The brief

After purchasing their first home, our clients decided they need to create a visually attractive street view that also provided security, privacy and wind protection. The property also required fencing to contain the ever-growing family.

The finished landscape needed to be low maintenance, provide seasonal interest, screen off undesirable neighbours and most importantly be completed to a tight budget.

The outcome

Working with the existing concrete and hard surfaces was key to keeping a lid on the tight budget, and as a result, the design focused on layout and soft landscaping.

Traditional styled timber fences with gates were added to the property to provide adequate security and positioned to shape the garden spaces and provide essential layering to the garden. The finished fences were painted to match the exterior house colours to create better symmetry between dwelling and landscape.

Privacy from the road is provided by a large Michelia pleached hedge which creates stunning seasonal interest and forms the top layer to the garden. Formal lines and further seasonal contrast are via a double hedge of star jasmine and fringe flower which also has a pop of colour against the dark green hedging.

The design is anchored with Norwegian maples at either end of the pleached hedge, the formal hedge lines are softened with relaxed textured plantings which provide further seasonal interest.

The overall landscape looks labour intensive, but the reality is, the layered hedging and relaxed plantings requires minimal work with our clients spending about an hour a month maintaining their slice of paradise.