Jamie Durie designed this minimalist, Australian contemporary garden overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His brief was to incorporate a swimming pool, spa and entertaining area into the design, while making the most of the spectacular views. Main entrance The main entrance...
Garden designer Mark Vowles has transformed a bare block of land at Deception Bay, Queensland, into a lush, tropical garden. He has travelled widely, and was inspired by the ancient and modern tropical styles of Thailand, Bali and the South Pacific. Mark has a passion...
Greek Style Courtyard When garden designer Matthew Cantwell first saw the courtyard shown in our segment, it was ugly and dated. Quarry tiles, mission brown furniture and a dilapidated paling fence made it a depressing place where the family definitely did not want to...
Indian Goddess Garden In 1996 Julia Wright wrote to Burke’s Backyard asking for help with the landscaping nightmare that she had inherited. The small courtyard at the rear of Julia’s terrace was barren, out-of-date, and completely covered by ugly dark...
Japanese Garden Although many Australians dream of living near the beach, gardening by the seaside can be quite a challenge. Not only are beach sites usually very windy, but the plants also have to cope with sandy soil and salt spray. Don visited a Japanese-style...
Teese Garden Nurseryman, Barry Teese, showed Don around his garden, which is set amongst the rolling green hills of an Angus cattle farm. This beautiful garden owes its success to good drainage and the selection of reliable plants for cold and wet winters. As a...
Toowoomba Rock Garden We first saw the fabulous rock garden built by Ben and Mavis Mundey in August 1998. From 1984-91, Ben and Mavis made 131 trips collecting rocks for their garden from mountainous grazing land in the region. They broke the bigger rocks up into...
Two years ago, Graeme Greenhalgh designed this garden for a client who wanted to be reminded of her childhood in Papua New Guinea. It consists of two small courtyards packed with as many different lush, tropical foliage plants as possible. This modern-looking garden...
Tropical Lagoon Garden Burke’s Backyard viewers often write in and ask for tips and ideas on landscaping effectively around a swimming pool. In our segment Don looked at a wonderful example of a pool garden in Balmoral, Queensland. It was designed by Phillip...
Tugurium Stephen Ryan and Craig Lidgerwood showed Don around ‘Tugurium’, their cool climate garden at Macedon in Victoria. Many Victorian’s know Stephen as a gardening author and broadcaster, as well as a nursery owner. He is the proprietor of...