A modern take on a traditional Cloister Garden | Garden Design and Inspiration | Gardening Australia

We’re in Gordon Park, a northern suburb of Brisbane. It’s not on the typical pilgrim’s itinerary for divine inspiration, but it’s here a remarkable garden finds revelation in one of the oldest traditions of gardening. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Retirees Ailsa and her husband moved to the site after downsizing from a larger property. “I’ve always loved gardening, and we came from a large garden. My husband bought a work shed-so I decided I wanted a garden”.

To help with her calling, Ailsa enlisted garden designer Phillip O’Malley.

The approximately 300sqm, sloping corner site sits at a high point in the land. Most of the block is occupied by the house, but the south/west facing area at the front of the house offered room for something heavenly, and this is where Aisla and Phillip built their garden.

“One of the first things we did was to raise and level the garden space, to fit the garden in evenly”.
The defining framework of the garden is a formal, circular, clipped hedged parterre with sandstone paths radiating from a central fountain.

“Ailsa’s a good gardener,” says Phillip. “It’s her garden. Good design is about that”.

Phillip says the key to recreating a European garden tradition in subtropical Brisbane was using a limited planting palette that was “simple but strong” as a base. “It’s like the line of a dress or shoes, you want it to have good bones”. The clipped, low hedges that define the space in are Japanese box; “it performs well in south-east Queensland, Dutch or English just die. You can clip it so you get the tight, formal look. Formal doesn’t have to mean French formal”.

Syzygium ‘Pinnacle’ form an outer ring of concentric circles, their upright form contrasting the low box hedging. “ They’re standards, I hand-picked them for their shape. I’ve had them on jobs for over 20 years and they always perform well. They’re a shrub, not a massive tree like some syzygium so they’re easy to maintain”

Three varieties of Camellia sasanqua have thickened into obscuring the fenceline, compounding the spatial illusion presented by the geometry. “They’re versatile, you can shape them or you can let them get tall.” “The Japanese box and the camellias will keep it at scale forever. Most plants creep out after 3-5 years.”

Phillip says the nature of the design plays into the height of the house, as a large balcony overlooks the garden. When viewed from above, the patterning offers another dimension.

The axis of the entire design is a fountain, transplanted from Ailsa’s old garden and treated with a rust spray. Eight large iron urns radiate outwards to punctuate various points, and house Mandevilla ‘My fair Lady’ that Ailsa says “never stop flowering”.

A large white Tabebuia sits at one corner, coming up and over the garden. Ailsa says “they’re so hardy, and when they flower you can’t put a pin between all the flowers”.

Ailsa says “when you’re looking down from the veranda it does look very nice. If people want to take a picture I tell them that’s the place to take it”.

Around the side of the house is a private hanging garden, personally built by Ailsa. Potted plants are wired to the reinforced wall, giving a personal flourish and a sense of further retreat. “When we moved I had all these pots, so I used a strong wire to put them on the fence. It’s looking great. I concentrate on ferns and begonias. It faces west but it’s shaded by next door”.

“It’s formal but harmonious” says Phillip. “
Ailsa says Phillip did “a fantastic job” and she couldn’t be happier with the garden.
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