Seb, suns himself in the entertaining area. The metal screens were made by blacksmith Franco Petrolo to Nicola’s design. Below The ‘before’ shot, featuring a Hills Hoist in a large swathe of lawn and an unadorned garden shed. In the new design, the owners’ requested to never mow a lawn again!
This is a garden of textures, where grasses sway in the breeze and sculptural plants make a bold statement.
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has returned to abundant production. Compost bins, made from recycled bricks, and a rainwater tank are cleverly integrated into the rear corner of the garden where they are most needed. Behind Nicola’s designs is a drive to produce sustainable gardens and, in this garden, she has succeeded. Except for the vegie patch, which is tended with collected rainwater, there is no need for watering. Plus, the use of water-permeable materials, such as wooden sleepers, bricks, stone and pebbles, allows rain to infiltrate soil and soak through surfaces, reducing stormwater run-off. GA
Finding a talented garden designer
✚ Nicola’s garden recently won first prize at the National Landscape Design Awards for 2010 held by the Australian Institute of Landscape Designers and Managers. You can find a professional designer in your area through the AILDM website at www.aildm.com.au, as well as planning tips for your project.
Photo Craig Wall
the windbreaks and also to support a raised vegie bed and clothesline. Small Nepean River pebbles fill in the stepping stone paths while bigger ones mulch the large area under the jacaranda. There is no lawn, in keeping with the brief, but mass-planted beds provide the necessary green balance. Mounding some of the beds is a clever device to create depth and provide free-draining soil conditions for native plants, such as waratah. This is a garden of textures, where grasses sway in the breeze and sculptural plants, such as agave and New Zealand flax, make bold statements. Green, silver and rust-coloured plants create a muted colour scheme, their impact heightened by planting them in groups, carpets and clumps. In the kitchen garden, a generous raised bed provides ideal growing conditions for vegetables and makes tending them easy. Herbs are grown in pots, artfully clustered and positioned to catch the sun. The rear fence is draped with a passionfruit vine, and a lime tree, once neglected,