The bronze girl seated on the rocks of the koi pond was commissioned for this spot; it was a special birthday gift from friends. Sculptor Maureen Quinn’s skill in capturing a truth and gentleness about her subject is much admired.
The bronze girl seated on the rocks of the koi pond was commissioned for this spot; it was a special birthday gift from friends. Sculptor Maureen Quinn’s skill in capturing a truth and gentleness about her subject is much admired.
The small bronze sculpture of Joel, son of sculptor Dylan Lewis, is positioned on a wooden plinth. Surrounded by miniature blue and white agapanthus, delphiniums and irises, he looks over his shoulder as the afternoon sun bathes him in its light.
From the vantage point of the verandah, the eye is led across the pool and up the extra-wide steps crowned by a flattened archway leading to the higher level. The series of vertical lines created by the upright beams of the wooden structure and the laid pattern of the bricks are in contrast to the horizontal nature of the steps, producing an interesting effect.
Pots planted with a mixture of groundcover and colourful perennials soften the hard edges of the steps.
This area was once a muddy field; raw and naked. What it desperately needed was additional height, together with the owner’s vision of breaking it up into different ‘rooms’. Inspired by diamond-shaped wooden trellises (large enough for a person to step through) spotted on a visit to France, the owner had these screens positioned to achieve the desired height and to separate areas within the top garden.
The thatched guest cottage, which leads out onto the pool, is covered in wisteria combined with a white climbing rose.
A rustic, ancient-looking wall forms the backdrop to an elegant summer dinner set in the ‘new’ section of the garden. An ornamental cement plantholder makes an appropriate receptacle for an ice bucket
The wrought-iron archways, which can be seen in the Giverny garden of Impressionist artist Claude Monet just outside Paris, were the inspiration for these slightly flattened arches. Long, wide railway sleepers, interspersed with Canterbury bells, blue-and-white pansies and anemones, lead man and his feathered friends up towards a whitewashed cement bench..
This coolly stylish, yet warm home with its large terraced garden snuggles comfortably into the palm of the Cape winelands. The owners, Brett Gage and Gordon Jones, doubled the size of the original garden after purchasing land from the adjacent church. As a result, the garden presents a bounty of little ‘rooms’ and hidden surprises.
Flowers and shrubs have been kept within a colour palette of blues, whites and corals. Over 20 varieties of miniature blue agapanthus are closely planted, ranging from the soft, pale blue hues of the Amethyst variety to the deeper, darker and more dramatic tones of Cape Velvet. The flowerbeds are also filled with miniature white agapanthus, blue and white delphiniums, pansies and anemones, as well as a touch of coral-pink in the owners’ favourite single-variety rose, named Johannesburg Garden Club.
In summer, large wine barrels overflowing with a profusion of varying flowers in white and blue are placed in the middle of the flowerbeds that surround the dark-painted swimming pool, scattering shimmering reflections across the water.
The expansive fanlight stretching above the double stable doors opening to the garden creates a visual frame from the house to the outdoors.
‘We wanted to create “rooms” and surprises from one area to the next. Whites, blues and corals are closest to the house, but the further away, the wilder, less structured and more indigenous the garden becomes.’