Don Thomson & Ralph Bristow
The garden at 16 Crest Ave, Deepdene was a collaborative effort between Don Thomson, the principle at Gardenridge Pty Ltd, and Ralph Bristow, the principle at Ralph Bristow Garden Design.
Don Thomson
Don established Gardenridge in 1989, a landscape business that has grown to become a multi-faceted, award-winning landscape company that offers professional services across design, construction and garden maintenance. The entire Gardenridge team are passionate about your garden. They listen carefully to your garden aspirations. This means that your garden receives the highest level of care that is tailored to your exacting needs, leaving you time to enjoy your perfectly leafy surrounds.
Don has tertiary qualifications in Forest Science, Urban Planning, and Landscape Architecture. He has been heavily involved in the Landscape Industry as an Executive committee member; State and National treasurer; Director of Judging in the Victorian Awards of Excellence; and Head judge at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Beyond this, Don has written a regular Gardening column for the Melbourne Weekly and presented regularly for radio 3AW on the Saturday morning Gardening Show. More recently Don has set up a charitable foundation called Vocational Training South East Asia (VTSEA) in partnership with Swinburne University of Technology. VTSEA provides training in horticulture, and employment prospects, to disadvantaged people living in Vietnam.
Ralph Bristow
It has been an absolute pleasure working with Don and the clients on this wonderful collaboration for this front garden in Deepdene.
Ralph Bristow based in Barwite, North East rural Victoria, has tertiary qualifications in Horticulture, Garden Design and Landscape Architecture, creating, working in and designing gardens for 34 years. With a background in historical rural garden restoration on Edna Walling and William Guilfoyle gardens, a master gardener on a number of multi acreage gardens and currently designing gardens in South Australia, Victoria and NSW.
Approaching every design as if it were a blank canvas, Ralph’s Garden designs are dynamic in nature and intuitively conceived to be celebrated, relevant, practical, revealing, delightful and above all enjoyable year-round.
The inspiration behind all of his garden designs is the natural world and the raw, diverse beauty found within it. His extensive knowledge of plants – in addition to resilient design skills – aid in ensuring the unique vision of every client becomes a reality whether the site is a courtyard or a large rural garden.
The gardens themselves are integrated seamlessly into the landscape. Ralph uses the landscape, together with practical integrations and lifestyle to enhance and complement all his projects.
He works extensively with creative combinations, striking a balance between perennials, natives, shrubs, grasses, trees, and hardscape elements.
Within each of Ralph’s inspiring gardens exists a complex layering of plants, an inciteful sensitivity to the surrounds both natural and manufactured all while designed to reveal itself at differing times, ensuring a garden that celebrates every season.
Plants are the best givers!!