The garden architect is always considering key views
We all bring a lot of ourselves into the design process. For me, I bring a lifetime of gardening experience and the knowledge common within the professions I am trained in: Landscape Architecture & Urban Design.
So for the next example, I will share with you the perspective of a Landscape Architect (LA) / Urban Designer (UD) when designing a 140m heavy clay garden. Note this is the same site addressed in the previous blog Indigenous garden design with heavy clay soils .
The LA/UD begins by thinking about how people will occupy the places created, and about the connections they will develop over time. In order to successfully translate this way of thinking into a garden design context we need to follow the LA/UD process.
The process of LA/UD
The LA/UD begins the process of understanding the site with a design brief . The design brief sets the context for the project and through this process a certain design ’empathy’ can be developed. Developing a design brief should be an iterative process that goes between the designer and the client which results in a shared vision for the project.
In the case of the 140m clay heavy backyard the vision for the garden is as follows:
- An entirely Melbourne Indigenous planting pallet
- A series of ‘outdoor rooms’ that create the wide variety of garden moments (from playing in the sun to sitting quietly in the shade)
- Connections with lines of sight, spatial experience, symbolism and memory
- A flat indigenous lawn/play area
- A frog bog/ephemeral pond to attract a variety of birds, lizards and insects to the garden
- An ordered, neat planting to set rhythm and bring unity into the garden as a whole
When these objectives are applied to this project, the design can look like the example below. It is the process behind how the LA/UD arrives at a design which makes the project a work of LA/UD or not.
The Landscape Architect: Hard scape design
The LA/UD primary concerns are spatial organisation which means the designs functional aspects are first conceptualized without a planting overlay
The Landscape Architect: Indigenous Planting Design
Vegetation follows form and form follows function
LA/UD Method
The LA/UD design method differs from the previous three design examples given because the LA/UD generally chooses to bring the planting layers in at a later stage in the design process. For the LA/UD, the plants are subservient to the greater spatial intent of the design. This is in contrast to the other design methods I have previously provided; all of which began by choosing planting combinations before applying them to the garden.
The LA/UD carefully shapes the site before applying plants to it. Given how difficult this site condition is, the LA would most probably bring in top soil, irrigation and take whatever steps necessary to ensure plant growth and reduce the maintenance requirement.
The LA UD planting design
For the Indigenous lawn Microlaena Stipoides has been suggested with Dichondra repens as an understory and Austrodanthonia Setacea as a rapidly seeding companion grass. Over time, the Microlaena will take over but in the short term you will need grasses that can fill the vacant spaces between. For this to work a quantity of top soil will need to be imported placed over the clay in this area. Irrigation will significantly assist the Microlaena establish in the early years. The Dichondra may be a second or third year inclusion once the tussocks have established and a overstory has grown.
Within the frog bog terrestrial rushes that can handle drying out through summer have been used, such as Ficinia Nodosa. Depending upon the water retention levels through summer, I might consider Lobelia pedunculata as potential water plant. If year round moisture was retained in the clay I may also consider Mentha Diemenica around the pond edge. For the health of the frogs it is important that the clay does dry out over the summer months.
In order to produce an ordered ‘uniformity’ I have suggested using one low herb rich grassland mix but have expanding the species number to 5-6 plants. In putting this group together I would intermix rapid self seeders such as Senecio quadridentatus and Rytidosperma setaceum with yearlong performers such as Dianella admixta and Calocephalus citreus.
For the small to medium shrubs I have suggested a repetitious planting for the purpose of garden structure. Within this I would include Indigofera australis and Goodenia ovata with a possible medium shrub choice being Acacia Stricta.
The LA/UD design would result in a garden that appears much less ‘natural’ when compared to the previous designs. It would however be much a more useable garden space and through the re-grading the site, the design would retain more moisture and apply the principals of Water Sensitive Urban Design whilst adding significantly to the soils ecology.
For most people, an approach somewhere between the perspectives presented in the last 4 blogs is going to be appropriate. Whichever mode of designing leads you to a garden design you are happy with will be the right method for you.
Have fun. Happy planting,
Ben
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