LOOK: NO LAWN
看:沒(méi)有草坪
Almost nine years ago, Australian landscape designer Jim Fogarty and his wife Victoria moved into a brand new house, which gave him a clean palette to work with from the start. Yet, he needed to take into account a neighbor’s two-story house that would look down on his pool courtyard once finished, and a major community restriction that limits non-penetrable surfaces. “That meant that at least 35 percent of the space had to remain as garden beds, mulched areas, but no lawn,” says Jim, whose eponymous firm is based in Malvern, Australia.
Site Problems
• Small site needed a clever use of space
• Water restrictions meant no lawn since there could be no watering of it
• Allowing for a minimum site coverage of 35 percent penetrable surface, such as garden beds
• Needed to position a 2,642-gallon (10,000-liter) rainwater tank underground
• Needed to be smart about how the pool’s safety barrier was incorporated into the small space
Wish List
• Pool
• Informal outdoor entertainment
• A nice, attractive front garden that alsohelped to provide shade from the hot afternoon sun
• Outdoor bar
• Front deck area that was more modern in appearance
Finding a Professional
The project was the landscape architect’s own home and site.
Project Challenges
• The garden was designed during Melbourne’s tough drought, which added another concern—how would new plantings be watered with stricter rules in place?
Problem-Solving Solutions
Because of the drought and the community’s ban on watering, Jim designed the site without any lawn. He made rainwater a priority to conserve and recycle by installing a 2,642-gallon (10,000-liter) rainwater tank, hiding it under a front deck. To design a green garden that would appear abundant even during a drought, Jim used hardscape materials, including reconstituted concrete pavers and split-faced bluestone cobblestones, all in an interesting pattern whether viewed at ground level or from the second story of his home. In the pool courtyard, the cobblestones soften and break up the small space and make it visually enchanting, almost like a three-dimensional work of art. In fact, he inserted a wall sculpture by artist Valissa Butterworth, which was inspired by wet sand at low tide. To maximize outdoor space, Jim “borrowed” his garage as an extra entertainment space. He changed the garage’s white lights to a more hip, novel red, and at night the garage looks like a submarine with PVC and copper pipes.
To keep the garage and courtyard separate, Jim designed a bar that doubles as a safety wall for the pool, cladding it in double-chiseled lava stone. On another wall, clad in the same material, water cascades down into the pool, creating a shimmering effect at night under blue LED lights. A bamboo pool fence works as a second line of defense, important as a backup since the clients have children. If desired, it can be taken down in seconds as it’s built in three interlocking panels. Even better is that it was built using bamboo that grows in his and his wife’s yard, is a good source of mulch, and can be a climbing surface for other plants in the garden. At night when the couple often entertains, they can turn on lighting, designed by Light on Landscape, a company in Melbourne: blue lights illuminating the lava stone under the bar; red shining down on an outdoor shower. In the front garden, Jim designed a large bed with interesting green foliage and a black-stained floating timber deck with benches by Dwell by Jo.
Who needs a lawn? Not these folk. But they did want additional plantings, which would include ones to screen the neighbors’ house. This was a tough decision because Jim wanted something that would grow tall but not wide, have foliage at ground level so he and his wife wouldn’t have to look just at tree trunks or have precarious limbs
overshadowing their courtyard and stealing sun, and also not create mess for their pool. He decided on black bamboo, planted with root control barriers, along with some liriope, ligularia, bergenia, and ajuga as groundcover to help keep the leaf drop from blowing into the pool.
To make the front garden interesting with lots of foliage plants and cope with not having any lawn, Jim designed a black-stained floating timber deck to sit amid the dense greenery. He used clumping bamboo for height but chose one that doesn’t spread, and underneath it he planted Solomon’s seal, hellebores, hosta, and more liriope. Lights placed under the bamboo create a great show at night from the dining room.
Instead of using color, Jim inserted lots of textures and shapes. He used clipped lineal hedging that contrasts well with clipped balls of Luma apiculate, Viburnum odoratissimum, and Buxus microphylla. He found Bamboo Bambini (Pogonatherum paniceum) to work since it’s drought-tough, can be clipped into rough shaggy balls for definition, and has the most lush lime-green grass—like foliage that helps fill difficult parts of garden beds. He also planted herbs, such as rosemary, catmint, chives, tarragon, parsley, and sage for cooking.
Cost-Saving Alternatives
The use of gravel paths for the side garden would have reduced costs, as would the use of more pavers for an exposed aggregate surface instead of flagstone cobblestones.
Budget
The budget was about 15 percent of property’s value at the time, plus a design fee for others.
Challenges Along the Way
The yard is near a creek, and groundwater from the creek was seeping down the hill and rising to the surface. When the garden was planted, Jim used some plants that could tolerate having their root zone moist until the plants reached enough of a critical mass so they could use up excess water.
Key Design Details
• Wall feature by Valissa Butterworth that sits overlooking the pool
• Water feature that trickles down the chiseled lava stone into the pool below
The New Garden—An Epilogue
Not only does Jim enjoy the garden, but he and his wife also love the buzz from seeing so many neighbors and strangers look over their front fence as they walk past. The clever use of space has added to their lifestyle. “What I love about the bar is the ability to entertain in a very casual manner in reflection of my wife’s time spent living in Dubai. We lay out platters of mezze (Middle Eastern–style dips and breads) and have casual drinks and conversation. This garden is not made for outdoor tables and chairs due to lack of space. The bar is very space-friendly, and a blue LED light under the bar lip creates a very attractive mood in which to entertain at night,” he says. The deck in the front garden has saved the couple the expense of a mower and is now a great place to relax and soak up the late afternoon sun. “We wave and chat with our neighbors, many of whom comment as they stroll by on how lush and green our garden looks,” he says.
