Pretty In Green

Romantic Gardens Are Making A Comeback

This elegant home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was a collaborative project between Michael Suttor (architect), Denia Kulcsar Design (interior design), and Adam Robinson Design (landscape design), who are all known for their polished style. 

Adam and his team were asked to create a garden that reflected the classic and refined style of the house and interiors. The result is a romantic garden that fits the architecture of the home and is a beautiful fusion of traditional and modern and displays a timeless and tasteful elegance. We made sure that none of the elements were too modern, from the lighting, and furniture, to the pots. We selected oversized, bold lanterns, ageless furniture, and pots with a worn finish, looking like they were rescued from an old estate and bought at auction.

“The garden was intended to be a bit loose, wild and overgrown – nothing too formal or manicured,” says the home’s owner. 

Adam Robinson Design set out to create a garden that would be entrancing, a bounty of green-on-green tones growing wild within a mature, semi-tended garden, ever so slightly dishevelled to trick you into feeling nature encroaching at the edges. The overarching theme is abundance – as the garden grows, bordering on overgrown and ever-so-slightly out of control, spilling over on paths, trailing over railings in a decorative tangle. The palette of green tones keeps everything in check, so it doesn’t look too riotous.

All materials are classic, from the intricate steel pool fencing, criss-cross trellising, enduring green pool, to the new sandstone walls that have been purposely distressed to look weathered and ancient.

“It’s time to get a little nostalgic and put the ‘pretty’ back into garden design, as we see a move toward more unstructured gardens with pretty foliage and flowers. There’s a shift from everyone wanting hard-edge, minimal, low-maintenance plant palettes to softer and more blousy, style that recreates an atmosphere or the sense of magic that you find in nature”

— Adam Robinson

The home’s backyard is essentially at the front and side of the house, and privacy was needed from the streetscape. Camellias sasanqua (Camellia) was used as screening for this.  Magnolia 'Teddy Bear' (Magnolia) and upright Olea europaea ‘Tolley’s Upright' Olive Tree trees were planted to screen the view from neighbours and create privacy.

All larger planting was underplanted with a mix of Salvia 'Santa Barbara' (a dwarf form of Mexican Sage), Arthropodium cirratum (New Zealand Rock Lily),  Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' (Spur Flower), Plectranthus argentatus (Silver Plectranthus), Viola hederacea (Native Violet) and Dichorisandra thyrsiflora (Blue Ginger), Anemone x hybrida (Japanese Windflower) and Hydrangea macrophylla (Hydrangea)

Trachelopsermum jasminoides (Star Jasmine) was planted to grow vertically to green up and soften the pergola structure as well as to create the diamond-shaped espalier wall for the pool area. Star Jasmine is the perfect plant for this with its neat, dark green leaves and fragrant flowers.

The generous terrace is a beautiful entertaining space overlooking the pool and lawn. Traditional concrete pots were planted with Buxus japonica topiarised (Buxus Ball) and chic, black painted timber cross bar planter boxes house Citrus aurantiifolia (Lime Tree).

Providing a lawn for the young children in the family encourages them to play outside and explore the natural environment and have the freedom of running, jumping, and kicking a ball around.

A Laurus nobilis (Bay Tree) a stunning evergreen frames the entry to the front door adding a touch of sophistication and classic beauty. The entire plant palette is a chorus of green texture and movement all blending in a painterly sweep of colour and rhythm.

View project

→ adamrobinsondesign.com.au

CREDITS

Architect Michael Suttor Architects
Interior Design Denai Kulcsar Design

Photography Brigid Arnott

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