Moorish Garden
Inspired by the colours, shapes and the starkness of Spanish landscaping, the owners of a renovated Edwardian house in St Kilda decided they’d like a Moorish garden in their own yard. Using photographs in a book on Spanish gardens as a starting point, they discussed their ideas with designer Gregg Chapman, and in no time a dramatic and colourful Moorish oasis had been created at the back of the house. The design incorporated a strong basic layout with great attention to detail, hand made Spanish terracotta tiles, a channel water feature, and an architectural form of planting.
Design
The formal water feature is on a vertical axis from the house, with the long, narrow channel leading to an arched, raised fountain. The walls of the fountain are painted with Porter’s Limewash ‘Kurrajong’ to match the house, and black and white glass mosaic tiles in a chequerboard design cover the fountain’s two-tiered overflow into the channel. The coping of old red bricks is bordered by a band of beautiful hand made Spanish azure blue tiles – a reference to the gardens of the Alhambra. According to Gregg Chapman, designing the channel and fountain was not difficult, once all the different water flows were balanced. The rest of the courtyard is paved in hand-cut Spanish terracotta tiles.
The plants
Plants were chosen to fit the overall structure and theme – they provide architectural form, with some colour and fragrance: Chinese windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) on each side of the channel reinforce the symmetry of the garden. The great thing about these palms is that they provide a tropical look, but they grow in cold areas, and will even take snow. The central raised garden bed features a Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) underplanted with gardenias (Gardenia augusta ‘Florida’) and mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus). A hedge of Bhutan cypress (Cupressus torulosa) runs along the perimeter, to screen neighbouring units. Other plantings include English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), box (Buxus sempervirens), agapanthus (Agapanthus orientalis) and Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata).
Further information
Gregg Chapman, Faulkner & Chapman Landscape Design. Phone (work): (03) 9596 0059, mobile: 0417 381 304.
The book mentioned on the program The Gardens of Spain by Consuelo M. Correcher is currently out of print, but The Green Book Company (1800 646 533) has six copies available. ISBN 0-8109-3370-5