On the initial visit to this project the courtyard area and roof garden were in need of quality landscaping services. The materials and colours used were dull and boring and the spaces lacked imagination. After surveying the garden and discussing the clients requirements we came up with the following brief.
– Low maintenance garden
– Primary and bold colours
– Garden lighting
– Hardwood decking
– Seating and entertainment areas
– Bamboo
– Repair drainage and stop pooling
– Raised beds
Our landscapers started by removing existing slabs from both areas and carting to dump. Armoured cable was laid around the rooftop and courtyard areas for garden lighting. The raised bed in the courtyard was constructed using 4” solids on the edge, rendered with waterproofed cement render and capped with 600x150mm yellow limestone. 1000 guage polythene was placed behind walls before filling with topsoil. This is important as it limits water coming through and affecting the final paint finish. The raised bed was filled with 5 tonne screened topsoil keeping an eye for any weed roots and removing. The raised bed was planted with 9 mature Phylostachys’Aurea’ bamboos.
Mole drains were then completed for the court yard. These were created by simply digging a 30cm wide/deep trench around the edges and filling with pea gravel creating one large soak away. The patio was laid on compacted quarry screenings using a 3:1 cement mix. The material used was 600×300 yellow limestone slabs chosen for there density, bright colour and low maintenance quality. Yellow limestone is a fantastic product as it never loses colour and will clean up perfectly with a power spray after any length of time, its a dense stone and dose not require sealing. Within the patio a 10cm gap was left around the edges above the mole drains, this gap was filled with 20-40mm wexford beach pebble further enhancing the look and definition. A ground level bed was left outside the Southfacing window for planting of Ligustrum lollipops and alliums.
The patio was then pointed using a strong sand and cement sludge. The sludge was swept over the whole patio filling all joints, left for 45mins and power sprayed clean. This is a great system as it really strengthens the patio and consolidates any loose slabs. The garden lighting was then installed using 5 Hunza spike lights, 3 in the raised bed and 2 in the ground level bed.
The rooftop garden consisted simply of a hardwood deck with a 70cm Wexford beach pebble surround. The decking boards used were Masaranduba which is a hard wearing, dense timber. The deck should be left for at least 6 months before treating as this allows the whole deck to fade to a similar colour. Hooks were fixed in adjacent walls for two hammocks. The lighting was made up of 15 blue recessed deck lights.
The final and most important part was the painting. Using the colour wheel we chose 10 primary colours from the colour trend range. Testers were used on various areas around the garden allowing us to choose the best contrasts. The final result was daring but looked fantastic as the pictures show.
The plants used on this project were Phylostachys ‘Aurea’, Ligustrum delavaynum standards and Allium ‘White trumpet’. The client was very happy with the results. If you like what you see and require a professional, fully insured landscaping company please call Kevin Baumann on 086-8198444 or request a quote directly here.
