garden landscape design Archives

The Landscape Design trends we are seeing in Melbourne owe much to practicality as well as the aesthetic. These trends reflect the lifestyle of summer in Melbourne but are also provide a practical landscape design with drought tolerant plants and low maintenance gardens.

1. Mid-century Palm Springs landscape design style.

This is a landscape design style associated with Cacti, Granitic Sand, Concrete Paving, and Breeze-blocks. Often this takes the form of hard landscaping in light grey or stark whites contrasting with splashes of colour from the plantings. The result is typical Palm Springs glamour with a low maintenance and drought resistant gardens.

Palm Springs style landscaping often features cacti, and succulents such as agave with plants to provide a splash of colour.

The dry desert climate of Palm Spring, with warm winters, and the abundance of space, is ideal for outdoor entertaining areas. Often, these will feature a fire pit area or a swimming pool as a focal point.

Outdoor entertainment areas with a swimming pool and a fire are often features of the Palm Springs design style.

Despite the low rainfall, the courtyard swimming pool in Palm Springs is a “must have” even in the smaller landscaped gardens.

Palm Springs gardens often provide a splash of colour with hot torch lilies, geraniums, roses, and bougainvillea.

Palm Springs Landscape Design Style with Agave and Colour contrast provided by red hot poker plant (Kniphofia uvaria)

For the drought tolerant gardens, succulents, ornamental grasses and especially barrel cacti proliferate. The Palm Springs landscapers also make use of the local gravel, abundant boulders and the native palms from the area.

Palm Springs Landscaping Style with Barrel cacti and boulders.

Rancho Mirage near Palm Spring in California is an example of Palm Springs resort style landscaping. Agave and palms with contrasting splashes of colour contrast with the white walls of the buildings.

Indian Canyon Palm Springs. The abundance of boulders and the indigenous palm trees heavily influence the Palm Springs landscape design style.

2. Tuscan Mediterranean style

The design style of the Mediterranean or Tuscan garden is rooted in the choice of landscaping materials, textures and colours. Garden features such as cobbled paving, tiles, stones, bricks and especially terracotta will enhance the Mediterranean feel. Neatly clipped hedges, gravel mulch, and soft colours contrasting with brightly coloured tiles are often features in the Mediterranean and Tuscan gardens. For landscaping Melbourne gardens, consider mixing this with less formal ,drought tolerant plants and plants which give off a pleasant aroma.

Tuscan garden landscape design style with vines growing over a rustic pergola.

The rustic Tuscan garden are often associated with the Italian rural villas and are much less formal than the Italian Renaissance gardens. These gardens often feature deep blues complimenting the terracotta pots or roof tiles as well as olives, agaves and deep green mosaics.

Landscaping with olives in pots on a white balcony. Olives are often a feature of Mediterranean Gardens.

The Boboli Gardens in Florence are an example of a more formal Italian design style, but the crushed granite and earthy colours are also features of the rustic Tuscan gardens.

3. Modern contemporary landscape design

This design style features concrete cantilevered concrete steps and black steel water features with lime green structural planting.

Concrete cantilevered steppers floating steps Modern Contemporary

Balance and symmetry are features of this design style and it is the ideal design style for contemporary homes. In contrast to the design and colours of the Tuscan garden, industrial style raw concrete is common in this style of garden as well as stone and wooden garden ornaments.

Landscape design with structural lime planting and Italian pencil pines.

The symmetry and balance of contemporary landscape design. Patio with Lime green structural plantings.

Modern Contemporary landscape design style video

4. French Provincial design

The French Provincial Landscape Design Style features Hedges, Ornamental Pears, Cobblestone driveways and anduze pots. The hedges are often box hedges (buxus) and flowering plums (prunus).

Anduze pottery has been made in the Anduze commune in the south of France since the early 1600s. The design style influenced by Florentine pottery.

A French Provincial garden with patio and Anduze pots.

The French Provincial style has many similarities with the Tuscan landscaping design style.

The French Provincial house is an influence on this landscape design style.

French Landscape design is influenced by the cobbled streets of France.

5. Coastal Garden Design Style

This design style feature loose plantings of native grasses like Lomandra, native shrubs and whitewashed timber batten screens. Local boulders are also a big part of this landscape design style.

The coastal landscape design style is often used for hardy, low maintenance, commercial landscaping of public spaces.

Coastal Garden design style is often used in commercial landscaping.

Hardy Australian native grasses make an attractive and drought resistant garden.

Sunlight shining through the feathery flowerheads of the native Australian grass Swamp Foxtail, Cenchrus purpurascens. Also known as Fountain Grass.

Coastal Gardens often require clever solutions to protect plants from the fierce ocean winds. One solution is to use a white washed timber batten screen. The gaps in the screen allow some of the air to move through the screen, so minimising the turbulence that occurs with a solid fence. The white batten screens can be used as a design feature and provide contrast with grasses or Xanthorrhoea and Anigozanthos in the garden.

White timber batten screen

Coastal garden plants have to endure salt spray, wind and often not very fertile sandy soils, so Lomandra is ideal for landscaping coastal gardens as it is a very hardy and drought resistant Australian Native Grass with attractive foliage.

The green lomandra makes a great contrast with this grey stone wall.

The green lomandra mass planting makes a great contrast with this grey stone wall.

Lomandra plants being planted in a new coastal garden in Hampton.

Commercial Landscaping Design Trends

In the commercial landscaping of public spaces the design trends are towards sustainability through the use of drought tolerant plant and the handling of rainwater through rain-gardens and permeable concrete. Modern Public Space Design also requires a welcoming and accessible area where people can relax with a range of activities. As with residential landscape design, there is a strong trend towards outdoor entertaining areas where people can relax around a public barbecue.