Decks are a classic part of the Australian home whereby you can enjoy the outdoors but still have the convenience of being close to the house. Often, however their poor design does not encourage one to use them to their potential. The Burke’s Backyard team...
Elevated decks are common in Australian homes but creating a garden underneath the deck can be challenging to the average gardener. Dry and shady conditions limit the range of plants which can be grown and people often make the mistake of trying to incorporate too...
Don visited a suburban back garden which was looking like a dust bowl disaster and was in need of a complete renovation. The main existing problems were: retaining wall without drainage and weep holes which allowed the area behind to become waterlogged during wet...
Australian gardens in the 1950s and 1960s were simple areas of lawn with few interesting plants. These days gardens have become places of fantasy where people create a bit of theatre in the backyard. Australians are amongst the biggest travellers throughout the world...
‘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...
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...