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Before its makeover, this Sydney garden featured several mature trees, some retaining paths, and ruins of stonework that revealed hints of the garden’s former glory.
Nelson Thomas Landscape Architects recognised the property was likely originally designed in the style of Edna Walling — one of Australia’s most influential landscape designers from around the mid 1900s.
This history, combined with the owners’ love of perennial and arts and crafts gardens, set the tone for the garden’s next iteration.
‘We created the Oatlands gardens for a couple of garden enthusiasts embracing retirement,’ Nelson Thomas Landscape Architects’ Kate Robinson says.
‘The generous block [spanning 1500 square metres] had been their home for many years.’
As passionate gardeners, the clients envisioned a landscape that would be both beautiful and engaging all year round, with revitalised paths, lawns, pedestrian entrance, a pool and alfresco dining spaces.
It needed to be a place with ample opportunities where they could enjoy outdoor living to the fullest.
‘The result is a series of defined garden rooms, each framed by layered, colourful planting designed to provide seasonal interest and enjoyment throughout the year,’ Kate says.
Formal and informal pathways meander across the site, linking to different zones across varying levels.
To improve accessibility, new crazy paving pathways replaced the original rugged paths, while additional stonework walls featuring salvaged materials were introduced to create more subtle level changes, alongside colourful woodland-type plantings — a hallmark of Edna’s signature style.
Rows of Lavandula ‘Lavish Blue’ (lavender), Salvia leucantha (Mexican sage bush) and Anemone japonica (Japanese wind flower) add to the garden’s whimsical atmosphere, accompanied by textural foliage from Phoenix roebelenii (pygmy date palm) and Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Prostratus’ (creeping rosemary).
Among the layered mix of perennials, succulents and natives ensure the garden is in a ‘constant state of flux’ for the client’s to exercise their green thumbs as the seasons change.
‘Knowing they will maintain and edit this garden as they grow old together is very satisfying,’ Kate adds proudly. ‘We look forward to seeing how this one evolves.’
