Longueville - Formed Gardens

10-11 March 2018

The Longueville garden started with Peter Glass & Associates who were involved in the pool design.

The brief from the client was to create a functional pool and garden that would blend and connect to their beloved Tamborine Bay environment.

Being a sloped site, terracing was a fundamental part of dealing with the level change from the house down to the bay.

The design evolved as a series of differing terraced spaces, from the pool & entertaining areas at the top of the site, through a sequence of lawn and planted spaces that lead down to the lower lawn, boathouse and waterfront entertaining areas at the bottom. All of which are connected by a timber and limestone stairway that bleeds in and out of the garden as it weaves through the site.

The materials used for the terraced walls, paving and stairs along with the planting design would form a critical part of softening the level changes and adding an intimacy to each of the private spaces within the site.

Handcrafted sandstone walls from excavated site stone deposits were used for the majority of the retaining walls.

Oversized stone boulders also from salvaged excavated material were selectively positioned throughout the garden and lawn to mimic rock forms around the bay.

Recycled wharf timbers from an old deconstructed wharf in Woolloomooloo were selected for the stairs,  timber decking & boat ramp.

The planting design is predominantly native, comprising a mix of grey-green tones and textures that reflect the surrounding environment. Clipped mounded forms of Westringia, Correa, and Echium continue to mimic the rolling bay foreshore and rock formations. Sweeps of Lomandra grasses break up the shrub forms while massed planted Carpobrotus & Myoporum groundcovers spread between and over walls to soften and add flowering interest.