A WHOLE NEW PATIO

Circular shapes, including planters and an elliptical paved area, make this backyard all the more inviting

When Sherry and Hugh Bush hired landscape designer Mike Cass to transform their compact 50-square-metre yard in Sydney’s Mosman, they were after something unique. “We needed to improve the indoor/outdoor flow and have privacy from the surrounding buildings, but we also wanted lots of lovely, interesting things to look at,” says Hugh.

As long-time art lovers, they were drawn to Mike’s inventive style and asked him to devise a plan that would surprise them, something “out of the box”. The resulting design is a playful arrangement of circular planters at different heights – imaginatively counterposing the L-shaped space riddled with right angles. “We hadn’t anticipated those beautiful circular shapes that draw your eye out of the living area and into the garden; we were thrilled with his ideas,” say Sherry.

The primary element of the garden is an elliptical paved area outside the living room – throw open the doors and the internal area immediately expands. While fitting with the circular theme, the paved area isn’t symmetrical. It’s a natural shape that extracts more from the space along its beautifully curved edges. Both functional and aesthetically appealing, it allows more than enough room for lounging and dining, with plenty of vacant space around that to ensure an uncluttered feel.

Enhancing the indoor/outdoor flow are the paving lines, which draw the eye outside. The pavers are repurposed black tiles laid at odd angles, with a two-tile-wide ‘rib’ offset from the centre. This results in angles that somehow work with the other lines and curves in the garden to produce an overall balance. The rib encourages your eye to follow it, while the tiles laid crosswise inspire glances in other directions.

All the circular components sit well together and counterbalance the vertical walls. Key to this are two large individual elements: a mid-height planter clad in western red cedar, and a ground-level circle of mini mondo grass. A big fan of free space, Mike has resisted the temptation to fill up the paved area. “It is really easy to put in a hard surface for a chair,” he says, “but are you really going to sit there?”

The couple are delighted with their new mondo-grass circle. “Sitting inside looking out, there is a lovely curvaceous green space beside you,” says Sherry. Elsewhere, smaller rounds reinforce

“The dwarf snake plants in the timber planter look like a fire of green flames, especially when they’re lit up at night” SHERRY BUSH, OWNER

the theme. A symmetrical white pot, a stool and smaller pots on the coffee table create points of interest, along with other sculptural pieces. This is enlivening, with intrigue derived from their positioning and the contrasts in consistency. One example is the timber-clad planter tantalisingly overlapping the paved edge; another is the warm timber against the cool cobbled tiles.

Textural combinations continue with the plants. The foliage of the garden’s bamboo, olive, mondo grass, sansevieria and native violets are all different in shape and size, with colour diversity adding to the appealing effect. Slender weaver’s bamboo culms, their lower leaves removed, stand beside pre-existing lilly pilly trunks for further textural impact. All the lilly pillies have had their lower branches removed to maximise space and light. The canopy of these and the bamboo tops provide the privacy screening Hugh and Sherry were after. Most of the other plantings are ground-level low: ball-shaped shrubs, grassy strands and spreading plants carpeting the ground. Only the mid-layer is open and free of bulky plants. The result? Spaciousness.

Behind the bamboo is a backdrop of spotted-gum fencing, which warms up the dark colour palette, along with a coppertoned wall at the end of the artist’s nook. Both areas of visual interest are testament to Mike’s ethos of “all surfaces in a small space should have a ‘treatment’ because they are in close proximity and highly noticeable”.

Even though there was a lot of planning, Sherry and Hugh hadn’t envisaged how good the garden was to be, but sum up the end result by saying, “Mike came up with surprising solutions that made us very, very happy.” What more could one ask for?

“In a garden you want to feel curious, not cheated by it all being too obvious” MIKE CASS, LANDSCAPE DESIGNER

THIS PAGE The key elements in the garden are shape and colour, epitomised by the round white and timber planters. Their circular shapes interrupt the space’s many right angles and bring lighter tones to the dark palette. Tulloch two-seater sofa in Charcoal and matching coffee table, both from Eco Outdoor. The plant hanging over the table is Rhipsalis.

ABOVE Cladding the massive steel planter are western red cedar batons. To the left is an olive tree, and dwarf mondo grass grows in the right corner. The pavers were reclaimed from China. Once used in 19th-century Shikumen houses, they are now known as The Luo Family ‘Shanghai Antique Brick’ in Black from GatherCo.

ABOVE AND OPPOSITE This is part of the L-shaped section the owners refer to as the artist’s nook. A bespoke steel table sits on the native violet groundcover. Lining the fence is slender weaver’s bamboo, with the lower leaves removed. At the end of the space is a wall covered with copper sheets left to patina and matched with a rusted stool on the side.