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When approaching the garden design for this newly-renovated Melbourne home, Saint Remy principal designer Seam Lam faced a few immediate challenges.
The founder of the landscape design firm explains how the existing garden was a patchwork job and appeared ‘more than a little confused’.
‘The front is shady but was dotted with tropical plants,’ Seam says. ‘And the Edwardian facade sat awkwardly behind a not-so-groovy ‘70s brick front fence. The sunny backyard had shade-loving ferns and a sloping lawn.’
Considering these obstacles, she made the sensible decision early on to start completely from scratch. Inspired by the light tones and elegance of the architecture — both the historic frontage and the new extension by Mihbaly Slocombe — Seam set out to plant a garden that would erupt with colour in the summer ‘like an impressionist painting against the clean canvas of the architecture’.
It’s easy to see how the finished landscaping is likened to a piece of art, particularly when viewed through the large panoramic glass windows that neatly frame the garden like a painting. As Seam says, ‘it’s dramatic and dreamy’.
The lush, shady front garden features a stone pathway surrounded by plantings like acer palmatum ‘dissectum seiryu’ (lace leaf Japanese maple) and miscanthus sinensis transmorrisonensis (evergreen miscanthus), which come right up to the front porch. Along the side, a stepper path cuts through the garden and meanders down the side of the house in a tight squeeze that opens up to the vibrant rear yard.
Here, various plantings work in tandem to create a harmonious blend of both colour and greenery with layered textural elements. An elegant white steel arbour was added to the back patio with a climbing parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) to produce lovely dappled shade in the summer.
Other materials used included light grey stone steps, a charming white weatherboard shed (a nod to the house facade), and a new white timber picket fence at the front.
In the backyard, circular concrete planter troughs were filled with flowers like hylotelephium spectabile (stonecrop ‘Autumn joy’) and rudbeckia fulgida ‘goldsturm’ (orange coneflower) — the latter also dotted throughout the entire garden alongside brachyscome multifida (cut-leaved daisies) for vibrant pops of orange and purple.
But Seam was careful not to incorporate too many different materials — after all, ‘repetition gives a garden oomph’!
‘We’re really proud of the backyard garden which has a lot of garden rooms — a kitchen garden, patio, lawn, actual garden, shed and paths,’ she adds. ‘It’s all beautifully balanced and looks amazing from inside. Our backs were buggered but our hearts were full.’
