Poolside Vertical Garden, Drummoyne

Gavin was hosting Christmas at his Drummoyne home and wanted his outdoor space complete before the big day. The wall beside the pool was one of the first things you saw from inside the house, and he wanted it to become a real feature rather than a blank backdrop.

The catch was timing. With Christmas only weeks away, the garden had to be designed, built and installed in two weeks.

We designed an 18 m² vertical garden to cover the wall and frame the pool, so it reads as a lush green backdrop from the pool deck and a living feature from inside the house. The wall gets part sun, so we used a hardy mix suited to those conditions: Nandina, Liriope, Lomandra, Duffi Fern and Silver Lady Fern (Blechnum). We went with a blended design, weaving the varieties together across the wall for a natural, layered look rather than planting them in blocks. The mix of strappy leaves and soft fern fronds gives plenty of texture against the dark cladding and the blue of the pool.

Because we design, manufacture, grow and install everything ourselves, we could move quickly. Our patented vertical garden system was made in-house and the plants were already grown to maturity in our own nursery, so the garden looked full and established from the day it went in. We fitted an automated irrigation system, so the garden is watered without Gavin having to think about it. We turned the whole job around in two weeks, in time for Christmas.

The pool area now has a striking green feature wall, and the view from inside the house looks out onto greenery instead of a bare wall. Gavin had his outdoor space finished in time to host Christmas, and he highly recommends VGA.