q & a with jamie durie - landscaping trends

Q&A with

Jamie Durie

Jamie Durie

is one of Australia’s leading

landscape designers

and favourite television personalities. He talks to us about some of the emerging trends he has seen in his travels overseas.

Q:

What is your advice to people landscaping a small space?

A:

Small gardens differ from vast, rambling spaces in which every element is seen – it’s hard to hide that ugly pot that your grandmother gave you for Christmas last year! Every plant, pot, sculpture, table, chair has to earn its place within the space. Therefore, it’s best to limit the number of ideas and avoid clutter. Create an impact on the walls – a

sculpture

, a

vertical garden

or a

water feature

– without losing floor space.

Q:

What paving trends have you seen in your recent trip overseas?

A:

Mixing turf and pavers together into stylised feature areas. You can create a modern parterre by cutting a pattern into the paving and running

synthetic turf

between them. I have seen this done with real or synthetic turf.

Mix turf and pavers together into stylised feature areas. This look won’t break the budget.

Q:

What trends in outdoor accessories are there?

A:

Firepits

and

braziers

are becoming more popular for outdoor fires. Also fires which burn ethanol are more eco-friendly and there are some amazing fireplace designs.

Candle lanterns

of every type of design are still a very popular outdoor accessory. Outdoor

wall art

, statues and sculpture are becoming much more mainstream. The use of soft furnishings and upholstered furniture outdoors is a very big trend. All the creature comforts that you usually find indoors are being taken outdoors, including floor rugs and floor lamps.

Because of

water restrictions

during the last few years we have definitely noticed a trend towards installing fewer and smaller water features in gardens. I’ve even designed tiny dry riverbeds that meander through the garden or even decking, that gives the feeling of water moving through the space even though there is no water to be seen.

A great environmentally friendly lighting solution for the garden is

solar powered lighting

. A solar powered light can be placed in the garden to softly highlight paths and different areas of the space and plants. They are easier on the planet and the hip pocket too.

Q:

How is the trend toward sustainability impacting outdoor areas?

A:

Sustainable landscaping is extremely important now and all gardens should be drought tolerant and the majority of plants should be indigenous and native species. Sustainable gardening should just be part of our natural evolution and what we do from this moment onwards. We won’t achieve a sustainable future unless we embrace new values. Rather than the inevitably futile path of trying to dominate nature, we need to connect with it, we need to understand the limits of natural systems and live within those limits. With severe water restrictions in place throughout many parts of the country last summer, we should all be thinking about what we can do to save water around the home. The cool green lawn, once an icon of the great Australian dream home, has become something of a nightmare in today’s climate of drought. Long out of step with the landscape that wraps around much of Australia, they’ve become a luxury that most simply cannot afford.

http://www.boral.com.au/landscaping/

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