Backyard wonderlands: Explore 25 of SA’s most astonishing gardens

Looking for some backyard inspiration? Take a tour of our state’s most astonishing yards as chosen and ranked by our real estate experts and gardening guru Sophie Thomson.

Passionate gardener Brenton Roberts with his wife Libby and children Billy, Maya and Lachlan, and dog Thorby at their Aldgate property, which appears at number three on our list. Picture: Brenton Edwards

South Australians have always loved their gardens and backyards but they’ve never been more appreciated than in the wake of Covid-19.

Demand for green space and its wellbeing benefits skyrocketed after the country’s first major lockdown and hasn’t eased since.

So with this in mind and the warmer weather that comes with spring encouraging more people to get out in the garden, we’ve found 25 SA homes with what we think have the best gardens.

Do you agree with us?

25. Glen Osmond

A garden with an epic view.

Simple yet effective – that’s the best way to describe this hillside home’s garden.

It’s low maintenance with mostly trees and shrubs carefully placed to frame the impressive home known as Plane Tree House, while a large tree forms the centrepiece of the outdoor entertainment area.

It just goes to show your garden doesn’t need to be filled with multiple types of flowers and plants to make a statement.

It’s simple yet effective. Picture: realestate.com.au

Even the shower has a garden view. Picture: realestate.com.au

24. Upper Sturt

Fancy a pond in your backyard? Picture: realestate.com.au

Meandering paths, a colourful array of trees, shrubs and flowers, as well as ponds and a gazebo covered in creepers, this garden is a green thumb’s dream.

For years this home’s backyard – named Windspiel Garden, which translates from German to ‘wind play’ or ‘wind chime’ – has featured as part of the Open Gardens SA program.

One of its standout features is a quaint wooden cubby house wrapped around a tree trunk with gothic-style windows and a matching door.

It has a cubby house that looks like it’s straight out of a storybook. Picture: realestate.com.au

Enjoy watching the world go by surrounded by greenery. Picture: realestate.com.au

23. Maitland

Organised and tidy is how this garden operates. Picture: realestate.com.au

Everything you could want and more forms part of this Yorke Peninsula home’s backyard garden.

Landscaped to perfection, it features a range of drought tolerant shrubs, flowers, fruit trees and raised garden beds, as well as a pergola, fire pit area, fish cleaning shed and about 5000 litres of rainwater storage.

You’d end up spending more time in the backyard than inside the three-bedroom house.

It also has a fire pit area. Marshmallows anyone? Picture: realestate.com.au

There’s plenty of greenery to be seen despite there being no grass. Picture: realestate.com.au

22. Westbourne Park

There’s a lot to look at in this garden. Picture: Ouwens Casserly Real Estate

Stone paths weaving their way between plants, shrubs and trees, and feature lighting to ensure it looks its best at night characterise this award-winning waterwise garden.

Stretching across both the front and backyards, it sets a picturesque scene for the 1925 extended Bungalow.

Just imagine swinging open those back doors and taking in the view while working from home.

It sets a picturesque scene for the home. Picture: Ouwens Casserly Real Estate

This property has a fire pit too. Picture: Ouwens Casserly Real Estate

21. Macdonald Park

The perfect spot to stargaze. Picture: realestate.com.au

It might not be the kind of garden you’d expect to see on a list like this but that’s exactly why we decided to include it.

Hidden among the tamed jungle of trees and shrubs is an outdoor entertainment area draped in fairy lights and a swing-like wooden structure perfect for kicking back and relaxing.

What better spot than in the garden to entertain guests or curl up with a warm rug and admire the night sky?

Enjoy dinner and the garden under the stars and fairy lights. Picture: realestate.com.au

It features mostly native plants. Picture: realestate.com.au

20. Wattle Flat

Now that’s picture perfect. Picture: Harris Real Estate

From native trees to manicured hedges, this home’s garden rolls with its 5.05ha hilly landscape.

One of its highlights is an outdoor dining area hidden in the garden, which is framed by a rustic wooden pergola decorated with fairy lights.

The best part is, while the garden is lush with greenery, it doesn’t obscure the home’s panoramic ocean views.

Imagine having breakfast, lunch and dinner here. Picture: realestate.com.au

Check out that view. Picture: Harris Real Estate

19. Stirling

Shrubs, trees and flowers surround this home. Picture: realestate.com.au

Picture-perfect professionally landscaped gardens frame this edgy three-storey Adelaide Hills residence.

While carefully arranged, it has a large lawn area in the backyard, providing plenty of space for pets and children to play, as well as a bore-fed automatic watering system.

A large chook pen in the backyard is also a highlight.

It’s the same story in the backyard. Picture: realestate.com.au

You can have pet chickens too. Picture: realestate.com.au

18. Normanville

This garden offers a colourful spread. Picture: realestate.com.au

Nestled among the colourful spread of plants and trees that make up this residence’s landscaped garden is a secret hut dreams are made of.

Follow a paved path flanked by gardens on either side down from the pool area to access the hidden hut.

Ideal for entertaining or the perfect private and peaceful place to wind down, there’s arguably no better place to be on the property.

What’s hidden in this garden? Picture: realestate.com.au

Hide away from the world in the garden. Picture: realestate.com.au

17. Clare

Wouldn’t this property be perfect in spring with all those flowers?

This is one of gardening expert Sophie Thomson’s favourite gardens: the ever-so-pretty Station Master’s House at Clare.

It is also part of the Open Gardens SA program, and open next weekend (November 13 to 14), so take a drive to Clare and visit this old-fashioned garden.

It is multi-layered and cottagey in style, there are leafy deciduous trees, shrubs, Pierre de Ronsard roses, perennials, iris and seasonal annuals, a productive garden of herbs, vegetables, several fruit trees and a vine-covered pergola.

There are flowers everywhere!

There are so many flowers you can barely see the house.

16. Beaumont

Now that’s a hedge.

From this street at Beaumont, an immaculate Cypress hedge follows the perimeter, carefully concealing the three-storey mansion on the other side, allowing for perfect seclusion.

The landscaping is a stroke of genius with a series of hedges of different heights, all trimmed to sharp shapes, while sustainable feature plantings include Canary Island date palms.

Hard landscaping is a dominant feature that creates clean lines and a Hollywood Hills vibe that works so well on this steep hillside block. Plus there’s a cool pool.

This property’s garden is manicured to perfection.

Parts of the garden can be seen throughout the home.

15. Tipsy Hill

The perfect backdrop for Instagram photos maybe?

South Australia’s top gardens list wouldn’t be complete without one that has a vineyard.

Aptly named Tipsy Hill, designed 20 years ago by the landscape gardener Pam Hailstone for the original owner Margaret Burrell, and now owned by Bec Hardy of the Hardy winemaking family, the 2.5 acre hillside garden is a delightful mix of terraces and smaller gardens linked by wisteria arbours, hedges and stone walls.

There’s a Mediterranean feel and sensational views out to McLaren Vale and the Mt Lofty Ranges, which is why it’s now a popular garden for weddings and special occasions.

Lap up those seemingly endless garden views.

Or you could get lost in it.

14. Sampson Flat

Wow.

This private property at Sampson Flat has such beautiful gardens it is regularly used for fashion photoshoots and hired for weddings and events.

Owners Ruth and Alan Irving have created a whimsical country cottage garden on 10 acres that is ever changing throughout the seasons.

Established trees form the backdrop, while spring annuals flourish bounded by box hedges, climbing plants and vines cover arbours and greenhouse walls, and a picturesque lake acts as the jewel in the crown.

And believe it or not, it gets better.

You’ll never need to buy flowers again with a garden like this.

13. Willowbridge

A natural garden at its best.

This gently sloping suburban garden won a 2019 Master Landscapers of SA award for best Residential Landscape: between $70,000 and $150,000 – Design, for Adelaide Garden Design.

And we can see why. Secluded with lots of lush foliage plants and established trees, a winding path leads to private and shady alfresco spots that would be lovely places to linger on our hot spring and summer days.

But what we love best about this garden is how genuine it looks with indigenous and perennial plantings, and as if it has always been part of the natural environment.

Fancy enjoying a wine or reading a book here?

You could soak up some vitamin D as well.

12. Athelstone

This is a clever low-maintenance garden.

OK, so this garden won’t be to everyone’s liking, but you’ve got to hand it to the creators of this Athelstone wonder.

Composed of hundreds of plants grown in individual pots, this design is striking whichever angle you view it from.

Plus, with a complex irrigation set up, watering this beast is as simple as turning on a tank.

You won’t need to worry about mowing the grass.

Even weeds wouldn’t be a problem.

11. Stirling

As natural as gardens get.

The Adelaide Hills are gorgeous any time of the year.

Just looking at some of the colours visible in these photos and you’ll see why we felt comfortable making such a bold call.

Landscaped and terraced, with little nooks to enjoy throughout – this is why Stirling has such a tight hold on people’s hearts.

You could get lost wandering through this garden.

Imagine spring afternoons here.

10. Aldgate

Organisation is the key to this garden.

Some Hills gardens are rambling and messy – in the best way – but this Aldgate stunner is anything but.

Neat and tidy with everything perfectly in its place, this 367sqm Aldgate property has terraced gardens, mature European trees, roses and boxed hedges.

This place is about as good as you’ll find in the Hills.

There’s not a single blade of grass out of place here.

Or anywhere throughout the garden.

9. Craigburn Farm

This is how you do a garden on a sloping block.

Covid-19’s made keeping a garden more desirable than ever.

Looking at this Craigburn Farm home it’s clear to see you can still achieve fantastic results and have a fabulous time without having to venture out into a rural environment.

Making the most of a sloping block, the property overlooks a stunning reserve, giving you the illusion your garden’s much larger than it is and blurring the boundary between private and public space.

The grass is immaculate.

It has a picturesque view too.

8. Burnside

Natural beauty at every turn. Picture: Tait Schmaal

Lance Vater hit the headlines last year when folk took umbrage with some shipping containers the millionaire entrepreneur had on his Burnside property.

What came out of this was the revelation the man has one of the most incredible gardens in metro Adelaide.

A veritable Garden of Eden, it is home to an amazing array of both edible and ornamental plants, and is complete with its own olive grove.

Lance Vater takes pride in his beloved garden. Picture: Tait Schmaal

It’s the perfect spot to stop a minute and admire nature’s beauty. Picture: Tait Schmaal

7. Hawthorn

Modern design meets garden landscaping.

Designed to be enjoyed from both inside and out, this cleverly-designed Hawthorn home has been created to not only be beautiful but help keep the running costs of the home down too. The pools cool the home, the tennis court water is captured and the foliage offers both shade and privacy.

Plus, it’s definitely easy on the eye.

It offers plenty to look at.

There are several standout features throughout the garden.

6. Dingabledinga, near Willunga

Flowers, flowers and more flowers.

Doole Garden, is an elegant country garden with superb views of the surrounding vineyards and hills around McLaren Vale.

The garden is designed with a variety of flowering plants that provide colour and interest throughout the year and features include a crab apple tree walk, which is a mass of blossom in spring, a formal rose garden underplanted with euphorbias, verbenas, penstemons and salvias, and a mixture of hardy native and exotic trees and shrubs.

Doole Garden will be open to the public next weekend (November 13 and 14) as part of the Open Gardens SA program.

Why not stop and smell the roses for a minute?

The vibrant flowers add a splash of colour in the sea of green.

5. Bridgewater

This pool looks natural in this environment.

It wouldn’t be a proper top gardens list without the inclusion of a place with a decent hydrangea.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg of what this Bridgewater garden has to offer.

Set on a 1.9ha allotment, the garden has a fantastic mix of intimate formal areas, and rugged bushland spaces.

Stunning manicured gardens surround the property.

They’re even part of the property.

4. Stirling

A blue bridge adds a nice touch to this home’s garden.

“Open your heart to a story book lifestyle with this hidden treasure, seductively quiet and peaceful, positioned well back from the road – come down the drive and be transported to another world … Calm, tranquil and relaxing.”

That’s how its recent sales listing described it, and it’s not hard to imagine long lunches, Easter egg hunts and Christmas cricket games here.

If you owned this place, you wouldn’t need a passport, because we can’t see a single reason why you’d ever want to leave it.

As does a blue gazebo.

It even has a mini waterfall!

3. Aldgate

Keen gardener Brenton Roberts takes pride in his Aldgate garden. Picture: Brenton Edwards

In less than 10 years, landscape designer Brenton Roberts has created a private haven at his Aldgate property.

What was once grazing land has been turned into a zoned hillside garden featuring a lush lawn, a manicured perennial garden alongside Manchurian Pear and London Plane trees, a lower level crushed quartz terrace and a sustainable vegie patch complete with a worm farm in an old bathtub.

There’s a chook run, a tree-lined driveway and it even has a driving range to sate his golf passion.

It’s a great natural playground for children and pets. Picture: Brenton Edwards

It also has a rustic edge. Picture: Brenton Edwards

2. Mount Barker Springs

This home belongs to ABC TV gardening presenter Sophie Thomson.

Gardening expert Sophie Thomson’s productive garden is worthy of a magazine spread.

Zoned with areas for her workshop and a separate one for her husband, who made the property’s many art sculptures, there’s an orchard, greenhouse, multiple vegie patches as well as flowering gardens with a mix of natives and drought tolerant species.

You’d never think that just over 10 years ago it was a vacant hillside.

It’s got some quirky sculptures, including this one.

Everyone loves Sophie’s garden ... especially the bees!

1. College Park

I wonder where this leads? Picture: Williams Real Estate.

Beautiful, organised, practical and pristine, we believe this 1571sq m property is SA’s best.

All parts of this garden are curated to perfection – Christmas tree-like spheres greet you in the front yard, side gardens are landscaped for privacy, colour, structure and visual appeal, there’s a leisurely alfresco and outdoor kitchen to unwind on, and a stunning curved pool, plus there’s a bike track around the outside that leads to a hidden cubby house.

This is a garden filled with magic. There are areas for quiet contemplation, a secret garden for children and so many visual treats throughout. It is stunning!

You could just sit and marvel at this garden all day. Picture: Williams Real Estate.

It’s even got a cool cubby house for the kids. Picture: Williams Real Estate.