A blossoming love affair: Why gardens have become the big-ticket item for affluent buyers
A blaze of colour, a sea of manicured lawns or a wild tangle of native bushland: how does your garden grow?
With spring on the doorstep, gardens are set for a time never more in the sun as prestige home buyers elevate their importance in this not-quite-post-COVID world.
“People are now much keener to get their hands dirty and they’re finding new importance in gardening,” says landscape designer and TV gardening presenter Charlie Albone.
“We’ve spent so much time at home during the pandemic, we now really appreciate outdoor space and understand just how critical it is to have nice space around you.”
A bit of planting and tending a garden is also now seen as valuable for our mental health, he adds. “Every garden I’ve designed recently includes a vegetable garden as people want to grow food,” Albone says. “And while they don’t want to do too much of the work themselves, if they buy an expensive house, they can afford someone to do most of the gardening for them.”
Australia doesn’t have a particularly proud history of garden planning, says landscape architect Dan Thomas. In the past, it’s been mostly about a good-sized block with a big lawn, a little bit of planting and maybe a shonky water feature out front.
Now, however, we’ve come much more of age, and we’re choosing definitive styles of gardens – perhaps classical, informal or wild and naturalistic – that complement our homes and our lifestyles, as well as this newfound yearning for being surrounded by more greenery.
“COVID gave us more time to assess what’s most important in our lives and people are engaging with nature more as a result,” Thomas says. “We’ve seen the shift from the city to the country, with people wanting more of a connection to nature.
“And the more high-end the client, the more quality they’ll seek in a garden. It’s not just about an entertainment area behind the house; it’s about something everyone can enjoy and feel enveloped in.”
We’re certainly seeing that with much of the prestige property now coming onto the market.
In the NSW Southern Highlands, a home has come up for sale in Burradoo set off by a formal topiary garden of neat shrubs and apple, pear, quince and cherry trees, plus climbing roses, herb and vegetable patches and a large pond.
DiJones Southern Highlands agent Michael Cawthorn says the garden at 105 Burradoo Road is stimulating a lot of interest.
“People come to this area from the city, where they’re living in tight, concrete New York-style blocks, and they’re really looking for beautiful gardens to enjoy,” he says.
“This is exactly how people picture their ideal garden. There’s always a fine line between a good garden and one that isn’t going to break your back with too much mowing and planting and weeding – this one is perfect.”
In Melbourne, there’s a property for sale at 3 Chatsworth Avenue, Brighton, that has an expansive evergreen garden and wisteria that drapes itself over the arbour, as well as a courtyard off the home office.
Agent Barb Gregory of Marshall White Bayside describes it as having been very thoughtfully designed to make good use of the space available but also to be low maintenance.
“The garden really suits the home and the style of living that it supports,” she says.
“It’s all about lifestyle these days. After all the lockdowns, we’re much more focused on outdoor living and gardens.
“People’s personal space has become extremely important and we know the environment around us affects our wellbeing and moods.”
There’s a different style of garden again at a property being offered in the Byron hinterland. This is much wilder, with masses of bougainvillea, citrus trees and a vegetable and herb garden, but mostly growing naturally to suit the environment.
In fact, the house, at 191 McAuleys Lane was designed to tie in with the surrounding nature.
“In this area, we all spend a lot of time outside, so the garden is even more important,” says Jeremy Bennett of Byron Bay Property Sales. “The soil is so rich here, so everything grows and it receives sun all day.”
With now being the time to get out in the garden and do all those tasks you’ve been putting off before the spring sunshine arrives and nurtures all those weeds, Albone has just brought out a new book, Garden of Your Dreams: A practical guide to our best outdoor transformation ever.
He says the style of garden anyone chooses, however, depends very much on where they’re located in Australia.
The soil in Western Australia, for instance, doesn’t hold its nutrients anywhere near as well as, say, NSW’s Blue Mountains, and so gardens have to be designed appropriately.
“It will also be completely different for a couple to a client with a family of five and a dog,” says Albone, who’s designed gardens all over Australia, as well as in England, France, Singapore and Hong Kong, and is the garden expert for garden power tool company STIHL.
“A good garden will transform the way you use your home. My favourite style is the European style with hedges and trees and lots of herbaceous perennials, but I like every style of garden if they’re well maintained.”
Thomas, of Garden Design Studio, favours the naturalistic style, which is more about the birds and the bees, the ecology and wildlife.
“It’s to complement the environment, and that’s not just about water-saving,” he says. “It’s about having the right plants to attract the right insects that attract the right birds and mean we end up with a very healthy garden.”
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