Game Changer!

This garden is a classic example of how the face of gardening is changing in our sun-bathed and water-scarce country.

 

If the design brief for a typical, very modern South African garden dictates the use of a limited and tough plant palette and the best quality hard-landscaping elements available, to create a lifestyle garden requiring very little maintenance and water usage, then the designers of this garden in Warner Beach achieved their goal with distinction.

Scale symbiosis with building and nature

The nearly overwhelming presence and strong architectural design of this large, multi-storied dwelling, which dominates a steeply sloping plot, had to be balanced but also complemented. This was achieved by an equally strong garden design that can be enjoyed from above, without distracting the eyes from the magnificent ocean views beyond.

The designers used a formal layout of raised symmetrical planting beds to show off large, dramatic focal plants like indigenous tree aloes (Aloe barberae). On the terrace above this ‘parterre’-like floor design, a very smooth patch of cynodin lawn is formally edged with cobblestones. The softness of this perfectly kept lawn is complemented by large swathes of waving ornamental grasses between smaller aloes and other succulents in the lower beds.

Hard landscaping with local products