Statement pieces

The MIFGS boutique gardens competition is open to emerging and established landscape designers. Working with a 5m x 5m area, their challenge is to create an impactful space that expresses a vision for the modern Australian garden. Take a look at three of the winning designs.

Re-set
Designer: Jocelyn Bennett, Earthcore Landscapes
This native garden featured a gravel path that led across a rock-lined ‘creek’ to a space designed for escaping the rush of everyday life. Designer Jocelyn Bennett set out to show that gardens can be both visually striking and a vital support for local ecosystems – providing food and habitat for native wildlife. While Jocelyn used some unusual natives such as the Western Australian Thomasia discolor, more than 60 per cent of the species – including austral storksbill (Pelargonium australe), yellow buttons (Chrysocephalum apiculatum), common nardoo (Marsilea drummondii) and spreading flax lily (Dianella longifolia) – were indigenous to the Greater Melbourne region. “These plants encourage birds and pollinators into our gardens,” she says. Jocelyn focused on layering foliage textures, using complimentary, muted colours – a palette that would remain interesting throughout the year. “The garden is feminine, soft and calming – there’s no focal point, bold shapes or anything that screams for attention.”

Room to breathe
Designers: Riley Field & Marie-Claire Geach, Lone Pine Landscapes
Featuring a curtain of greenery draped from a circular aperture, this design had irresistible impact. Inspired by biophilic design principles (connecting people with nature by integrating greenery into architecture), the effect was as soothing as it was dramatic. Hanging from the skylight were delicate trailing plants including three types of rhipsalis, string of bananas (Curio radicans syn. Senecio radicans) and Acacia howittii ‘Green Wave’, a type of sticky wattle. Spotlit below were bromeliads and mounded ferns, including bird’s nest fern, maidenhairs (Adiantum spp.), and prickly rasp fern. This type of garden is designed to be viewed, says Marie-Claire Geach: “It would be perfect for an internal courtyard garden or atrium space.”

The new nature
Designers: Carla Perry (Carla Perry Gardens), Alistair Kirkpatrick (Melbourne Polytechnic teacher) & Michael Rochelle (Michael Rochelle Landscapes)
MIFGS is all about showcasing new ideas and this interpretation of an abandoned industrial site with a pink ‘toxic’ pond got people talking. The design explored the need to reclaim and repurpose spaces through thoughtful regeneration, including the use of recycled construction waste, and by using plants to filter contaminants. Plants featured here included broccoli, kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra), Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), Eremophila glabra ‘Hello Cocky’ and ginkgo – all species known for their ability to filter toxins from the air, soil or water.

Text by Elizabeth Wilson and AB Bishop
Photography by Simon Griffiths