Mansions swap in luxurious Toorak as landscape designer Jack Merlo buys and sells

The go-to landscape gardener for the rich and famous, Jack Merlo, has traded one Toorak glamour manor for another.

Merlo, the green thumb with the golden touch, and his partner, Ricardo Da Silva, have sold 20 Kent Court, which they luxuriously renovated, and bought the elegant 8 Ottawa Road.

Kay & Burton agent Grant Samuel was the listing agent for Ottawa Road, but declined to comment on any aspect of the transaction.

Both prices are undisclosed.

The couple plans to start a family next year, Merlo said, and needed a kid-friendly pad in which to launch an exciting phase of their life. Just imagine sticky fingers on travertine.Merlo’s current high-profile projects include the swish 74 Eastern Road in South Melbourne for developer Tim Gurner, Larry Kestelman’s luxury Capitol Grand in South Yarra, and private oases for well-heeled individual clients.