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From country to coastal to suburbia, these designer gardens caught our eye for seamlessly blending architecture, nature and our modern Australian lifestyle. They might just catch yours too…
Natural Curve Appeal
A spectacular coastal garden with curves in all the right places.
What we love…
The way the wet-edge pool meanders it’s way around the garden – almost in an embrace – setting the tone for the gentle curvature of the gravel path, the seated bench around the fire pit and the soft lines of the plant beds.
Why we love it…
Gentle twists and turns connecting the existing landscape filled with tall gum trees and architecture seamlessly, providing the perfect environment for mass plantings of native grasses, correa and coastal rosemary to strike a pose.
Landscape Design: Cos Design
Saltbush in the burbs
A stunning, award winning bio-diverse display from last year’s Melbourne Flower and Garden Show has been repurposed into an enchanting, multi-functional Geelong garden.
What we love…
The native plants selected surround, support, frame and guide to the functional aspects of the garden, from the pizza oven to the plunge pool, the storybook style garden shed and alfresco deck. Special mention to the rock seating that also creates a natural bird bath to keep feathered friends hydrated.
Why we love it…
It’s almost like the native plants are the picture frames that allow the functional aspects of the garden to pop. A natural way to showcase the architectural highlights of the garden.
Landscape Design: Phillip Withers
Floating away
A family pool – with a native plant palette as the brief – threw up some challenges thanks to a sloping site and a property that disappeared into the Mount Coot-tha National Park in Queensland.
What we love…
The use of indigenous and native plants, natural materials and coloured tiles to simulate a natural swimming hole environment on the edge of a National Park.
Why we love it….
Unstructured planting of natives selected helps the the pool blend in seamlessly with the neighbours and treetops of the National Park behind the property.
Landscape design: Dan Young Landscape Architect
The Grass (tree) is always greener on the other side
Moving water, a calm atmosphere and Xanthorrhoea glauca in abundance as dramatic statement pieces, this garden will bring down your heart rate by just looking at it.
What we love…
Strategic positioning of the Xanthorrhoea glauca that supports the pathway but also elevates the eye from the tranquil water.
Why we love it…
Multiple Grass Trees Xanthorrhoea glauca take on a starring role in a busy native garden of waterfalls, rockeries and large expanse of water. With so much happening in this garden, that’s not easy to do but Xanthorrhoea glauca nail the statement planting brief.
Landscape design: Phillip Johnson Landscapes
Flourishing at altitude
The higher the altitude, the harsher the environment but this native garden in NSW high country is flourishing after the owner switched from planting exotics to natives.
What we love…
Balance of cleared spaces and treed areas and the pops of colour from carefully selected flowering natives including callistemon, anigozanthos, leptospermum and banksia that brighten up the garden in all four seasons.
Why we love it…
It’s like wandering through a native plant rainbow with every colour of the spectrum represented – and we also love how hardy natives ensure gardens can bounce back so vibrantly after storms, hail and even snow.
Design: Owners, Fiona and Alex Johnson, photography by Fiona Johnson
