Romance made MODERN

This beautiful, eclectic garden in Constantia, Cape Town, was completed just days before the Covid lockdown began in 2020. The garden is a feather in the cap of KwaZulu-Natal-based husband and wife team John and Tanya Keating of Tandi Landscapes, as this was the fourth garden they were invited to design for their clients.

- Lindsay Gray

IN BRIEF:

WHERE: CONSTANTIA, CAPE TOWN

SIZE: HALF AN ACRE

GROUND: DRY AND SANDY WITH VERY LITTLE

MOISTURE-RETAINING ABILITY

DESIGNERS: JOHN AND TANYA KEATING OF TANDI LANDSCAPES

Starting over

The clients saw great potential in a typical 1970s home that was set in the tranquil suburb of Constantia, so they had the house gutted and redesigned. The renovation incorporated open-plan living with large picture windows offering magnificent views of the Constantiaberg mountain range, and glass stacking doors that open onto different rooms within the garden.

Initial site preparation included removing many invasive Brazilian pepper trees, as well as large bougainvilleas and other shrubby plant material that swamped the already dark house. Today, all that remains of the original garden is the line of palms gracing the entrance and a wizened tree that takes pride of place on the patio with its unusually shaped trunk.

Creating rooms

The design of the house lent itself to creating interesting garden rooms, and while the garden now has the overtones of a formal garden, it also has a delightfully eccentric twist.