A dream garden designed around creating cool and shade | Garden Design | Gardening Australia

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When Jenny Cas and her family moved to Melbourne’s inner-city suburb of Northcote, she turned to landscape designer Fran Hale with the aim of turning their hot property into a very cool garden.

The modern home was light and airy but had a fairly empty garden and was incredibly hot in summer. They sought out Fran’s help to create a beautiful garden but also help shade and cool the house.

Fran was excited by the brief, which allowed her to include lots of different plants and find a way to design the space without a central lawn.

With two young children, Jenny also wanted to create some fun play areas.

Fran also focused on soft plantings to balance the bold lines of the home.

From the window the garden offers lots of interesting green layers that draw you outside, which is relaxing to come home to after work.

A perennial meadow of flowers creates interest through the summer and a shady entertaining area away from the house is quite immersive and feels separate; an escape area that both children and adults enjoy.

The process of working on the garden with Fran inspired Jenny to study garden design herself, and she now works on this as a side business – with Fran as a mentor.

Filmed on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in Northcote, Vic
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I’m always so excited when I spot a front yard like this. It’s absolutely packed with plants, lots of small trees and lots of diversity, which softens this gorgeous modern house. And, lucky for us, we get to have a look at the back. When Jenny Cas and her family moved to Northcote

In Melbourne’s inner north, she turned to local landscape designer Fran Hale with the aim of turning their hot property into a very cool garden. JENNY: So, we bought this beautiful new modern house that was very light and airy, and the family who built it

Lived in it for about three months and then sold. There was no garden. There was plastic edging, a bit of gravel out the front and, after we lived in it for one summer, we also realised that it was incredibly hot. And, so, I guess it was a mix of wanting a beautiful garden

That matched the house but also it was a practical consideration to really bring the heat down as much as we could. When you come to a clean slate like this, Fran, what’s your starting point? Where do you actually start to imagine what it can be? Well, I mean, Jenny had an amazing brief,

Which was that she just wanted to put in lots of plants. She was sort of excited to be in the home and start her interest in gardening. And she was like, “I just want to grow lots of different things,” which is a great brief because usually people say to me,

“I want low-maintenance, I don’t want anything too hard.” And then the other really great part of Jenny’s brief was that she said she didn’t want any lawn, which, of course, we love lawn in the right setting, but it is exciting to think, “OK, how are we going to fill up the space

“and use the space to balance out the full, lush beds?” And, so, the process began, from discussion to drawings, from drawings to garden. So, we had this idea to do these loose stepping stones in these open spaces with the ground cover and then using the rocks.

She wanted a bit of whimsy and playfulness in the garden. She’s got three gorgeous children, and we wanted to create a bit of a fun zone that they could explore, experiment and play in the garden as well. And I love that there’s so much plant-driven design happening.

Oh, yeah. That’s one of your key principles. Absolutely. I just feel like the architecture is the architecture… Usually the architects in the homes that we’re working with are pretty sort of bold, and you just really want the garden to be soft and really balance that bold architecture and plant it in every opportunity.

So, you just want to get as many garden beds in as possible, so, when you’re looking out the windows you just see this lovely, inviting green environment, like, lots of layers. And I think it just really brings that nature close into the home. And I think people really love that.

It just makes home really feel like a sanctuary and come home from work and open the doors and there’s just something green just right there. People work hard and have busy lives. You know, they’re always rushing around. And I think coming home to a garden, it just makes you feel relaxed.

It just gives you this beautiful sense of place. Mm-hm. It’s quite a dynamic space. It really is. Like, over summer, there’s a perennial sort of meadow vibe. I mean, everyone loves green on green as well, but having just that beautiful meadow effect has also been a lovely part of this garden.

We wanted to make a destination in the garden for entertaining, which was back and deep into the garden instead of just being connected. There is already, you know, space off the house, which you can come out, sit at the table. But we wanted to do that spot further down in the garden,

Sort of immersed under climbers and shade. And, so, it’s got that extra sort of outdoor living zone, which I think the adults love just as much as the kids. Yes. It feels like a complete extension of the house. So, it’s outdoor rooms,

Places where people can go if they want some quiet time or… They’re really useful spaces, so, when we have people over, everyone gravitates towards this area where the pizza oven is and the shade is, and it’s a combination of beauty and function, I guess. Was there a collaboration element to this garden?

Well, I think I was just always over here. Popping in. It’s in my neighbourhood. And I’d come home and just find plants on my doorstep. Oh, yeah. Every now and then I’m like, “Oh, Fran’s been.” Send me a message and say, “Where should I put it?” And I’d be like, “I don’t know.

“There’s no space. Just shove it in somewhere. You’ll find a spot.” Yeah. Yep. And we did. Yeah. I think there was only one plant I just could not place. Which was that? The Bartlettina. Oh, I still think that… I gave it to a friend. Oh, that would be fabulous in this garden.

There’s just nowhere to put it. This has inspired you professionally too, this garden. It has. Yeah. I guess during COVID, like many people, I sort of looked at new directions and thought about what I wanted to do. And having seen and worked with Fran through the whole process, I just thought, “Hang on,

“this brings together creativity, plants, working outdoors, “a bit of mathematics.” And I just thought it’s all of the things that I actually really quite enjoy. So, I went back to Burnley, the beautiful campus at University of Melbourne, with a friend of mine, and we did the garden design course.

And since then I’ve just been slowly growing a little side business in garden design, and Fran has been an excellent mentor throughout that process. I’ve noticed those sedums aren’t doing so well in that spot now that it’s lost a lot of sun from the canopy tree.

Yes, they were so beautiful in the first few years, but that whole microclimate has changed now, hasn’t it? Yeah. This garden is such an inspiration. It really has so many ideas for how you can fill a modest-size block with loads of plants and get so many different uses out of it,

But it’s also beautiful to see what creating a little garden like this can actually grow – someone’s passion for plants and design and, of course, that beautiful friendship. And maybe some anemones would be good through here, the wind flowers. Yes. Because that would really go with the meadow vibe

Of this section of the garden. Absolutely. Love it. Love that meadow vibe. Yeah, the meadow vibe.