Inside Out

When Inside Out featured this Cronulla garden in its April 2019 issue, it was the quiet confidence of the design that caught the eye: an Australian take on the American East Coast look, all silvery foliage, clipped forms and a restrained, coastal palette.

The owners, Ben and Jodi, came to us wanting a garden that was as robust for their young family as it was handsome alongside the architecture. Our answer was two connected gardens with the house between them, a welcoming open front garden and a secluded recreation space at the rear.

Out front, we let the garden and nature strip merge, with large stone steppers meandering across an unbarricaded boundary to the porch. Keeping the planting low leaves the house in full street view, a deliberately fluid transition between public and private so the home feels part of the street. An ornamental ‘Aristocrat’ pear anchors the entrance, underplanted with Indian hawthorn, clipped buxus, cotton lavender and drifts of soft-purple Mexican sage. A row of silvery olive trees screens and elongates the space, echoing the coastal light.

The result reads as calm and considered from the footpath, and as a private, family-friendly retreat once you are inside: exactly the mix of colour, texture and contrast we set out to create.