Landscape

By Gabrielle Stannus

Have you ever thought that your local creek was a little down at heel and that much more could be done to make it a community asset? I spoke with Gail Hall, Melbourne Water’s Healthy Waterways Strategy Co-delivery Coordinator to find out how creeks are being reimagined across that city, and how horticultural and landscape professionals can be part of that transformation.… Continue reading

Fifth Season Landscapes believes that great results come from working collaboratively, and winning six accolades for their Clareville Project alone, in the 2022 Landscape Excellence Awards, proves that their approach works.

Nestled seamlessly on Clareville Beach, Sydney, the Chatswood-based team created a relaxed haven for the owners that melds beautifully with the surrounding environment, subtly blending both beach and bush settings.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

Keen-eyed readers may recall that I wrote Hort Journal’s Interior Plantscaping article until recently and have a strong interest in design that integrates the indoors with the outdoors. So, when I heard that a former interior architect had just received one of the Australian Institute of Horticulture’s (AIH) top awards for students, I knew I had to find out more about her.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

Rees Campbell is well-known in lutruwita/Tasmania for Eat Wild Tasmanian, her seminal work on native edible plants first published in 2018 and revised and expanded as Eat More Wild Tasmanian this year. Rees describes herself as a Tasmanian by birth and attitude, and she is passionate about promoting the value of the marvellous bounty found within this state’s bush.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

Well-known designer, Matt Leacy, is a regular media commentator and column writer. Recent TV presenting roles have seen him as Channel 10’s Landscaper to ‘The Living Room’, and Channel Nine’s ‘Domestic Blitz’ and ‘Garden Gurus’. He regularly features on ABC TV’s Dream Gardens, as well as on Channel 10’s Studio 10 and Channel Nine’s The Today Show.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

Most of us understand integrated pest management (IPM) as an environmentally sensitive way of managing pests and diseases in plants, be they in productive, environmental, or ornamental landscapes. IPM includes cultural, chemical, biological, genetic, and physical methods to control garden and landscape pests.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

Halfway between a shade sail and a tree, the Canopee is an innovative form of green infrastructure designed to increase canopy cover and mitigate the impact of climate change in our urban concrete jungles. Of French origin, the use of these structures is now ‘growing’ across Australia.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

Could you create a balcony or small courtyard garden five metres in width by four metres depth within a budget of $8,000? That is the challenge given to landscape design students entering the Achievable Gardens competition each year at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Carlton Gardens.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

After a three-year absence from our event calendar, the 2022 Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (MIFGS) once again bloomed into action, with more than 103,000 people in attendance at Carlton Gardens and the Royal Exhibition Building. With so much on display, it was hard not to experience sensory overload.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

As Victoria moves to a circular economy and its landfill levies increase, one business in that state has learnt that doing more with existing soils on site, makes better sense environmentally and financially. Their recycling story will make you rethink how you reuse existing soils on site in your landscaping projects.… Continue reading

By Gabrielle Stannus

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than one seeks” John Muir, 19 July 1877¹. Taking a break from work to immerse yourself in nature can leave you feeling reinvigorated, and provide you with fresh design inspiration, as my partner and I found when we took a ‘little’ road trip along Tasmania’s west coast during summer.… Continue reading

By John Fitzsimmons

Plant communities or mixed plantings, whatever you call them, are incredibly popular right now. It’s exciting seeing the work being done to show the public just what’s possible – evocative, romantic, instead of the block plantings or module-based plantings often used.… Continue reading

Report by John Fitzsimmons –

Given the challenges of the last two years, organisations like Landscaping Victoria Master Landscapers (LVML) must have been sweating on ultimately delivering The Landscape Show 2021 at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne recently. As it happened though, all organisers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees fortuitously found a window ahead of the (yet another) COVID-19 lockdown and some extreme winter weather events.… Continue reading

By Michael Casey –

‘They are quiet, clean and offer complete freedom in use’ states Stihl tools. Here they’re referring to their battery-operated power tool range. Makita and Husqvarna are also providing similar statements about their range of battery-operated power tools.… Continue reading

By John Fitzsimmons –

Last issue painted the big landscape picture from the 2021 Australian Landscape Conference, leaving several rich understoreys of ideas to be conveyed in this report.

Several topics could be grouped under the subject of ‘plant selection’ and issues like using the words ‘management’ or ‘care’ in design submissions, instead of ‘maintenance’ with its connotations of a cost to be minimised rather than an investment in the ultimate health, value, benefit, utility, longevity and success of the gardens designed and implemented.… Continue reading

The former Pentridge Prison in the northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg has undertaken a transformation, turning a decommissioned landmark of controversial history into a new residential and retail precinct.

“ASPECT Studios is dedicated to transforming brownfield sites in our inner cities into thriving new communities, that also protect and value their past lives and the deep histories of places and people,” said Kirsten Bauer, Landscape Architect and Director of ASPECT Studios.… Continue reading

By Andrew Munro

You’ve just finished the house renovations, then comes an awkward question from your partner: “So how are we going to finish off the backyard?”

Facing this common dilemma were the owners of a hillside Terrigal property located north of Sydney.… Continue reading

Committed to promoting women in medical research and science, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research discovered one of the key barriers to the ongoing career advancement of women in this professional field, was access to adequate childcare. To assist in the removal of this hurdle, the Professor Lynn Corcoran Early Learning Centre in Parkville, Victoria was opened in June 2018.… Continue reading

By John Fitzsimmons –

Since 1989 The Australian Landscape Conference has sought to inspire, provoke thought and discussion, and take the art and practise of landscaping to amazing places, wherever or whatever they may be. Through a pandemic and a change of ownership, the biennial-ish event recently re-emerged in Melbourne, generating a positive response in-person and online from upwards of 700 participants around the world, and presentations from Japan, Sweden, the UK and USA and, of course, Australia.… Continue reading