the barossa valley is famous for its scenery and of course it's wines but it's probably not
where you'd expect to find the tropics however that's exactly what has influenced this amazing
and stylish garden it could only have been created with the keen eye and short touch
of an interior designer and of course a gardener like steve angel well i do think interior
design and exterior design really um work well together and especially with the
with the way we live our lives now we live so much outside and i just find it's thinking about
your outside just like you would think about your inside so it's very much hand in hand and i find
are you passionate or would you say particular about colour my friends say ocd steve
very much colour to me is very important it's very harmonious when you get colours blending
and mine does blend colours very quickly and that's why when you walk into a room that is well
linked your mind goes this feels restful or exciting whatever
and the garden's exactly the same steve began his garden by designing the front yard
i think we're wasting some of the space that's available to people by not having the front yard
as a destination so we simply build a deck out the front of the house and that becomes another spot
for us to sit so privacy is often an issue out the front but you've created some screening here
yes yes well just a simple hedge we used a willow myrtle for the privacy and then the oakville spies
just for the sun because we face west and then it gives you that space that's private now i
noticed you've also got glory vine because this would cook in summer yes it faced west
and we got a lot of sun through those windows so just very simple pergolas were put up
and then a glory vine over the top trimmed up so that they're really a roof and we get 100 shade
and lots and lots of sun in winter so the sun floods into the rooms it's beautiful because out
the front we didn't want to have lawn because we we wanted it to be low maintenance so just
a simple pond that's dug into the ground with enough depth so that the water stays a similar
temperature the plants grow they keep it all very clear and healthy and the fish love it
most of the garden space is in the backyard which is divided
into separate rooms filled with creative ideas
oh i love this water feature very swish um i love ponds and water and the sound and gold fish so i
think they're really important to have that that lovely noise they're doing they said a beautiful
mood but i often think that they're quite expensive to install is that the case well this
one's more dash than cash really this wall for example is just verticals of timber that's then
clad in cement board and rendered and then painted and the base is actually verticals of timber
clad both sides with cement board liner on the inside stack stain on the outside and then just a
timber top which is stained to look like jarrett so it's um yeah it's it's a bit of an illusion
beautiful now this area looks really inviting can we check it out come and have a look you're really
committed to the concept of creating different garden rooms aren't well it works so well um
to segregate an area um from others um this is what we call our fire pit area because under
the tabletop is actually a stillage box which we use as a fire in winter and in summer you can use
it for entertainment in the summer and we get this lovely shade so in summer it's a really great spot
just to have lunch and it's noticeably cooler here too because beautiful yes yeah that just
that extra bit of shade really helps i love big dramatic plants i love strelix ears and i've got
them in pots and in the ground because they create a whole different feel in the two different things
but um anything that feels lush a green how do you work out how big to make these garden rooms
i find about five metres by five meters is enough room for sort of eight to ten people
at once breaking a garden up or or an area up actually makes it feel bigger a lot of people
think that it makes it feel smaller but when you can only see into one room at a time which is
what happens here you're not sure of what's around the corner so it's all a bit of a surprise
so what's in the back garden well through these doors i love doors they're gorgeous this is what
we call our barley garden wow complete with a balinese hut yes yes this is our summer spot
so how do you go about creating a balinese feel when you're in hot dry and frosty bro here we've
used bamboo panels which are very easy to erect very light and they work very well
a day bed which is a must a wicker furniture a mozzie net it all goes to add to that feel
i notice that you've used bold big foliage plants like elephant sears or monstera
yes which aren't necessarily tropical but they give you that alert don't they
don't they it's a great way of using something that gives that illusion of being in the tropics
this area is another room with quite a different feel it's almost mediterranean
yes i think the blue pots give that effect and the blue bottles i love that it shows that garden art
can be fun and doesn't have to cost you it no well they were they were being thrown out from a cafe
and i just love the colour so i said oh can i have those and they i call that my bottle art
and this is the lawn area this is your only only lawn yes it's moist underfoot and cool
now i notice in many of your garden rooms you've got a gap between either the lawn or the paving
and the plants in the garden bed is there a reason for that well there is it's decorative as well as
it gives me a chance if i want to run reticulation to a pot or another light i can just run it under
the pebbles bring it anywhere i need to and then put the pebbles back okay and in the paved area
it saves having to pull up pavers what tips would you give someone who's beginning a garden where
should they start i get asked that a lot often people have a house with a lawn and a fence and
so i just say to them start with um thinking about if you were eating outside you would obviously do
that near the kitchen so maybe create something with a table and a covered area near the kitchen
and then maybe a seating area next to that and once you start to do that you can then
concentrate on each little area instead of looking at the whole thing much easier to look at
small areas my garden has become my refuge come home from work and you just go to one of the areas
and i think in a world of craziness and and busyness a garden is more important than it
used to be so it's it's very much my zen place where i can just be happy and calm
cheers you