I've just completed a small soft landscaping job in South Yarra. The site involves common ground for four large apartments and the residents are mostly all owner occupiers.

The site is initially very harsh on the eye. It is a tall grey building, featuring grey pillars and a grey brick front fence. The garden has been neglected with only a few pink Roses, Gardenias and Camellia's surviving with a flourishing (pink flowering) Hibiscus. The job brief was initially to replace the front turf area. So that's what I did. However I'm not a fan of small turf areas. My preference is to remove the turf and onvert the area to garden bed. By doing this you will reduce your overall water and maintenance requirements.

In any case, the job brief extended following the lawn work. I spoke to the residents and we agreed that the four existing garden bed areas that were made up of mixed plantings and a strip of lawn need a make over. So up came the strips of lawn and the garden beds were extended. The front fence-line has been planted with Olive trees which will be pleached and provide a tall softening screen effect. A secondary planting of Osmanthus fragrans will be hedged as a two tier effect with the Olives to provide a solid structure for the front. The Buxus hedge along the front wall of the apartments wasn't performing and so it was removed to make way for a Rosemary hedge planting.

You will see in the photos areas of extending grey brick work. Here I have planted Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Boston Ivy) to make its way up the grey pillars which will soften the entire landscape. Other plants used in the garden beds had to be able to suit the existing pink flowering plants, so here I've include Loropetalum 'China Blush', Rhaphiolepis umbellata, Sedum 'Autumn Joy' amongst a mix of silver ground cover and grassy/strappy like foliage plants.

The landscape is in it's very infantile stage and the true test of development will be to see what sort of first year results in late Spring, Summer and Autumn bring and then how the garden develops over the years to come. For now all the residents are happy. It's great to see people's facial and body expressions become so positive as plants arrive on site and are planted and mulched.