Backyard Boys

A landscape architect with three sporty sons had to make some tough decisions about her own garden in Melbourne – but the result seems to please just about everyone.

- Sue Smethurst

Ben Dalling doesn’t think twice when asked about the favourite feature of his newly renovated home. “There’s a garden view everywhere you look, so the greenery feels like part of the house,” he says, crediting his wife Mary-Claire, a landscape architect, for creating a leafy aspect from every window.

The Dallings bought the house in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in 2005. With toddler Tom and one-year-old baby Sebastian in tow, they began enthusiastically making plans to transform the ageing Victorian into a modern space for the family to grow into. Ten years passed and one more son arrived – Hamish, now 11 – before their home was finished.