A garden for experimentation | Where Saint Remy’s Seam Lam and Cam Gilmour test ideas, plants & patience

The home garden of Seam Lam and Cam Gilmour — founders of landscape design studio, Saint Remy.

For homeowners Seam Lam and her partner Cam Gilmour, this Melbourne garden is more than just a personal retreat. As the pair behind the landscape design practice Saint Remy, their garden doubles as a place to trial new ideas, explore plant pairings and see what thrives.

Seam (principal designer and director at the studio) and Cam (project director) use the space as an experimental site where theories meet soil and sun. And time does the editing.

This is a garden that’s hands-on, ever-changing and, quite literally, always growing.

Designing for yourself isn’t easy, Seam and Cam soon found out. Wearing both the designer and homeowner hats meant discovering they were some tricky clients — by their own admission.

The pair wanted to bring a sense of the countryside into the heart of their community in Thornbury, Melbourne. The challenge was then creating a naturalistic garden with limited spacing.

The intention behind the design was to create a garden that flowed gently around the home, as if it had always been part of the landscape. Drawing inspiration from meadows, naturalistic planting and perennial gardens that shift with the seasons, the redesign focused on simplicity and practicality.

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“We love plants and trees that move with the seasons. If you’re tuned into the natural world, you notice its rhythms. Epic and minuscule, prolonged and fleeting. Gardens are a wonderful way to stay in touch with those eternal rhythms of nature that are so easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of daily life.”

The original garden on the property wasn’t in great shape. The backyard was completely covered in wall-to-wall synthetic grass that was squelchy in winter, scorched in summer and immensely satisfying to finally remove. The access path running alongside the house resembled more of a pebbled assault course than a proper garden walkway, described as one that “would have given the pebbliest beach in Europe a run for its money”.

Out front, a towering tea tree stretched ambitiously towards the Mornington Peninsula, while a tall brick wall enclosed the porch like a fortress.

The redesign brought softness with structure. A sunny front porch and shady rear deck provide year-round spots to enjoy the garden. The flat, narrow site meant working with a straightforward layout.

White flowering Crepe Myrtles (Lagerstroemia) now anchor the garden at both ends, while laceleaf Japanese maples (Acers) bring lightness to the shaded side. A path of stepping stones leads straight to the studio — turning the daily commute into something a little more joyful.

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“Looking out onto a beautiful garden is good for the soul — inspiring and calming at the same time. We love to step out into the garden to have lunch, take calls or even pull out a few weeds if it’s been a tough day. Free therapy. Much like having artwork on the walls or books on shelves, it’s never a bad thing to surround yourself with beauty and wisdom.”

This garden is far from finished and the transformation of it is ongoing. Just as the garden settles and starts to bloom, it’s often time for another change — to the amusement (and possible confusion) of the neighbours.

It’s the everyday life happening within the garden that really matters. The native wrens nesting in the backyard, the kids turning over stones in search of millipedes and ladybirds, the hum of bees and the work of quiet spiders. It’s the cut flowers from the garden brightening the kitchen table and the scent of herbs picked fresh for a pot of Phô.

The real reward lies in the small, living moments that are constantly happening in this garden.

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“Gardeners are among the happiest people on earth so if you’re new to gardening — congratulations. Life only gets better from here. Beyond that, simply follow your curiosity. Reach out to people who inspire you. And enjoy the journey.”

Key plant list:

Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei ‘Natchez’ (White crepe myrtle)
Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Seiryu’ (Laceleaf Japanese maple)
Miscanthus transmorrisonensis (Evergreen feather grass)
Salvia yangii (Russian sage — formerly known as Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Pycnosorus globosus (Billy buttons)
Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’ (Sedum)
Echinacea purpurea ‘Primadonna White’
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Boston ivy)
Dichondra repens
Arthropodium cirratum (Rengarenga)
Ligularia reniformis (Tractor seat plant)
Dahlia ‘Hot Shot’
Rosa ‘Mr Lincoln’ (Rose)

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