Developing this garden over the last 10-12 years with the owners, an architect and keen gardener, who happen to be relatives and good friends of Trish’s, has been an interesting collaborative project – involving some animated debates over design decisions.

Their brief was to create plenty of garden areas, but also space within it – views and experiences from both the house and from within the garden itself were important. The back is enclosed by a group of three Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ which enclose the garden around an outdoor covered verandah area. The view from the kitchen is to the open lawn, while the dining room has quite a different feel, looking out to a small grove of beautifully sculptured Feijoa trees – an aesthetically under-valued asset.

The back garden has evolved as a child friendly space with plenty of room for soccer and hard surfaces for ball games. A large concrete area has been tweaked with grass cut-outs and gardens have been created wherever there were spaces.Bisecting the concrete with grass softens it, transforming it into a landscape feature, while still allowing for ball games. A balanced grass area meant restricting the garden size to boundary planting and also selecting plants that were ball proof and didn’t overhang and restrict grass growth.

The front gardens have been fully developed more recently, with a naturalistic native pond with fish and a little set piece design at the front door which relates to the style of the house. The two contrasting styles work well together- adding an element of surprise and a bit of fun!