Note: This garden was opened in 2016
This garden is a haven for children and the child in all of us. It has a sense of reaching out to you and taking something from within you and bringing it to life.
The people who come to visit walk away feeling like they have reconnected with themselves or parts of themselves.
It is not a garden that fits any particular style or theme, Sunnymeade sits within its own space without the need to be put into a box. It is very organic and natural, formed with what was available to the designers/owners at the time, the hands of the children are all over the garden in one way or another. This is a place for the creative spirited people who live there to dwell and occasionally work creatively when time allows.
This family garden was designed by Ocean Road Landscaping (with the help in the early stages of Sinatra Murphy Architects) to be different and break a few moulds along the way. The gardens natural beauty is found in the graceful Stringy Barks that were a part of the heathland landscape before the house was built. Along the east fence is small patch of remnant natives, which include a variety of native orchids which come up in this patch in the spring. A play space of interesting grass mounds underneath a flying fox leads to a sweeping bed with tough natives growing under the gums, help you have an unsuspecting arrival at the house. There is a meandering path to explore this part of the garden.
Once you wander down the weaving path to the front door you get a feel for the extent of the stone work around the house. The stone is terraced into level beds and softened by rows of grasses used to help provide a loose and free feel to the entry. A Pistachio tree shades the front door and lets winter light in the cooler months. The house is surrounded by a shell grit path with simple groups of plantings on the sides. The rear of the house is occupied by a Moonah forest.
The walls and the entry garden are also influenced by the timber living screen, with parallel plantings coming off in 90 degree angles cutting through the landscape. The screens intention is to help connect the house to the landscape with a green wall. Raised vegetable beds are grown alongside this living screen.
This garden is a little fun and you can see it enjoyed by the adults and the children alike.
This lovely and inspirational garden was recently awarded ‘Best Use of Plants in the Landscape’ by Landscaping Victoria. This has been constructed by Ocean Road Landscaping.