A Gardener's Garden

Don’t have much space but still want the garden of your dreams? Don’t worry, it’s perfectly possible.

- Cassandra Elliott

Steve Warner from Outhouse Design created this practical garden that offers year-round interest and an escape from inner-city living in a little slice of paradise. With the help of Greg Soster from Outside Space, a dream was brought to life in a small Newtown property.

The owner wanted a garden that was visually stunning, offered up fruit and herbs, and required little maintenance. This garden has strong, structural plantings that offer lots of activity options for the avid gardener, yet can still thrive with very little effort.

The planted production beds allow for crop rotation if you’re feeling like being handson. By using the large, organic step stone as the paving solution, the bluestone offers an informal pathway connection that meanders around the garden, while offering practicality and intrigue by visually stretching the garden. It is contrasted aesthetically by the thymus alba groundcover, which softens the pavers’ edges for a fuller, modern look, while nicely balancing out the crisper line connection of the 600mm x 400mm bluestone pavers.

The hero of the design is the pre-existing crepe myrtle, whose bold trunk demands attention against the contrasting fence.