DRY CREEK BED GARDEN

The Brief/Client Objectives

The clients had given a great deal of thought to their requirements - they had really though hard about what they wanted from the space, especially for day to day living. As a result they had a clear brief, and were adamant that the design had to meet the flowing criteria:

• Low maintenance and water usage
• A relaxed area for summer dining
• An area where their 2 young sons could play and explore
• Visual interest from inside the house
• The garden must integrate with the future exterior renovations (rendering, and bifolds), but not look too out of place with the existing façade in the meantime
• The clients must be able to get involved in some aspects of the work, such as planting
• They were after something a bit different

The Site

The site is an elevated axe-shaped area, with a steep fall along it's longest and narrowest side. The existing garden consisted of overgrown shrubs, half-dead trees, rotten retaining walls, and broken and lifting brick paving and steps.

In addition, parts of the area suffered from boggy conditions, due to run on from the neighbouring property; other parts of the garden from dry soil, mainly due to poor quality fill used at the time of the house construction.

This front garden area is the main outdoor space for the house, and it was clear that it needed a fresh approach to the design that could meet The clients' objectives in terms of usage and street appeal, and address the drainage/soil issues.

The Design

Given the condition of the old and overgrown garden the Client inherited, we really had to start from scratch; so from damp, dark suburban European garden with lawn, tangled ivy and old pittosporums we decided to open it all up, let some light in and work with the conditions we had - the resulting design is a contemporary interpretation of a 'natural' clearing with a dry creekbed.

A few existing trees - Callistemon, Lillypilly and Melaleuca - were pruned to improve shape and saved. The house is in some parts 3 storeys high, so retaining these provided a link between the high points of the house and the new low plantings. Other than these, the block was completely cleared.

The clients are young, with a young family, and love summer entertaining, picnics and the water, so the design aimed to give them a unique area where they could feel secluded in a natural clearing and their boys could explore safely and have adventures along the creekbed.

Once the retaining walls around the property were replaced using treated pine and galvanized I beams, a winding creekbed was sculpted into the earth, starting around the corner from one side of the house, curving under the deck and boardwalk, and then snaking off around the other side of the house. This serves to visually link all of the areas in this irregularly-shaped garden. An additional bonus is its role in diverting water from very wet areas to dry areas in times of heavy rain.

The deck was built adjoining the sliding doors from the family room to allow for summer dining, and overhanging the creekbed, to give the impression of it 'floating' above the water, much like a pontoon. Next, a winding boardwalk led from the font door of the house to the boxed steps down to the street.

A set of simple fence panels were built in-situ, and staggered across the front of the garden, at different distances from the boundary. Because of this random placement and regular gaps between the battens gave enough privacy from the street below without stopping the garden suddenly along a solid fence - the effect is that looking from the house, the garden appears to continue on beyond the fence.

Planting

Because the garden is located at the front of the property, it is a transit area for The clients' family and their visitors (so it had to look good, and quickly!). Plants were selected for their growth rate, flower and foliage interest, as well as drought tolerance, and selected species were chosen to help exaggerate the size of the garden - that is, very small species were used further from the deck, while larger species were used mostly close to the deck and boardwalk. This helped to give the illusion that the garden reaches further into the distance than it does.

The species selected also have different flowering times for interest; some of those used were: Astelia, Phormium tenax spp., Aniziganthos, Xanthorrhoea minor, Acacia cognata 'Limelight', Cyperus papyrus, Restio tetraphyllus, Dianella revoluta var. revoluta and Yucca spp.

Lighting

We selected low voltage lighting in the HPM Stainless look range. Bollards were placed along the boardwalk, and spotlights under the lillypilly, melaleuca and grass trees for dramatic effect.

Pebbles

River pebbles were brought in different grades - the 100mm pebbles lined the base of the creek, then on both sides of this were laid 50mm pebbles, then 20mm pebbles. The rest of the area was covered in 10-5mm pebbles, which effectively acts as a mulch for the rest of the plantings.

One Year Later

One year later, the garden has grown and is well on it's way to full maturity. The clients are delighted with the result (and the very little time it takes to look after), and now spend hours each week in a garden they enjoy all year round.

This garden won Best Residential Design under $30,000 in the AILDM National Landscape Design Awards in 2005.