Tropical Courtyard
(Silver Medal Winner, AILDM 2019)
After completing a full house renovation, the client turned their attention to the garden. They wanted a lush, immersive space that felt like an extension of the home.
The Challenge
Create a lush, layered garden that enhances privacy and year-round interest.
- Introduce a seating area where the client could feel enveloped by greenery.
- Ensure a mix of seasonal and evergreen plants for continuous visual interest.
- Improve privacy, as the garden was overlooked by rear neighbours.
The Design Solution
A crescent-shaped lawn was created to soften the rectangular shape of the space, allowing for deeper planting beds.
A cantilevered bench was built into one of these planting beds, and the rear wall of the bench was raised, adding an extra metre of height to the newly planted trees. This maximised privacy and delivered the client’s vision of being surrounded by nature.
The planting scheme included flowering deciduous trees, evergreen grasses, shrubs, and perennials, ensuring vibrant seasonal changes while maintaining year-round structure.
The Result
This Sydney courtyard is now a lush, tranquil retreat, offering the immersive experience the client envisioned while balancing seasonal and evergreen planting for constant beauty.
Fun Fact:
This garden was home to funnel-web spiders, one of the world’s most venomous spiders, which burrowed in the soil during construction.
We are very happy with the work Ryan did redesigning both our front and back garden in Leichhardt.
He was able to create an original and practical design from our vague ideas as to what we wanted and our garden looks fabulous. It feels like we have two new rooms in our house. Ryan is very responsive to feedback and was able to recommend some excellent contractors to do the work for us. During construction phase Ryan kept a close eye on what was happening and was always available to answer questions.
We highly recommend Ryan as someone with great ideas and very easy to work with.
