Easy Entertaining

It’s not often a landscaper is asked to include a putting green in a backyard design, but it’s a great idea and one that intrigued David Franklin of Franklin Landscape & Design. After all, if you want to create the ultimate outdoor entertaining arena and you have the space, why not?

Of course, it has to be handled intelligently. It’s not just a matter of ensuring the green is nice and level; it’s important that it blends seamlessly with the overall landscape, looking like a well integrated element.

In its broadest sense, the brief for this project was to open up the backyard and create spaces that would appeal to all ages and provide a variety of ways to enjoy time outside. More specifically, explains David: “We wanted to have different levels with designated areas such as a roofed dining area, a lounge area with a fire pit, a paved patio and a putting green. We had to fit all of this into the available space, ensuring each area linked to the other and there was an easy flow throughout.”

When asked how he would categorise the design, David says: “This one is a hard one to describe as it is modern, but has a bit of an Art Deco feel to it. Basically, we looked at the architecture of the house and created a modernised version of that in the landscape. I see this as a simple landscape, but one that has style and provides everything that’s needed for entertaining summer through winter.”
For many, the putting green, expertly designed and installed using artificial turf, is the first thing they comment upon when invited over on the weekend. For others, it is the lounge area which features a U-shaped configuration of built-in bench seating, at the centre of which is a modern fire pit with a rustic rust finish.

“For me, I like the way the decking wraps around the back of the house and cascades down through garden boxes onto the lower level. This really gives this landscape a sense of flow and makes it easy to get around the backyard. From the deck you can descend directly to the putting green, the patio or the lounge area,” says David.

For tall hedging around the perimeter of the garden, David chose Ficus hilli, a small, fast-growing tree with dense glossy-green foliage. Low box hedging borders the garden beds and the raised planters in the deck. Adding a tropical flourish, David chose Trachycarpus as the feature plant for the deck planters. These palms have fan-like leaves and grow on a “hairy” single trunk. Reinforcing the tropical feel is a series of potted cycads, under-planted with red-flowering plants.

For the paved areas, David opted for Castlemaine stone laid in a random pattern but edged in clean-lined bluestone paving pieces. Bluestone was also used for the capping atop the deck planters and the low walls that form the back of the seating in the lounge area. The same dark tones are reflected in the contemporary outdoor furniture in the covered dining area.

WORDS: Karen Booth | PHOTOS: Patrick Redmond