6 Front Yard Landscape Design Elements (Colonel Light Gardens).
Adelaide landscapers Visual Landscape Gardening, with over 30 years experience landscaping Adelaide gardens were hired to landscape the front yard of this Colonel Light Gardens home.
As the front yard had never been professionally landscaped, we started with a blank canvas. The clients wanted a landscape design that was easy to maintain but natural, full of plants that would delight the senses.
The following 6 landscaping elements were used to create the complete project.
Colourbond Post And Rail Fence
The existing boundary fence had seen better days, so it was removed and replaced with a new Colourbond post and rail fence above a concrete plinth. The concrete plinth acts as a retaining wall, stepping down to follow the natural slope.
Paved Driveway
After excavating the driveway area to reach the required ‘bench level’, Quartzite Quarry rubble was compacted to a depth of 150mm.
To handle the weight of vehicles, 60mm pavers were used to pave the driveway. Best 400mm x 400mm bevelled edge pavers were selected in ‘Slate’ colour and laid using a 90° ‘Stack Bond’ paving pattern to match the existing pavers under the Garage. Normally, ‘Stretcher Bond’ or ‘Herringbone’ paving patterns would be recommended for paving driveways due to their locking properties. The concrete plinth under the fence, the concrete footing under the side verandah, a concrete beam to the front of the driveway and a concrete edge to the driveway pavers by the lawn stop the pavers from moving or twisting from vehicle movement on the pavers.
Sir Walter Buffalo Lawn
Before laying Sir Walter Buffalo instant roll out lawn, 150mm of sandy loam was spread out as the base.
Sir Walter Buffalo was chosen for its low thatch, green appearance all year round; especially during the Winter months and because it’s very drought tolerant, requiring less water during Summer than other types of instant lawn such as Santa Anna. The lawn was top-dressed and fertilised.
Garden Bed
Brick pavers, 230mm x 115mm x 75mm were used to border the lawn and garden bed. ‘Old Red’ was chosen to match the home’s brick colour.
The garden bed was planted out with ‘Lilly Pilly’, a fast growing but easy to maintain hedging plant to the fence line. Various fruit trees were planted along the lawn edge. The garden bed was covered with a high quality organic, water saving mulch.
Drip Irrigation & Pop Up Sprinklers
A fully automatic drip irrigation system was laid to the garden bed, on a timer to ensure the plants get enough water all year round.
Pop up sprinklers, again fully automated on timers were installed to water the instant lawn.
Vertical Garden
To cover the fence, when seen on the back verandah from the side, a feature wall was erected using a vertical garden.
Vertical gardens are extremely versatile and can be easily changed and maintained. This particular vertical garden was constructed on a Heathstone concrete block wall and was watered care of a concealed automatic irrigation system. The plants selected not only added a splash of colour, they included plants with strong fragrances to delight the senses.
Garden Landscaping Tips:
Even though this was a large landscaping project, the client, like most of us, had a limited budget. Concrete pavers were the cheapest option for the driveway, the concrete plinth under the fence was cheaper than using concrete sleepers as the retaining wall, post and rail fencing is the cheapest fencing option and instant lawn was a cheaper alternative to laying artificial grass, although not when you add the cost of having automatic pop up sprinklers installed, however the client preferred having natural turf laid.
Landscaping Adelaide residential gardens on a budget is a specialty of Visual Landscape Gardening, the local landscapers Adelaide home owners use for professional landscape design.
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