Garden design is changing rapidly in Australia. After hundreds of years of basically copying the English cottage and formal styles, Australians are now coming to grips with designs and planting schemes that are more suited to our climate, light levels and soils....
Designer Jim Fogarty faced several challenges when called in to make over a small narrow courtyard. As well as doing away with the lawn and creating some usable space, the owners instructed Jim to screen the large block of flats next door, and to do something with the...
Landscape Arthitect, Judy van Gelderen was given a very detailed brief by the owners of a small, flat and uninteresting block of land in Canberra. They wanted to incorporate fourteen different ‘spaces’ or characters, including Japanese, Australian, an English rose...
Williamstown Garden Gina and Ian McVicar searched for a long time for a house to serve as both a home and a business base. Then one day they saw an old fisherman’s cottage made of bluestone, and fell in love with it immediately. Even though the house had...
Imagine a backyard waist deep in wandering jew and fishbone ferns, with a 10 metre drop to boot! A landscaping challenge, don’t you think? Well, Burke’s Backyard recently visited such a garden, and discovered that an amazing transformation had taken place....
The Burke’s Backyard team visited a tiny backyard (6x10m or 20×33′) at the back of a semi-detached home. Landscape designer Graeme Greenhalgh explained the importance of colour in the garden, and how small spaces can appear as big spaces using tricks...
In the past, if you wanted to add some really interesting feature plants to your garden, you had to have the time and the expertise to grow them yourself. Today things are much easier for the busy gardener. It’s possible to simply go along to your local nursery...
Don looked at a very good design solution to the problem of a tiny garden. As well as the small size, there were other constraints. Large windows from the kitchen and dining room of the house face onto courtyard areas. A focal point was needed to create visual...
Imagine walking into your bathroom and instantly being transported to Bali! That’s what happened to actress Arkie Whiteley after a tiny courtyard 3.1m x 1.9m (10.2′ x 2.6′) adjoining her bathroom was madeover. When we first saw the walled garden it...
Pond Courtyard A water feature in the garden can be a focal point. Whether it’s something fun like a simple pond with frogs spurting water out of their mouths or whether it’s more formal in the form of a wall fountain spouting into a sandstone edged pond...