Georgia Harper Landscape Design &
The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (MIFGS)
COASTAL OASIS
While showgardens are a fantastic way to present new ideas and illustrate the incredible potential of any outdoor space, they are often not practical for most people to replicate - and they are generally financially beyond many people's reach. As a visitor to MIFGS over the years, I kept hearing the same thing over and over - "that's amazing, but I could never afford to do something like that!"
I designed Coastal Oasis as an experiment to see if a showgarden could be interesting and present some new ideas, as well as be attainable for the average person in terms of size, style and realistic budget. When designing it, the following brief was used:
- It must be able to be done on a realistic budget
- It must offer year-round interest
- It must be easy to look after
- It must be water-wise
- It must be relevant to current trends in terms of modern urban living
- It must have a bit of 'wow' factor to it
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Coastal Oasis (click to enlarge)
There seems to be a trend towards moving to the seaside, and I wanted to capture that feeling of being out in the open air, relaxed and free. But we can't all make that move, so I thought: why not bring it to me! And so Coastal Oasis was inspired.
A large wall, blue as the ocean, anchors the garden and creates a backdrop for the garden elements. In front of the wall, a series of giant whale's ribs in rusty iron curve around the left side of the garden. These are being custom-made, and will reach over 3.5m in height.
The central paved area echoes the spiral of a sea-shell, winding out from the centre in random pieces of sandstone.
Drifts of seaside and drought tolerant plants, a mixture of native and indigenous, swirl around the edges of the garden, giving foliage, texture and colour interest. The garden is mulched in various sized of pebble, most quite small, but many larger, smooth rocks as you would find along the beach.
Screens of willow provide privacy, and as these weather to a cool grey, they provide added texture and reflect the driftwood found along the coast.
Snuggled into this oasis is a canopy daybed, the Dedon Orbit bed. Again, the canopy reflects a sea-shell, and can be pulled over to create a dome, a beach tent, a haven within a haven.
To create a garden like this one from scratch would cost about the same as the average new kitchen - that's great value for something 10 times bigger!
Of course, Coastal Oasis is not for everyone; it's been designed to show that with a limited budget, you can still achieve something that's interesting to look at and easy to live in. But I think it works as a lesson that you don't need to have a lot of money to create an exciting and unique space.
Come and visit us at site A 84 at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, April 5th-9th, at the Royal Exhibition Buildings.
