Seeking to create a dreamy escape from the hustle and bustle of inner-city Melbourne, this family enlisted the help of Myles Broad of Eckersley Garden Architecture to help transform it into a relaxed oasis that took design cues from country-style gardens.
Complete with a generous pool, the garden is shielded from the home’s urban surrounds, courtesy of verdant green walls and a rich variety of plantings.
A bold-coloured, lacy canopy draws you from the terrace, past the pool, and into the garden. Vital to the successful makeover of the space was the replacement of tired and jarring red-brick paving with much more suitable bluestone pavers.
Centre stage Creating a striking canopy comes down to plant choice. Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ is ideal as a few side by side look great together and the leaves turn a beautiful golden colour in autumn with a soft paper-like quality.
Golden days “Bluestone is very Melbourne – we’re built on it – and the muted colour sits well in the garden,” explains landscape designer Myles Broad of Eckersley Garden Architecture, who took on the project. Here, bluestone pavers are broken up with mini mondo grass. More pavers come together to form the entertaining area that overlooks the swimming pool, echoing the natural tones scattered throughout the outdoor area as a whole.
Green screen Privacy was a key concern for the family of five. Additional 4.5-metre mature specimens complement existing pencil pines to create a dense screen close to the house, with the spacing becoming looser and more staggered as the garden recedes. Here, the screen is given extra texture with variegated pittosporum and a planting of blue-flowered Plectranthus ecklonii and Heliotropium arborescens ‘Lord Roberts’, commonly known as cherry pie for its sweet fragrance.
On a high Behind the pool, tall vertical slats disguise the garden-cum-pool shed, softened by falls of Virginia creeper. The owner, Cathy Quinn, is an artist and finds the transformed space so inspiring she has moved her studio into the garden, drawn by the colours, the light and the sense of privacy. “Even though we are so close to the city, I feel like I’m in the country when I’m in the garden,” says Cathy.
Stone cold Bluestone is a unifying element throughout the space, coping the pool, paving the terrace, and forming stepping stones through a tunnel of robinia through to the back. The planting palette contrasts the zingy lime of the robinias with splashes of shade-tolerant blues including Liriope muscari, cherry pie and plectranthus. A seasonal hit of white appears from the trumpets of the Philippine lily, Lilium philippinense.
Water views Virginia creeper provides summer shade and autumn colour over the entertaining area. Fine metal-rod fencing surrounds the pool. It seems counterintuitive, but the fence disappears into a garden more effectively than glass because it’s permeable, allowing plants and breezes to pass through. As a bonus, it also requires less cleaning – every splash leaves a mark on glass fencing. The pool terrace has become a focus for the family. “It’s not too formal – it’s welcoming and comfortable,” says Cathy.
Teaming up Create a green oasis with a line of identical trees. This space showcases a row of Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ planted flush with the wall to catch the light and create a textural feature. Mask the built elements with planting to exaggerate your yard’s lush feel.
See more from Myles at Eckersley Garden Architecture. To view Cathy’s art, visit Cathy Quinn Art.
