This award-winning Adelaide garden features an elegant outdoor entertaining pavilion
After the current owners of this late 1880s property in the Adelaide suburb of Malvern had meticulously renovated the interior of the home, they commissioned garden designer David Baptiste to help them create a modern outdoor room in the back garden.
To begin with, the lawn under a well-established Golden Rain tree was replaced with a foliage garden of ornamental ginger, bird of paradise and cycads. These lush and leafy plants surround a sandstone-and-glass water feature that centres on the stained-glass kitchen door. Behind the water feature is an old mulberry tree whose drooping canopy makes this a cool and shaded spot where the owners can sit and escape from the summer heat.
The kidney-shaped pool and tumbledown wooden pergolas that sat awkwardly in the back garden were replaced with a sleek rectangular pool and adjoining pavilion. Both sit comfortably in an expanded lawn and garden area, divided from each other by a raised deck platform with feature wall and slatted-timber shade canopy.
Boasting bi-fold glass doors on two sides, the pavilion can be opened to cooling breezes on a hot summer’s day or protected against the chill of winter while still affording clear views of the landscaped gardens. This, says David, makes it the “perfect retreat in all weather”.
The interior furnishings of the pavilion make it as stylish and functional as any indoor living room, from the comfortable synthetic weave seating to the modern artwork and outdoor television. And the extended, elevated timber platform that runs along the front of the pavilion provides the perfect setting for alfresco dining or stretching out on a sun lounge and enjoying the peaceful surrounds.
To conserve water in the garden, all storm water run-off is directed into several soakage pits. Also, storm water from some areas of the house as well as the pavilion is fed back into the aquifer via a bore, while the outdoor shower is piped to water an established lemon tree at the bottom of the garden.
While the new pavilion and pool are clearly contemporary in design, they work in harmony with the period architecture of the house. David’s sympathetic approach to modernising the garden was not only appreciated by the owners of the property — the judges of the 2008 South Australian Awards of Excellence were also duly impressed and David Baptiste Garden Design won the Design of Residential Landscape Over $100,000 category for the overall design, the award for the best Individual Landscape Feature for the outdoor pavilion and the coveted Judges’ Choice Award.
Project details
Landscape design by David Baptiste Garden Design Phone/Fax (08) 8267 6633 Mobile 0418 845 054 Email d.baptiste@optusnet.com.au Website www.davidbaptiste.com.au Photography by Sarah Long
