When a native garden is the best solution

An out-of-the-box renovation required an equally outstanding garden. The solution was closer to home than you might think

The Woolooware garden designed by Grant Boyle from Fig Landscapes featuring Ian the kelpie. Picture: Jessica Ann Harris

The project

Owners: A busy couple and their kelpie, Ian

Landscaper: Grant Boyle, Fig Landscapesfiglandscapes.com.au

The problem: With their renovation coming to an end, the owners were left with a virtually empty garden

The site: A suburban block in Woolooware

Design solution: To create a native garden with meandering pathways while using the neighbours’ gum tree as a backdrop

How long did it take? Four weeks

The native garden was designed from scratch by Grant Boyle from Fig Landscapes. All pictures: Jessica Ann Harris

Landscaper Grant Boyle knew this garden renovation was going to be special from the moment he arrived.

“As soon as I got there I knew it would be a special project because of the architecture of the house,” he says.

Architect Christopher Polly had just renovated the 1960s yellow brick house, which featured in Home late last year, adding a dramatic extension to the rear while retaining the original cottage at the front.

When Grant arrived, the yard was little more than dirt and a pile of boulders that had been uncovered during excavation.

There was also a mature gum tree in the neighbours’ yard to the rear, which provided Grant with inspiration for the design.

The gum tree next door provided inspiration for the landscaping

“That big eucalyptus set the scene for the garden,” Grant says. “The client wanted a native garden and we convinced (the architect) Chris to do a native garden to complement the architecture.”

Grant treated the whole site as one, creating a new front garden and then taking the design down the side of the house to the rear using recycled materials wherever possible.

“The owners wanted to use what was there,” he says.

“There was an old concrete path from the street to the front door so we smashed that up and reused it as stepping stones.

The different elements of the garden make exploring like a walk in the bush

“The timber screen down the back of the yard was made from the old floor joists.”

Grant broke up the square shape of the backyard with curved garden beds, using the boulders to roughly define edges and adding a mix of native grasses, shrubs and smaller trees to create a framework.

“The owner wanted it to seem like bushwalking — an unstructured look,” Grant says.

A firepit at the back creates a destination in the garden, while offering another chance to use recycled timber and crushed stone.

Repurposed materials were used to create the pathways and fencing

“It’s really refreshing when clients want to work with what’s there,” he says. “Half the stone people use (in landscape design) comes from Iran or Turkey but you can get materials like that locally that are recycled.”

Now that the garden has settled in, the neighbours’ tree is really showing its worth, in more ways than one.

“The owners replaced the back fence and it took a few weeks,” Grant says. “So the neighbour was walking into their yard. She loved what we had done so now I’ve started on her garden too.”

Pictures: Jessica Ann Harris

Ian the kelpie is the star of the show (he even has his own Instagram)

The Source

Architect: Christopher Polly, christopherpolly.com

Circular steel wood stacker: Unearthed Garden, unearthedgarden.com.au

Native plants: Trees Banksia, Cupaniopsis and Waterhousia

Shrubs: Westringia and Correa Grasses Pennisetum and Festuca

Ground covers: Casuarina ‘Cousin It’ and Myoporum Pennisetum

Feature plants: Xanthorrhoea (grass trees)