LAWN & ORDER

Wanting to transform their garden into a place to welcome guests, this young family opted for a neat, calming space that connects with the indoors.

- Elizabeth Wilson

Asked to create a practical garden for this Melbourne home, designer Andrew Panton incorporated a vegetable garden of raised boxes made from reclaimed railway sleepers on a surface of river pebbles. Pretty espaliered fruiting pear varieties - a Williams pear flanked by two Packham pears - are sprawled along the lattticed fence. A row of Hill's fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii Flash') forms a lush backdrop along the rear boundary while English lavender, prostrate rosemary and salvia provide splashes of colour and scent.

The view from the top dining terrace takes in the lower, more casual, alfresco area which is outlined by a rectangle of dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus “Nanus"). The Sir Walter Buffalo lawn is an inviting space for children and pets alike.

A row of Hills fig is underplanted with prostrate rosemary and below that, a row of star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

As an interior designer, Lisa Buxton practices a less is more' approach - and that's exactly what she was seeking in the redesign of her Melbourne garden.

Lisa and her husband Ari Lakman bought their 1930s, Tudor-style home in late 2019. At the time, they had one baby daughter Mia, now three, and Lisa was pregnant with son Louie, now 12 months. Understandably, the desire to create a child-friendly environment indoors and out, was top of mind. The existing rear garden was a wonderful size at 250 square metres, but it felt a little crowded and didn't relate easily to the home. “When we arrived, there were eight huge pear trees in the garden and while they were lovely in themselves, they were two storeys high, making the garden - and the house - very dark.”