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357 Cleveland St, Redfern, Sydney
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ATRIUM AND ROOFTOP - WALSH BAY
Posted on 20 May 2013 - 10:20pm in Blog
We first helped Robert and Annabelle with their contemporary Walsh Bay townhouse about ten years ago. The slick home is built on four levels, with an internal atrium covering the top 2 floors. The original garden had worked really well but was starting to look tired and needed updating. They came back to see us and asked us to think with fresh eyes and come up with a new scheme.
I really love working in these small urban spaces, as it’s such a challenge to get them right. The inner atrium is seen from all three sides of the house. There is no room for error here – it’s all on show. Larger gardens are more forgiving, can hide the odd plant that may not be working but small space garden design has to be spot on.
I wanted to add texture in almost everything we put in – there are so many hard surfaces to soften and deflect.
On the dominating two storey walls we installed a series of handmade Iron Jalis to add some texture and depth. Banksia integrifolia provided the main focus for the planting, we wanted to use something natural and with a wild feel. We designed a large amoebic planter to house the new tree and placed a smaller planter opposite massed with aspidistra.
Slick pieces of warm sandstone on the floor give direction and definition with Nepean gravel in-between.
Quick Tips for gardening in small urban spaces:
1. The scale has to be right to create impact. Make bold gestures, and avoid lots of small stuff.
2. Use the vertical spaces, often there are walls to grow climbers on or install screens.
3. Use lightweight planters to make the installation easy, and they can move with you
4. Keep it simple – less is definitely more
5. Create interesting compositions of plants that contrast with each other
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Richard's Travel to India!
Posted on 8 May 2013 - 10:47pm in Blog
I’ve recently returned from a five day buying trip to India, which had its fair share of adventure and the usual elements of mayhem.
Full of colour and movement, there really is an assault on the senses in everything and everywhere I went.
Whilst in Delhi I always like to walk down Chadni Chowk. The ancient main shopping street in Old Delhi, is just full of, well everything!
Street hawkers, chai wallahs, chaps making bespoke paan in a betel leaf (a digestive with spices one chews over time and spits out after). People selling rubber bands in neon colours, loofahs, beads and all the fresh spices you can think of…
... women making fresh flower garlands, men cycling with rickshaws laden to the hilt. Madness and chaos and yet in some way it all has its own sense of order.
Ghandi created the ‘khadi’ movement in the early 1900’s in a bid to stimulate the local textile industries and ensure skills were not forgotten. The first shop is still there, almost frozen in time. It’s a co-operative of merchants who sell shirts, tea towels, sheets etc. no computers, all the accounts still written in triplicate.
In Rajasthan I hunted for unique old pieces of stone, iron, copper and marble to bring back, and I found some great pieces this trip.
Also some further great merchants and stores – my favourite being the twine and string sellers. All kinds, all shapes and sizes. A few Sydney stylists I know would have had a field day there!
On overnight 12 hour train trip marked the end of the visit. I was in a 2nd class sleeper. Clean sheets and pillow, being rocked gently to sleep and woken with some hot sweet chai, what more could you want? There were a few very sobering sights as we entered back into the suburbs, the slums of Delhi alive and well. We indeed have lots to be grateful for in our comfortable lives….
India is such a wonderfully vibrant and colourful country. It was a pleasure to be swept up in the beauty of a land showered with culture and energy – the purpose of the trip, to find wares rich in history and I’m very excited to show these in the store in the coming months! Keep an eye out on the Garden Life Instagram and Facebook page for some sneak previews soon!
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James Street Reserve Community Garden!
Posted on 24 April 2013 - 4:48pm in Blog
Last Saturday saw a good turnout for the monthly working bee in the James Street Reserve Community garden. The rain held off for a while before the showers came – but we soldiered on! (ok, so I left a little early if I’m being really honest)
There was loads going on – Our seed queen Mel (she looks after our seed collection) and Nicola held a soft-tip cutting propagation workshop, and we all gave it a good Aussie go. Education is a large part of the garden, which the head gardener Jon constantly encourages.
Lydia had a great crop of radishes in her bed (she has sooo many). They are a terrific thing to grow – fast and simple. Great for kids to sow from seed and then just watch them come up.
In the big bed there was something a little Easter egg hunt-like about the harvest of sweet potato. The sweet tubers just sit at the top of the soil and the golden skin pops out of the top. Easy to grow from cuttings in a full sun position. Make sure your soil is enriched with well-rotted manure and plant in raised beds or raised mounds to ensure good drainage.
On another bed Tom and Tamara planted some parsley seeds which hopefully will be popping up in the next week or so. I think if I could only plant one thing in a garden it would be flat-leaf Parsley – can’t get enough of it. It’s not fussy, will last a couple of years and just likes a sunny spot and water now and again.
The garden is located at the back of the shop and well worth a visit next time you are in. Feel free to drop in and walk round, the gates are always open.
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BACSAC PLANTERS ARRIVE
Posted on 24 April 2013 - 11:08am in Blog
We here at Garden Life love a new product. We are fortunate enough to be able to travel the world to source exciting product and are proud to present these to the Sydney community. These products range from the innovative and contemporary to the ancient and historical.
We’re pretty excited to introduce today the inventive BACSAC range of French portable planters, available exclusively in Sydney through Garden Life.
The BACSAC family is the sum of a team of designers and landscapers who worked together to find an alternative solution to gardening in small spaces whilst holding the ability to be transported whilst fully planted, responding to a transient lifestyle. These chic planters can move when you move!
These smart products don’t just have a pretty face however, they are also incredibly smart. Understanding the needs of what a plant requires to thrive is the very premise of the BACSAC. Constructed from a complex blend of materials, the product allows it’s user to plant directly into its body. For a potted plant to thrive, its home must possess a necessary balance of air, potting mix and water, the Bacsac’s composition understands this and assists a plant to prosper to even the meekest of green thumbs! Less stress equals happy plants right?
The strong geotextile material is UV-cured and resistant to temperature extremes, tearing and abrasion meaning that these trendy pieces will probably be around with the cockroaches after the apocalypse. The genius lightweight planters protect the roots of the plant, whilst reducing evaporation of moisture and distribute water by its own volition – smart indeed they are.
Enough about their smarts and back to their pretty face, the Bacsac is available in 4 sizes and 3 strong colours, Ashpalte, Avocado and Zinc. These chic and intuitive planters are suitable for any space, either blending into a scenery or becoming the star of the show.
The BACSAC planters available in store now – a fun alternative to come and check out.
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Farmers Markets – French Style!!
Posted on 5 February 2013 - 3:19pm in BlogOn my recent travels I stumbled upon the Sunday growers markets in Place de Bastille in Paris. Talk about getting all Frenched up!
As a child I was lucky enough to be taken to Brittany on our annual Summer holidays and have splendid memories of farmers markets before they were a thing of the upwardly mobile city slickers of today. I marvelled at the exotic looking seafood displays, the verdant veggies just plucked from the ground (in particular globe artichokes always remind me of our hols, dipping the leaf into aioli and scraping the moist flesh with my teeth, YES!).
I indulged in a traditional crepe with a big fat pork sausage, some local cheese and egg (my young niece Rosie decided on the nutella/coconut combo).
It was freezing, piles of fresh crunchy snow underfoot in the city – so so pretty. At night we went out in Pigalle, threw snowballs at tourist buses and checked out the Christmas courtyard at the George V Hotel which is always so inspiring. Ahhh how could anyone not like Paris??
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Turkish Travels
Posted on 22 January 2013 - 3:45pm in BlogI'm in Turkey right now, hunting around to put together a collection of planters and gorgeous old pieces.
Meet Yusuf, what an awesome man with a big smile. He and his two brothers, Mehmet and Mustafa have been trading and collecting antiques all their lives, learning the business from their father as children.
Amongst the haul, I have found interesting old olive buckets, whitewashed oedemis urns, 350 year old huge old jar from Greece and some gorgeous old wool and goat hair kilims.
Im also a huge fan of the Hamams in Turkey - there is something about lying on a hot slab of 13th century marble and being scrubbed to within an inch of one's life - no pics of that though!
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Garden Life And Cool Hunter At The Cool House!!
Posted on 12 December 2012 - 12:57pm in BlogWe have been busy little beavers here at Garden Life.
As well as the usual pre-Christmas ramp up in the store we have set up a pop up shop opened in collaboration with renowned style bloggers The Cool Hunter.
Bill Tikos from TCH approached us to design and set up the balcony of The Cool House - now open in Bondi Beach until this Sunday December 16th.
A celebration of all things bright and beautiful, the glammy temporary store is situated in the Bondi Pacific display penthouse, sitting atop the soon to be demolished Swiss Grand Hotel Bondi.
It’s a perfect opportunity to shop amongst a hand-picked selection of uber cool stuff for Christmas or just be inspired and browse at the contemporary artwork, homewares, accessories and of course a beautiful balcony installation.
It’s a very exposed site and we used a tough, hardy and striking plant palette as well as creating great compositions of our essential lightweight cylinder pots, painted in Murobond Bridge paint for a luxe feel. When juxtaposed against our collection of unique brass, marble and terracotta pieces from Turkey, India and Sri Lanka the results speak for themselves!
For more info check out www.thecoolhunter.com.au
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