With many of us leading busy lives, it just isn’t feasible to slave away in the garden for hours on end. But that’s not to say that you can’t have a lovely oasis of your own. Here are 12 ideas from real-life, low-maintenance backyard gardens that you can easily apply to your own slice of paradise.
1. A contemporary style
This clean and minimal look requires far less maintenance than say, a cottage-style garden. This once bare backyard was transformed into a contemporary coastal garden by Adam Robinson Design.
2. A seamless indoor-outdoor connection
The easier it is to get outside, the more your backyard will feel like another room in the house. This verdant landscape created by landscape designer Virginia Kennet completes a spectacular home extension designed to connect with the outdoors.
3. Built-in furniture is the future
You can use quality materials and construct a built-in feature that will last forever and make your garden infinitely more useable. The cantilevered L-shaped bench built for this inner-city terrace garden offering abundant seating around the warmth.
4. Create pathways
You can add interest to your garden with pathways as opposed to garden beds. This will result in far fewer plants to care for. A beautifully landscaped pathway leads visitors through a Victorian home’s lush grounds.
5. Climbing plants are your new best friend
They provide lots of lushness for relatively little maintenance and can be used to screen out the neighbours! Star leaf jasmine can create a stunning wall feature.
6. Lawn is not a necessity
Decking, paving, gravel and sand are all viable alternatives that will save you from mowing. Tropical beauties in varying heights and foliage colours create points of interest around this Quercus Gardens designed courtyard in Bondi.
7. Create a focal point
A central attraction to draw the eye allows you to have an ‘unruly’ approach to all other aspects of the garden. A traveller’s palm provides vertical drama in this tight space, bookended by the octopus-like forms of Myers asparagus ferns.
8. A tyre swing will entertain the kids for hours
There is no need to invest in expensive play equipment, a simple homemade tyre swing can provide priceless fun. The landscaped backyard of this Sydney home is divided into several zones that make it highly functional for both kids and adults.
9. Plant a native garden
Native plants are equipped to handle the local conditions and you will rarely need to pamper them. The fabulous planting scheme for this home on Victoria’s Surf Coast is entirely indigenous, which was a requirement of the local council. Landscaping by Hansen Partnership.
10. Use the same plant en masse
You can choose one plant variety in your garden and apply it generously for a uniform look. Massed plantings knit together for a strong visual effect in this urban garden created by horticulturist Hendrik Van Leeuwen.
11. Retain any established trees
Big old trees command respect yet require minimal attention. Matthew Cantwell made a feature of an existing paperbark tree by planting a low hedge of Korean box around its base and filling it in with salvia.
12. Use salvaged outdoor furniture
Don’t put any precious pieces outside as they are bound to suffer wear and tear. A rustic timber bench seat is a favourite viewing spot in this tropical Queensland garden