Spectacular waterwise garden feature
Presenter: Dean Boone
Who said waterwise gardens cannot be spectacular? Dean takes a look around a garden that would just grab you. It has all the elements of a great design, it is bold and masculine.
Want to know more? Dean visits and display garden at the Mount Annan Botanic Gardens called ‘Room with a View’. The first thing that grabs you is the structure of the garden, there are amazing rammed earth walls in ochre colours that remind Dean of our desert country.
The entire garden is designed to draw you in. From the moment you enter the sweeping path down through the lawn to the big open gravel space you get a sense of what the garden is going to be all about.
The garden is laid out to take in and frame distant views of a water feature, a sundial to the top of the hill and into the terrace garden areas nearby. It is an intimate space in a great big open lawn area and the effect it has is a sense of the raw power we get from nature.
The materials and plant selection inside the garden are also highly waterwise. An idea that is just brilliant in the garden, is gravel mulch dressed with quartz, it gives the garden an arid yet soft feel. The important thing is they have matched the mulch to the plant selection perfectly.
Layers of strappy foliage like lomandras and dianella are used, as well as some of Dean’s favourites like the silvery flannel flower, grass trees and everlasting daisies. All are being combined for maximum effect.
Now imagine a combination like this; rich greens and cascading silver grays hanging over rich ochre walls. You could make a retaining wall or a planter box like the one in the ‘Room with a View’ garden for you own garden.
The whole garden is bursting with strength and character, and yet when you take a look around it is all really quite simple and minimal in the variety of things used. ‘Right Plant Right Place’ is a favourite credo of mine and this is just another example of getting that right.
The point of the ‘Room with a View’ garden, and why Dean wanted you to know about it, is to hopefully inspire you. Making your garden waterwise does not mean it has to be boring, In fact, this could be the perfect opportunity to get out and explore some new ideas.
Who said waterwise gardens cannot be spectacular? Dean takes a look around a garden that would just grab you. It has all the elements of a great design, it is bold and masculine.
Want to know more? Dean visits and display garden at the Mount Annan Botanic Gardens called ‘Room with a View’. The first thing that grabs you is the structure of the garden, there are amazing rammed earth walls in ochre colours that remind Dean of our desert country.
The entire garden is designed to draw you in. From the moment you enter the sweeping path down through the lawn to the big open gravel space you get a sense of what the garden is going to be all about.
The garden is laid out to take in and frame distant views of a water feature, a sundial to the top of the hill and into the terrace garden areas nearby. It is an intimate space in a great big open lawn area and the effect it has is a sense of the raw power we get from nature.
The materials and plant selection inside the garden are also highly waterwise. An idea that is just brilliant in the garden, is gravel mulch dressed with quartz, it gives the garden an arid yet soft feel. The important thing is they have matched the mulch to the plant selection perfectly.
Layers of strappy foliage like lomandras and dianella are used, as well as some of Dean’s favourites like the silvery flannel flower, grass trees and everlasting daisies. All are being combined for maximum effect.
Now imagine a combination like this; rich greens and cascading silver grays hanging over rich ochre walls. You could make a retaining wall or a planter box like the one in the ‘Room with a View’ garden for you own garden.
The whole garden is bursting with strength and character, and yet when you take a look around it is all really quite simple and minimal in the variety of things used. ‘Right Plant Right Place’ is a favourite credo of mine and this is just another example of getting that right.
The point of the ‘Room with a View’ garden, and why Dean wanted you to know about it, is to hopefully inspire you. Making your garden waterwise does not mean it has to be boring, In fact, this could be the perfect opportunity to get out and explore some new ideas.
AS SEEN ON 
