How Boss Gardenscapes fulfilled one man’s vision to create the Bardon secret garden
It’s an engineering marvel: a hidden man-made grotto that to construct required the owner to buy the house next door. Step inside this prize-winning suburban garden.
Audacious in its scope, this unique garden is the product of one man’s singular vision. Having bought the house next door, on an 800sqm block in the Brisbane suburb of Bardon, he set out to create a particular experience. The concept was “to enter a lush landscape with the surprise of a grotto containing an architecturally beautiful structure completely hidden from the rest of the world – like a secret garden”. He imagined an undulating, plant-filled landscape of meandering paths and water trickling over rocky walls, leading to a studio and deck overhanging a stream. To build this engineering marvel, he engaged Jim and Micki Stewart of Boss Gardenscapes.
“How lucky we were to do it,” says Micki, who leads the horticultural side of the practice while Jim heads up design and construction.
“You feel you are embarking on a very special journey – you turn yourself inside out for a client like that,” adds Jim. The project, which took 20 months to build, won Landscape Queensland’s Residential Landscape Construction of the Year 2024 award.
The project started with clearing the block, including the old house, then excavating 5m-6m deep for the grotto and water feature that take up half the property. The feature rock wall, clad with stone, sports numerous copper tubes that weep water down the rock face to the stream below. Huge boulders, selected from a quarry in Warwick, form the creek walls that also have various points from which water falls, while the bed of the constructed stream is lined with oversize round river rock.
Access to the sleek, glass-walled studio is only via the steppers of concrete “lily pads” within the stream. The studio has a simple interior – it’s a place of seclusion where up to eight people can relax to enjoy the view and the sound of water, immersed in greenery. “With mirrors on the back walls, it’s like looking into a rainforest, not a building,” says Micki. The roof garden on top of the studio is planted to conceal the structure and allow trailing plants such as Cissus ‘Ellen Danica’, C. antarctica, Russelia and beach morning glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae) to drip down the walls.
The planting was designed to make the landscape look natural, not “staged”, according to Micki. There are hundreds of different plant species, driven by the client’s passion for plants.
As a serious collector and propagator of shade plants, he also requested a potting area, shadehouse and rainwater tanks in the design. A bespoke soil mix was specified especially for the project, to give the plants ideal growing conditions. To establish critical shade early on, they used sun-hardened tree ferns (Cyathea cooperi) and some mature trees such as coastal hibiscus (H. tiliaceus ‘Rubra’), tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) and water gum (Tristaniopsis ‘Luscious’).
There are now dozens of interesting rainforest trees such as pink euodia (Melicope elleryana) and native gardenia (Atractocarpus fitzalanii), many unusual palms and a wealth of understorey plants including ferns, bromeliads, peperomias, cordylines and grasses.
This treasure trove is invisible from the surrounding houses, even the client’s own. No one would know it was there. Brief fulfilled.
Q&A
Last summer, a pineapple unexpectedly grew in our garden. It was sweet to eat. Will another grow or does it require some sort of replanting?
Max Fulton, Gold Coast
Pineapples are the fruit of a bromeliad (Ananas comosus) that thrives in the tropics and sub-tropics. Usually the fruit takes two years to develop on the end of an upright flower stalk, after which that individual plant dies. Suckers or “pups” that grow from the sides of maturing plants can replace that plant; detach these when small to plant elsewhere. They need a warm, sunny spot and good drainage. Otherwise, start a new plant by planting the top sliced off a pineapple with its leaves intact. The plants can grow up to 1.5m tall and 1m wide.
Following heavy rain recently I found many snails on the undersides of some rose leaves. Why are they there and will they cause damage?
Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria
Snails and slugs can climb up on rose bushes, where they chew on soft new growth and flowers. Pick them off by hand or clip off infested leaves. Prevent snails and slugs from accessing the bushes by wrapping copper tape around the stem bases.
What native small trees could I grow in pots on my balcony? It gets direct sun all day in summer and a couple of hours a day in winter.
Nicole West, Brisbane
With large pots, quality potting mix and regular watering, you can grow small trees successfully in pots. Try dwarf golden penda (Xanthostemon ‘Fairhill Gold’ or ‘Little Goldie’) for glossy leaves and showy yellow flowers; or one of the smaller bottlebrushes such as Callistemon ‘Slim’, Taree Pink’ or ‘Red Alert’. Bush tucker plants include riberry (Syzygium luehmannii and the dwarf form ‘Lulu’); the semi-dwarf Macadamia ‘A16’; bolwarra or native guava (Eupomatia laurina); or Fraser Island apple (Acronychia imperforata).
Send your questions to: helenyoungtwig@gmail.com The best question for January wins a 20m, kink-free Liano Life Textile Hose kit valued at $113 with a 15-year warranty, from Gardena.
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