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The initial inspiration behind Phillip Withers’ Saltbush installation at the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show came after the landscape designer spent time on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula during the pandemic.
‘Most specifically, the Buckley Park Foreshore between Ocean Grove and Point Lonsdale,’ Phillip says. ‘I studied the vegetation along the coastline, investigating its natural climate and habitats.’
He channelled the plantings as they appeared on the coast, as well as inland and wetland areas, and put together a contemporary and enchanting display, featuring more than 3000 Indigenous plants from across Victoria.
The garden looked to celebrate ‘nature in a garden sense’, proving how even functional residential gardens can help re-establish biodiversity, by using local plantings, and creating spaces for local wildlife.
It’s always a shame to see these ambitious installations go to waste at the end of the annual five-day MFGS showcase. That’s why Phillip and his team have since repurposed elements of the hardscaping, softscaping and other features from their Saltbush display garden, into a more permanent setting, in a client project in East Geelong, dubbed Saltbush on The Bellarine.
At the front of the heritage home, the original verandah and lattice-work fence have been retained to create a welcoming entrance garden, complete with mini-ponds cut into bluestone boulders to create little bird baths.
The backyard is a sea of natives and greenery, featuring diverse plantings across four functional ‘zones’.
In the general ‘landscape zone’, organic garden beds are filled with predominantly Indigenous plants local to the Bellarine Peninsula, to optimise growth and minimise the need for supplementary watering.
Around the magnesium pool, coastal vegetation like Atriplex cinerea (grey saltbush), Alyxia buxifolia (sea box) and fluffy grasses create a sense of immersion.
The adjoining deck creates an ‘entertainment zone’ bordered by Bursaria spinosa (sweet bursaria) — which Phillip says makes another great habitat for local wildlife — as Eucalyptus leucoxylon (yellow gum) and Banksia marginata (silver banksia) trees provide sculptural height and shade across the spaces.
There’s also kid’s area featuring a cubby house, dotted with loose flowers, herbs and fruit plantings to encourage the owners’ kids to get involved in the garden too.
‘The colours are natural and emulate the coastline from the use of grey, brown sand through the ground plan and materials, to the green and blue hues and warm flowers that the west Victorian coastline does so well,’ Phillip says.
And much like the natural coastline not far from the East Geelong home, the garden is beautiful well beyond the summer months, when the plants change and reveal bushy seed heads.
Above all, Phillip says the project celebrates a connection to place. It’s a functional, beautiful, and fitting landscape that reinforces the importance of designing with the local environment front of mind.
