This an amazing house which spills over a sandstone outcrop and is placed underneath a giant fig tree. It is sheltered by a stand of Casuarinas and hidden from the street by its rapidly growing native garden. The garden has been in for a couple of years and benefitted greatly from our recent wet Summer. The house is built by Join Constructions and designed by RAAarchitects.

The fig trees create a large amount of shade and made the growing of an understory a little challenging.

Cissus antartica was used both as a fence screening to create privacy and also act as a weed suppressant on the sloped garden under the Figs.

The house has a raised timber walkway and steps to take you down the slope to the entrance. A mixture of Cissus Antartica, Lomandra ‘Tanika’ and Macrozamia communis was used to retain the soil and green up the space.

The brief for the street frontage was to provide screening to allow for an outdoor space on the upper level of the garden. There is a wonderful sense of discovery upon opening the front gate to see what lies within.

The raised timber walkway leads down to the front door. On the right hand side is a small outdoor fire pit area and sun trap hang out space.

The ground is carpeted with Grevillea ‘Gin Gin Gem’, which is such a trooper in part shade. Screening from the street is provided by Callistemon ‘Pink Champagne’, Casuarina ‘Green Wave’, Leptospermum laevigatum and Calothamnus quadrifidus.

On the left hand side behind the garage the empty block next door has been incorporated into the garden planting palette.

Directly under the canopy of the largest fig the native violet is fighting a battle against the Pennywort which with a little help from the owner it should win 😉

In the image above you can see the fire pit and seating rocks with a birdbath in the foreground. This is such a peaceful spot to perch, protected from the wind and sun.

My favourite plants in this garden are the Grevillea ‘Gin Gin Gem’ scrambling in the front seen above and the Maireana oppositifolia ‘Smokey’ pictured below.

I love the way this garden has nestled itself around the house, it enhances the feeling of living in the trees whilst also providing a mini landscape to travel through before arriving at the front door.