‘Burke’s Backyard’ has visited many gardens over the years with many different themes. Each garden has reflected the varied interests and fantasies of its owner. Of all the garden styles the one that is almost universally admired is the tropical...
Burke’s Backyard visited an older style house which had been given a new modern look with a Tuscan theme. The outdoor entertaining area had been paved and retaining walls finished in a painted cement render. The original barbecue however looked out of place with...
One of the incredible privileges of living in Australia is being able to watch such a wonderful collection of native birds. The best way to bring them into your backyard is to plant native Australian plants such as grevilleas, banksias or bottlebrush. Another way to...
Small backyards don’t necessarily mean no garden at all. They can be transformed into garden rooms as an extension of the house. One such example of a garden room courtyard was designed by Jim Fogarty. The design The aim was to provide a low maintenance,...
Gardens can take as much of your time and money as you let them, but Burke’s Backyard recently featured an award winning garden developed on a tight budget. Budget gardeners Molly and Neil McCloskey of Corrimal, NSW, have some useful tips on how to garden...
Dry stone wall building is one of the oldest construction methods known to mankind. These mortar-less barriers are dotted throughout the British countryside. During the Burke’s Backyard trip to Ireland, Don visited the Rock of Cashel, a cathedral built entirely...
A swimming pool and its surrounding landscape can fulfil your fantasy. Don recently visited a pool area which was jointly designed by Brad Baxter of Award Pools & Landscapes, Ty Armstrong the owner and John Storch, Landscape Architect. This particular pool could...
The cut and fill method of construction is very popular for sloping building sites. It involves cutting back into a hillside and moving the soil to the lower side of the site to create a level building site. A retaining wall is then required to hold back the earth....
According to Garden Designer Phillip O’Malley, this modern Gold Coast house is fairly typical of waterfront properties – very large homes built on small blocks. The site was fully landscaped and the existing floral garden was very pretty, but it just did...
Twenty years ago Maureen and King Newman started work on “Naalong”, their dream garden. The two acre (0.81ha) property is at Farrants Hill in the Condong Range, which is part of the rim of the largest and oldest known extinct volcano in the world. Coming...