Designer Ben Saunders, owner of Ben Saunders Landscapes, says his gardens often start with ‘where and how many trees we can put in the ground.’
On this project in Melbourne’s inner north, a generous block provided plenty of space to experiment with trees for practical and aesthetic purposes.
Ben explains, ‘Here, trees are crucial for shade, screening, privacy, kids play, and to frame views from the house, but also to provide habitat for local birds and wildlife as best we could.’
The new garden was designed with the client’s functional needs in mind, starting with off-street parking in the front yard.
‘We’ve managed to still create a feeling of welcoming and a full garden with plenty of plants that has a nice pedestrian flow to the front door,’ says Ben.
Out the back, the rear garden (previously a ‘rolling weedy lawn’) responds to its sloping block with a series of subtly differentiated zones.
‘The zones are all linked together through material choice (recycled railway sleepers, granite boulders, Victorian basalt pavers, and honey granite toppings) to make the overall space feel seamless and cohesive, rather than cut up into segments,’ says Ben.
The backyard is designed to draw the owners outside, regardless of the time of day.
‘We needed to create spaces to be in, even during the warm parts of the day, so a shade structure through the construction of an arbour with ornamental grapevines and multiple trees helped form those spaces,’ says Ben. ‘Pruning up a large existing Callistemon to create a canopy allowed for shade over a new kid play area.’
A significant challenge of the project was creating the sense of being in the ‘natural world’ in a fenced property with large homes either side.
To achieve this, the Callistemon, plus establishing Banksia integrifolia (coast banksia), Banksia marginata (silver banksia), Eucalyptus forrestiana (fuchsia gum), and Eucalyptus cladocalyx nana (dwarf sugar gum) double as screening, paired with Eucalyptus caesia (gungurru), Eucalyptus pauciflora (snow gum), and Angophora hispida (dwarf apple) for their sculptural form.
‘As the trees and shrubs have started to grow, it is giving this space a real sense of its own place, but also giving it attachment to the natural environment we live in,’ says Ben.
Indigenous grasses and flax such as Poa poiformis (coastal tussock grass), Dianella tasmanica (Tasman flax lily), and Orthrosanthus multiflorus (morning iris) offer texture and movement throughout the garden, while shrubs including Calothamnus quadrifidus (one-sided bottlebrush), Spyridium parvifolium (dusty miller), Correa species and some showy Grevilleas (spider flowers) hold structure in key areas.
Last but not least, a sparing use of colour and excitement is introduced through Anigozanthos (kangaroo paws), Scaevola (fan flower), and Chrysocephalum (everlasting) — all planted at low levels for children to engage with.
‘The majority of our plants chosen here are beneficial to the local wildlife and are low maintenance, which is important for a large garden looked after by a young family,’ says Ben.
From the moment you step on the Thornbury property, the garden summons engagement. Ben describes the experience, ‘I love walking in off the footpath through the front gate and being able to look down the side of the property, nearly all the way to the back fence.
‘As you look and walk through, you catch plants creeping over the path, or stretching out from the sides, asking you to walk down and see what’s behind them as you wander through.
‘It’s lovely to stretch your eyes through a long distance and change focus by picking out the bright colour of a kangaroo paw, or the sculptural form of Banksia marginata along the way, and then end on a glorious old Callistemon in bright red flower.
Completed in 2023, the garden has grown into an engaging, beautiful, and practical space for the clients and the wider neighbourhood.
Ben says, ‘The bird life has increased noticeably, and there has been some lovely engagement from pedestrians and neighbours walking by, who can feel and admire the plants leaning over the footpath.’
