2023 / Avenue Achievable Gardens

Orbis means 'to circle'. My landscape design for the Melbourne Flower & Garden Show asks you to look at the meaning of this name in a few different ways.

Firstly, you are invited to embrace the cyclic seasonal variation in gardens and the different forms a plant can take throughout the year. This is seen in the meadow which includes local native grasses, which have yellowed and dried and herbs that have been left to go to seed. My second aim is for people to think about the life cycle of their hardscaping materials.

The Mediterranean inspired courtyard features a recycled office chair come recliner and vine covered trellis made from salvaged metal. This is surrounded by a retaining wall of broken cement pavers. I find the weathered look of recycled materials soft and inviting.

Finally, the grove of Corymbia citriodora with an underplanting of Indigenous and native groundcovers was created to provide habitat for wildlife with the inclusion of mounds of small rocks, sourced from an excavation job and three microbat boxes hung on the fence. With the addition of a fountain to provide clean drinking water for the native wildlife that will hopefully make this garden their home.