Bold Stroke

Mixing traditional elements with a touch of the tropics has turned a suburban Sydney garden into a lush paradise.

- Georgina Reid

Proudly occupying a prominent corner spot on a leafy street in the northern Sydney suburb of Killara is a striking pink house with a wonderfully exuberant garden. This is no normal suburban garden, but an abundant and luxurious mash-up of traditional planting and textural tropicals, designed by Richard Unsworth and Nicholas Vale of Garden Life.

“The owners wanted a very feminine, flowery and seasonal garden,” Richard says. The brief, combined with the recent revamp by interior designer Brendan Wong, meant that Richard and Nick could go to town with plant combinations – creating a luxurious yet flowery space that complements and enhances the interior of the home. “It’s a real maximalist garden,” Richard says. “We’ve combined gardenesque elements like oversized urns with variegated furcraea (Furcraea foetida ‘Mediopicta’) and mass plantings of begonia, geraniums and other brightly coloured plants.”