Landscape design by Tim Pilgrim, Tim Pilgrim Gardens
In Central Victoria, a modest terrace home with a plain lawn and a lonely row of nandina (Nandina domestica) and a single crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) now boasts a garden brimming with character.
Thanks to Tim Pilgrim of Tim Pilgrim Gardens, the once uninspiring outdoor spaces now feature a blend of traditional cottage plants and contemporary grasses. The result is a garden that enhances the charm of the home’s heritage façade while introducing layers of texture and contemporary elegance.
The Brief
The homeowners’ vision for the garden was clear: a cottage-style space that maximised the modest outdoor area, while offering functionality and beauty. They wanted a lawn for their dog, a welcoming entertaining area, and space for both a cutting garden and a kitchen garden, complete with a mini orchard.
Inspired by iconic gardens like Great Dixter, Highgrove and Hidcote Manor, the goal was to create a layered landscape reminiscent of larger English country gardens, but on a much smaller scale.
The Transformation
In just a year since planting, the garden has transformed into a flourishing space, already thriving through its first full cycle of seasons. With every square metre carefully considered, Tim focused on creating a plant-dominated landscape that feels immersive, despite the limited space. Soil coverage has been key to retaining moisture during Central Victoria’s dry spring.
The design incorporates three primary hardscape materials, each chosen for its subtle impact. Corten steel, used for the raised vegetable beds and edging, offers a slim, unobtrusive profile, maximising planting space while blending into the background. Cut basalt stepping stones form narrow pathways that weave through the garden, often disappearing under foliage by late summer. Spotted gum decking ties in with the home’s timber weatherboards and batten fencing, providing a warm, natural finish.
To create a sense of expansiveness, the design cleverly borrows views from neighbouring properties, integrates climbing plants to soften fences, and adds a reflective pond to draw in the sky and attract birdlife. Despite working with just under 100m² of garden space, the garden fits in espaliered fruit trees, a cutting garden, three raised vegetable beds, and a lawn for the dog — all while ensuring the garden feels open and inviting.
The Result
The result is a garden that feels much larger than its modest footprint. Every element has been designed to maximise space, while maintaining a sense of openness and flow. The side garden, an often overlooked space in a garden, has become a standout feature. Here, a restrained palette of whites and soft pinks from Geum ‘Pretticoats’, Anemone hupehensis (Japanese anemone), and Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ offers a calming contrast to the more exuberant front and back gardens. Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine) climbs a rusted rio frame, softening the boundary and providing a lush backdrop to the delicate plantings.
Throughout the garden, clever use of height, layered planting, and multi-functional elements creates a sense of depth and scale. Raised vegetable beds are half-submerged into ornamental plantings, while espaliered fruit trees form a compact orchard. Gravel mulch, used consistently, visually widens the narrow spaces and enhances the flow from one area to the next.
Seasonal timeline of key plantings —
Use of staggered planting was featured to ensure that there was always something flowering at anyone time.
- Aquilegia ‘Krystall white’ (Granny’s bonnet) flower early, along with Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican daisy)
- Nepeta racemosa (catmint) and Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ come on in late spring
- Agastache ‘sweet lili’ (Giant hyssop) and Achillea ‘Cloth of gold’ are the summer highlights
- Aster ‘Wood’s blue’, Anemone hupehensis (Japanese anemone) and Helenium autumnale bloom during autumn.
Features of note for this planting scheme:
- The design included plenty of flowering plants for cutting and using inside, as per the homeowner’s brief.
- To anchor and contrast the more ‘wild’ planting, clipped buxus spheres were used, alongside the lawn and structural elements of trees and materials, providing a strong backbone for the planting scheme.
- Subtle pastel colours were included across the planting to highlight the deeper, richer tones of the roses.
- Plants providing autumn foliage colour, such as Cotinus ‘Grace’ (Smoke Bush) and Cornus florida (dogwood), were selected to link well with the surrounding tree scape and will eventually create a small canopy.
- Other key plants used were Geum ‘Pretticoats’, Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’, Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine).
