Melbourne landscaper, Evan Gaulke, enjoyed the challenge of designing his own garden on a small, steep corner block. Evan loves gardens that are fun, interesting and free flowing, rather than very formal gardens that are difficult to maintain. He also tries to work with foliage colours and textures as much as possible, without relying too heavily on flowers.

Getting rid of the lawn

Being a corner block, Evan's property has two nature strips. When he first moved in, he did not own a lawnmower and had no intention of buying one. Instead, he used Roundup to kill off all the grass. He chose Manchurian pears (Pyrus ussuriensis) as street trees and underplanted them with a mixture of mostly New Zealand grasses, such as Carex testacea, Uncinia uncinata and Festuca ovina.

The nature strips are now very low maintenance, can be left unattended for months and do not need mowing. The grasses change colour with the seasons and allow perennials such as daisies, Echinops ritro and Euphorbia wulfenni to come up in between.

Front garden

For security reasons Even did not want a solid hedge, so he has planted curved hedges through the front garden. These wavy hedges give selected views both from the street and from the house, while still providing privacy. He chose Teucrium fruitcans for the hedge because it is so tough, and because its grey foliage matches the bark of the lemon-scented gum. The hedge is interspersed with complementary plantings of yuccas, Sedum 'Autumn Joy' euphorbias, Kniphofia 'Maid of Orleans' Festuca ovina, iris, echiums, helleborus, Salvia leucantha and a red rose ('Julischka').

Stencilled ochre wall

An existing timber retaining wall was removed and replaced by a free form concrete wall, designed to "loosen up the garden". Evan stapled plastic to the formwork and then stuffed clay in behind it, leaving wonderful patterns. The wall was then painted with iron sulfate, to give it an earthy, ochre colour.

Back garden

Tangelos are espaliered along the back wall, which is purple/blue with a central section of yellow cement sheet. A deep red, Alistair Clark rose ('Black Boy') climbs over the top of the wall. A row of Japanese maples (Acer palmatum 'Senkaki') is underplanted with perennials such as aquilegias, hostas and dwarf burgundy-leaf dahlias. Vireya rhododendrons (Rhododendron 'Simbu Sunset') add to the happy, vibrant colour scheme in this area. A mosaic of smashed tiles adds informality and sparkle to the slate paving, and reflects the purple/blue colour on the fence. Water trickles down a slate wall into a small pond planted with alocasia and water lily.

Further information

Evan Gaulke
Ochre Landscape
Mobile: 0414 439 298
Web: www.ochrelandscape.com.au

This garden will be open with Australia's Open Garden Scheme on 15-16 February 2003. For more details, phone the AOGS Information Line on 1902 261 026 closer to the date.

Copyright CTC Productions 2002