SERIES 35 | Episode 31
Clarence visits a Mid-Century Modern home in Melbourne’s sandbelt, where a German-born architect has been inspired by the colours and textures of the local coastal plants.
Featured Garden Designer/Owner:Liesl and Wilko DoehringLocation:Beaumaris, Vic, on Bunurong CountryClimate Zone:Cool temperateGarden Established:2014Style:Coastal
Liesl and Wilko bought their home about 10 years ago and set about renovating it themselves. Just a stone’s throw from the beach, and sometimes battered by strong winds and salty air, they wanted to bring the beauty – and resilience – of the indigenous Bayside plants to their home garden.
The area was largely developed after WWII, when architects were inspired by modernist Bauhaus and Californian coastal designs from overseas. Homes were often built with cream bricks, big windows and orientated to the sun, with open-plan rooms inside.
When they started work, the garden was overgrown and featured a lot of introduced species.
They both loved the coastal landscape and Wilko was especially drawn to the grey-green colour of Australian plants, which is so different to what he’d been used to in Europe.
In the front, a large red-flowering gum has stayed, as have some coastal tea trees. Around these key focal plants, tussock grasses, cushion bushes, pigface and mounding shrubs such as Correa alba have been planted into a base of crusher dust, which replicates the sandy feel of the beach. To keep it neat, they simply have to rake.
A fenced garden to the back features lawn and a remnant, ancient tea tree that takes pride of place, with the deck shaped around it.
On one side are three raised wicking beds for growing vegetables and herbs.
Featured Plants FLOWERING GUMCorymbia ficifolia cv.COAST TEA TREE
Gaudium laevigatum syn.
Leptospermum laevigatum *
CUSHION BUSHLeucophyta browniiKARKALLACarpobrotus rossii COMMON TUSSOCK GRASSPoa labillardierei cv.
* Check before planting: this may be an environmental weed in your area
Filmed on Bunurong Country | Beaumaris, Vic
