- Blocks of sandstone attempt
to create a naturalistic foreshore
environment. Photo: Brett Boardman
6–7. A curved walkway and
cycleway follow the shoreline.
Photo: Brett Boardman
- The waterfront margins hint
at mangroves, before transitioning
through native grasses set with
compact Ficus rubiginosa (Port
Jackson figs). Photo: Brett Boardman
and potting mix suppliers. English and European
traditions had encouraged the use of rich, loamy soil
mixes, often unduly moist and heavily fertilized, and
many of the Australian plants reacted poorly to being
bedded in such material.
Leake established that plants from Sydney’s
sandstone belt thrived in what might be perceived as
extremely poor soils: in essence, sand and broken rock
enriched by leaf litter, bark and bushfire ash. The soil
had incredibly low levels of phosphorus and – while it
is a standard fertilizing ingredient in modern agricul-
ture and horticulture – its unconsidered use harms
native plantings.
At Barangaroo Reserve, crushed sandstone and
sand make up a large component of the introduced
soil, with green waste compost forming 5–10 percent
of the mix, providing natural enrichment for native
species. The crushed sandstone had to be checked
for its clay content. The clay factor causes “fatty”
sandstone, which holds water and thus discourages
good drainage, which is essential for plant wellbeing.
More than seventy thousand trees and shrubs of
eighty-four species were required, and were primarily
grown at a nursery on Mangrove Mountain, south of
Sydney. To facilitate their easy subsequent adaption
to the site, the potting mix and the site soil mix were
closely matched, both physically and in their low
fertility levels.Stuart Pittendrigh is a man of wide experience
and many talents. He is a landscape architect, a horti-
culturalist and an arborist. Pittendrigh typically
provides strategic advice on major projects. As
consultant horticulturalist for Barangaroo Reserve,
he was responsible for planting design, selection and
location, as well as plant maintenance and manage-
ment. Noting that most of the regional plants were
shallow-rooted with a broad root spread, he devised
special wide containers to facilitate this pattern of
growth in the nursery. The trees and shrubs gained a
better root ball and as a result performed more
strongly when placed in the ground. Pittendrigh
inspected all plants as they left the nursery and
controlled handling on the site to minimize break-
ages and damage, and undertook corrective pruning.
He chaperoned maintenance at the reserve from 2015
to 2017, and notes that it is designed as a bushland
reserve for passive recreation and not as a park for
intensive public use or events.
For Pittendrigh, Barangaroo Reserve has been an
important achievement; he resolved a palette of
historic indigenous plants and witnessed them thrive
as a successful botanic entity.For a list of project credits, see Landscape Architecture
Australia 149, February 2016: landscapeaustralia.com/
articles/barangaroo-reserve/project-credits5AGENDA
34 MAY 2017 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AUSTRALIA