Dream Gardens ep 2: All gardens are dream driven but now and again the dream turns into a nightmare. When Frank and Mary-Anne D’Aquila bought their home the backyard was an overgrown slope. In pursuit of a family garden complete with pool, plants, and an entertaining space, they made the fateful mistake of deciding to level off the entire block.
Fast forward, three long years and their dream lay in tatters. Tonnes of dirt had been removed but what was left was a cracked, pool shell and monolithic concrete walls, the dream garden looked more like an end of the world bunker than a family oasis. This substandard construction job littered with flaws had cost $200,000.
Dream Gardens ep 2
With the original builder kicked off the job Frank and Mary-Anne had a long, unfruitful search for someone who could salvage the space. Finally, a designer saw the potential and work began on getting the D’Aquila’s out of their financial and backyard hole.
Transforming this botched job is a giant salvage operation. The trust between a client and designer must first be rebuilt before any of the original mistakes can be buried. Can this garden disaster be made to look as if it was meant to be deliberate?
Join leading landscape designer Michael McCoy as he showcases some of Australia’s most lavish and magnificent gardens from the first spade hitting the ground to the incredible end result. What does it mean to make a garden? What longings do gardens fulfil ? These are the question at the heart of a new show, Dream Gardens, launching on ABC TV this week. Eschewing how-to tips on growing plants (done so well by ABC’s other garden offering, Gardening Australia), this is a show that looks instead at what we want from gardens and how clever garden design can deliver it.
The host is the ebullient Michael McCoy, a garden designer and writer. McCoy has a degree in botany, long experience as a hands-on gardener and sought-after garden designer, and a passionate curiosity about what makes good garden design work. He’s empathetic, enthusiastic and opinionated – the perfect guide to lead viewers around eight gardens-in-the-making.
