landscaping

Dream Gardens ep 8: Paul and Zoe Mitzi own a fabulous 1920’s art deco home in Melbourne, and they want a garden to match. But creating an ambitious space can take courage and bravery; especially when all of your friends and family think your design plans are crazy.     Their dream is made even more challenging by the decision to project manage it themselves, while juggling busy full time jobs and family life with their two teenage kids. “In the words of Alan Bond, bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy” says Paul. The […]

Dream Gardens ep 7: Fashion magazine editor Justine Cullen and events organiser Greg Mathew are wildly busy with three young kids and high-pressure jobs that often take them away from home. It’s their dream to have a garden sanctuary to escape, relax and recharge in.     To achieve this feel they want a design that brings the indoors, out. This means expanding the living area of their small fibro cottage on Sydney’s Northern Beaches by carving an opening into one side of the home. At the heart of the design will be a Mediterranean-style pool and a staggered deck

Dream Gardens ep 6: Nestled behind the Central Coast of New South Wales and surrounded by native bushland, is the rural retreat of Phillip and Maria Visalli. Using materials that are sympathetic to the surrounds including sandstone, weathered steel, and decomposed granite they have big plans to transform their land into a minimalist inspired garden.     The planting scheme will be ornamental and mature fruit trees will provide instant impact and help frame the view that leads down to a lake. The garden is not the only project the couple are embarking on, they are also expecting the birth

Dream Gardens ep 5: since ancient time’s gardens have been celebrated for their healing power and more recently they’ve been shown to relieve stress, provide comfort and a sense of calm. For Roberto Masnata and his teenage children they are hoping that the transformation of their block will do exactly this and more.     The dream was to create the new garden with Karen, wife to Roberto and mother to Jordie and Lucca. It was to be the final stage of an ambitious project that had seen them work together to turn a dilapidated house near the Brisbane River

Dream Gardens ep 4: during the finishing stages of building their dream water front home on Sydney’s George’s River, Mark and Sandra Sader have pressed the green light on a design for their ultimate resort style garden. The plan is to have both house and garden finished at the same time; a good idea, in theory.     They quickly learn that you can’t put plants in the ground when building contractors are spraying concrete and trampling through site. The weeks turn to months, the finishing line chops and changes and so do the plans for the design.   Dream

Dream Gardens ep 3 Mother Nature can be your best friend, but she can also be your worst enemy. Stewart and Sandra Hart lost their home, garden and wonderful memories in the devastating Black Saturday bush-fires of 2009.     Rather than face the painful process of rebuilding, the Harts bought a property in a bucolic, country valley an hour’s drive from Melbourne. In search of inspiration for the garden they visited Stonefields, the home of Paul Bangay, one of Australia’s most in demand designers. Blown away by its beauty and idyllic setting they’ve tasked Paul with the job of

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

Dream Gardens ep 1:  This new Australian series begins with a rural Queensland couple’s journey to transform a rock hard paddock into an ambitious and extensive kitchen garden so that they can live out their “grow it, eat it, live it” dream.     For tree changers Michael and Rosi Kenny home is an 1890’s homestead just south of Toowoomba in Queensland, it’s an idyllic rural setting with cows and horses roaming freely across their acreage. Both share a dream of being able to live off the land by adopting a ‘grow it, eat it, live it’ ethos. But being