Australian House & Garden - April 2016_

142 / AUSTRALIAN HOUSE & GARDEN

O

ur small garden winner is proof

that valuable gardens can be

created in the most petite spaces.

When Lesley moved into her 1901

workers’ cottage four years ago, it was

falling down. Restoring her home is a work

in progress but early on she decided the

front garden was a priority. “We were

living in a rundown, cracked and leaking

house and I needed to come home to

something appealing and pleasant,” she

says. “It made the world of difference.”

Lesley began by removing a slab of

concrete that f looded every time it rained,

along with a heavy brick fence that tilted

alarmingly over the public footpath. Both

were demolished and she tackled the work

of removing the concrete, digging a large

drainage pit and installing a membrane

around the house. The collapsed porch was

rebuilt and along the way, Lesley planned

the new garden in her head.

“I wanted it to be not just something we

walked past, but something we could use.

It faces northeast so it’s a lovely spot to sit

in winter. In fact, it can be the warmest

spot in the house!” she says. “It’s a quiet

cul-de-sac and a friendly street. Lots of

people who walk by stop and say how much

they love the garden.”

This is not the first garden Lesley has

made but it is the smallest. “Even though

it’s tiny I can still switch things around. I

come out and potter, moving things around

if they don’t work, and trying different

plants in the pots.” #

WINNER

Small garden

Garden owners/creators

Lesley and family

Where Sydney’s inner west

Garden size 10m²

Garden age Two years

KEY PLANTS

Magnolia ‘Little Gem’

Star jasmine

(Trachelospermum

jasminoides)

Agapanthus ‘Snowball’

Mandevilla ‘Aloha Crimson’

WARM WELCOME

It may be tiny, but this garden delivers a big make-you-

smile welcome to all who pass by its gate.

PHOTOGRAPHY SCOTT HAWKINS

Magnolia ‘Little Gem’ is the

hero tree, providing a focal

point at the end of the

garden; Agapanthus

‘Snowball’ adds textural

contrast and summer blooms

at the base of the star

jasmine, which drapes over

the fence. CLOCKWISE

FROM RIGHT Lesley in her

garden. Ptilotis ‘Joey’ at the

front door.