One of my favourite landscape design projects in Cairns is the garden that I designed for an acreage property in Redlynch at Bellmere Lane. The client was the Fortress Group www.bellmere.com.au who has created a wonderful rural acreage development in Cairns, combining the attractions of a rural and tropical lifestyle. The brief for the house and garden was to create a heritage-feel and the architect (MMP Architects) www.mmparchitects.com.au, client and contractors worked closely throughout the project so that the final product is what exactly what I had hoped for when drawing this garden. The developer has introduced a great new street tree into Cairns for this project – the Eumundi Quandong (Elaeocarpus eumundi), which though it needs regular pruning to keep a formal shape, certainly creates the “feel “that everyone was looking for.
I used a restricted plant palette rather than the more popular tropical style. Plants used included baby Gardenias, white Ixoras and contrasting baby Cordylines combined with Australian native species such as Lilly Pillies for screening.
Currently I am designing other gardens in this same development and these clients too, are keen gardeners, so I look forward to completing them.