Eat, Play, Love

This urban oasis is filled with a diverse blend of productive plants and natives, a unique haven that continues to evolve

- Carrol Baker

Step inside this warm and welcoming garden space, close to the hustle and bustle of the city, and stress and worry just seem to melt away. The owners recently renovated their home and wanted to create a calming outdoor haven with a mix of edible plants, native trees and grasses.

Designer Katy Svalbe, from Svalbe & Co, says the rear yard was a sea of grass when she first laid eyes on this Sydney garden. “There was a landing strip of sandstone slabs down its centre and a majestic lemon-scented gum,” she recalls. “At its boundaries, new timber fences screamed ‘green me’.”

And so she did. The garden is filled with textural plants that invite you to reach out and brush your fingers along them. Soft and inviting, the garden is the perfect backdrop for its owners to entertain at home, potter about, and indulge their love of gardening.

In broad strokes the productive edible elements are spread along the left-hand side of the garden, while the native plantings lie to the right. To create privacy and soften the boundary fences, lilly pillies and grevilleas were planted, in addition to passionfruit (Hibbertia scandens).