This cleverly designed Melbourne garden has been influenced by the contours of the land and its surrounding plantings. The result is a palette that favours softness, connection and a sense of gentle continuity.
This story was first told Sage Vol. 1: Life among plants
Amongst the established greenery in Melbourne’s suburb of Rosanna, a new garden is coming into its own. Designed by Andy Murray of Andy Murray Landscape Design, it was conceived in 2021, planted in 2023, and is now beginning to hit its stride.
Set on a sloping block, the site came with its challenges – but also opportunity. The surrounding neighbourhood is a mix of suburban and established gardens, offering the benefit of borrowed landscape, including fruit trees that hang over fences and a towering Eucalyptus just beyond the boundary. The property also included a raised swimming pool – something the homeowners were keen to integrate into the broader garden design.
The design approach was to work with the land, not against it. Instead of cutting into the slope or adding retaining walls, Andy added stairways, banks and generous planting to settle the garden into the contours. It’s a more natural way of managing elevation, both visually and practically, and one that allowed more of the budget to go toward planting.
Organic form
Paths have been gently curved and graded, their rough edges blurred into massed groundcovers. Large granite boulders hold some of the level changes, their colour chosen to complement the original brickwork of the house. A small copse of golden rain trees (Koelreuteria paniculata) is set to grow into a light canopy over the entry, giving the feeling of being drawn into the garden.
Throughout the space, perennials are layered with changing textures – shifting and spilling from their beds. The idea was to let the garden feel generous without being overly showy, and to bring softness to what could otherwise be a fairly structured site.
The neighbouring planting played an important role in shaping the palette. Andy took cues from next door – fig and citrus trees, a shared backdrop of fruiting species – and continued the story within the site itself. New trees were planted to echo the existing ones, so the transition between properties is barely noticeable. The result is a garden that feels larger and more established than it actually is.
Embedded elements
At the rear of the property, the raised swimming pool was terraced into the slope, reducing the need for fencing and helping the structure sit more naturally in the site. In summer, the pool is framed by loose planting, with perennials cascading over the edges, enclosing swimmers in colour and scent.
An existing landing and deck were retained and softened with ground covers and shade-tolerant planting below – Fatsia japonica, Euphorbia robbiae, Helleborus argutifolius and trailing campanula among them.
The owners also wanted space for productive gardening, so a set of white cypress vegetable beds were built using reclaimed windbreak timber. These exist within the wider garden without feeling like a separate zone.
This garden sits easily within its surroundings. It flows with the slope, borrows from its neighbours and gives back in return. The planting moves with a lightness, while the site has been handled pragmatically. It’s both considered and unforced – a space with a sense of belonging.
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Plant palette
Perennials & border plants
- Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ (anise hyssop)
- Arthropodium cirratum (rengarenga)
- Aster tataricus
- Campanula poscharskyana (Serbian bellflower)
- Echinacea pallida
- Eupatorium ‘Glutenball’ (Joe Pye weed)
- Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii
- Geum ‘Red Wings’
- Helenium ‘Zimbelstern’
- Helleborus argutifolius
- Iris ‘Gerald Derby’ (bearded iris)
- Ligularia reniformis (tractor seat plant)
- Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’ (Russian sage)
- Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage)
- Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’
- Stachys byzantina (lamb’s ear)
- Verbena bonariensis
Grasses
- Bambusa textilis ‘Gracilis’ (bamboo)
- Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ (feather reed grass)
- Dichelachne crinita (spear grass)
- Lomandra filiformis
- Miscanthus sinensis ‘Kleine Fontane’ (Japanese silver grass)
Climbers
- Clematis armandii
- Parthenocissus henryana (silver vein creeper)
Groundcovers
- Dichondra repens (kidney weed)
- Pratia pedunculata (white star creeper)
- Viola hederacea (native violet)
Trees & shrubs
- Acmena smithii ‘Minor’ (lilly pilly)
- Cotinus ‘Grace’ (smoke bush)
- Elaeocarpus reticulatus (blueberry ash)
- Fatsia japonica
- Koelreuteria paniculata (golden rain tree)
- Leucopogon parviflorus (coast beard-heath)
- Viburnum odoratissimum ‘Awabuki’ (Japanese viburnum)
Fruit trees
- Fig, key lime, lemon, mandarin, persimmon, quince
