An Auckland courtyard proves good design can transform a garden.
Woven out of steel, plants and paving, this magical courtyard is transformed by good design
If you ever needed convincing that design can transform a garden, look no further than this Auckland courtyard. Until a year ago it was just a backyard with potential, hidden from view behind a bungalow in the innercity suburb of St Marys Bay. Now it’s an elegant outdoor living room with its own personality and a distinctive look influenced by South Pacific craft and the owners’ love for Italian gardens.
When Julie and Alistair Ryan met landscape designer Trudy Crerar at the biennial Auckland Garden DesignFest in 2017 and saw her work, they put their heads together to rev up their outdoor space. Two years on, the Ryans have just opened their new-look garden for the same festival. Despite its newness the garden has a finished quality, thanks to Trudy retaining mature trees and plants and her long-time collaborators Craftsman Gardener Services completing the installation in record time.
To Julie’s eyes, the garden they inherited 11 years ago was unattractive, with motorway-style agapanthus, river stones and a pocket-sized central lawn riddled with paspalum weed. During the years she had added and subtracted but kept to the same layout on the south-facing plot.
“Trudy asked us how we would score it out of 10,” she says. “We said five or six; she said eight but that we could make it into an 11.”
They talked and shared ideas for several months, nailing the new look after Julie showed Trudy a photograph of unusual limestone paving she spotted while visiting the southern Italian city of Lecce. Their clever interlocking pattern reminded Trudy of weaving, a stroke of inspiration that germinated into a plan for an Italianate courtyard with a South Pacific flavour.
This was a decent garden beforehand, says Trudy, but everything was symmetrical. “It was pleasant to look at but not to be in. For me classic, symmetrical layouts can fall into a trap of being very static. I suggested asymmetry to make a better depth of field and make a more dynamic garden. And as it’s the main outdoor living space, I felt there was more potential to unlock. I like to lure people into a space.”
The dead-centre green lawn moved sideways, and is now planted with ground covers that need no mowing: the native Mercury Bay weed (Dichondra repens) and woolly thyme. The leafy look was intensified by adding tropical vireya rhododendrons,
hibiscus and gardenias, plus more kentia palms (Howea forsteriana), as well as shifting existing bird of paradise and cycad plants to fit the new layout.
Smaller multi-trunked palms such as sugar cane (Dypsis baronii) and Costa Rica bamboo (Chamaedorea costaricana) came to the party to deepen the romantic atmosphere. A vibrant belt-like row of magenta, burgundy and lime green Iresine herbstii cinches all that leafy greenness and makes the space appear much wider.
The decorative effect is not the whole story, however: Julie now grows edible plants such as an espaliered fig, pomegranates, lemons, herbs and salad veges in a warmer north-facing area.
If you look closely at the weathered corten steel screens – positioned so you don’t see everything in the garden at once – you’ll recognise the paving pattern repeated in the laser cut-outs: “Like negative spaces in weaving,” says Trudy. It’s also in the arbour that’s shaped like a whare.
The formerly flat ground now steps up to different levels, created by building concrete planters with integrated seating. They also have a very practical benefit for Julie, when weeding the bed at the top of the garden’s retaining wall. “Before, I had to reach it from a ladder, but now I can hop up easily over the concrete seat.”
The Ryans couldn’t be happier. They have a grown-up urban garden that’s personalised for them; it’s low maintenance to suit their busy work and family commitments, and it’s a nice space to be in. Says Alistair: “We’re out there every day.”