Originally a very tired garden and entrance to the house, the owners of the renovated bungalow wanted something to fully enjoy in their retirement, a place to sit and dine near the house, somewhere to sit in the evening sun for sun downers, a vegetable garden to enjoy the bounty of the earth, and a new driveway and planting to enhance the approach and appeal of the house they had so lovingly brought up to date.
The patio is kept near to the house with access from the kitchen for alfresco eating. The timber arbour around the patio gives the sense of a room, framing the view into the garden and linking in the formal pond at the corner. There is a path from the front of the house past this terrace and onto the gazebo within the garden. This being richly planted, the box cubes punctuating the path and giving a rhythm to the meander. Beyond the gazebo is a woodland area, shady and cool on a hot summer day, with a connecting path to the kitchen garden and back to the house again.
The mood board helps the client see what some of the aspects of the garden are intended to look like. They are not pictures of the finished work, but pictures that are close to the design intent. They help convey the idea in the designer’s mind so that the client can see and understand before they invest in the actual build.
This is a 3D view of the intended garden. It shows the formal pool, the path, the gazebo, and the woodland glade beyond. It gives a sense of the scale and the potential planting that on a 2D plan is difficult to convey.
How a garden is actually going to be built is almost as much work as coming up with the initial design in the first place. Often a designer will omit this element and leave it to the unfortunate and hopefully capable landscaper to work out. However there is a risk here in translating the concept into reality that you lose the design intent. As such, we prefer to do our own detailing, solving any problems before construction happens, thinking through each stage of the build and how each element will work with the other.
This is a detailed plan of the intended planting. Much time is invested to ensure plants that are suitable for the conditions are selected, and then how that composition of plants will work together and throughout the seasons. Good planting brings a garden to life, a joy of observing the ever-changing scene as the garden matures to achieve is true majesty. There are some who enjoy tending their own plants, but there are others who prefer to watch the gardener beaver away. Either way, it is this time to nurture that brings the ultimate rewards.
