An illustrative business by Matt’s Websites

Fieldwork, home
Start a garden brief

A courtyard you canuse all year

Suburb
Northcote
Aspect
North facing
Soil
Heavy clay
A lawn and brick path curving under a rose arch into deep planting

A narrow back garden behind a weatherboard house, for a family, a dog and a long table used in every season. We kept the old brick path and planted in layers along the fences, so it stays green all winter.

Garden

  • Courtyard
  • Back garden

Services

  • Garden design
  • Planting plan

Planting

  • Japanese maple
  • Westringia
  • Salvia
  • Lomandra

Stage

  • Built and planted
  • In its second spring
Pale plumes of ornamental grass and purple verbena in sun, a clipped conifer and a slatted fence behind

How do you make a small courtyard feel like a garden you can use all year?

Two isometric drawings of the same yard: as found, with a concrete path, a slab, a shed, a clothesline and a tired lawn; and two years on, with a deck, a curved lawn, a brick path under a rose arch, a gravel garden and deep planting.

We drew the yard as it was, then as it could be two years on: the same fences and the same brick, with the slab gone and the planting brought right up to the table.

Planting plan of the Northcote courtyard: a deck and a paved landing by the house, a lawn in the middle, a brick path under a rose arch to a gravel garden with a bird bath and a bench, and beds of shrubs, perennials and grasses along the fences under three small trees.

  1. Gravel garden

    A bench and a bird bath in the far corner, on gravel over the clay, with thyme growing between the stones.

  2. Rose arch

    The arch marks the halfway point of the brick path. A climbing rose covers it by the second spring.

  3. One simple lawn

    A single shape that is easy to mow, with the beds deep enough to plant in layers.

  4. Deck and long table

    The table sits close to the kitchen, with a maple for summer shade and winter sun.

Four layers do the work: a small tree for summer shade, clipped shrubs for winter structure, perennials and grasses for movement, and a groundcover that keeps the soil covered.

Exploded diagram of one courtyard bed in five layers: the maple canopy at the top, then the shrubs, the perennials and grasses, the groundcover, and the mulched soil they all grow in, with the trunk running down through them.

Each layer is chosen for heavy clay and a hot north wall, and each needs a different kind of care, which we write into the care sheet.

Isometric drawing of the Northcote courtyard laid out before planting: the deck and landing by the house, the lawn, the brick path and rose arch, the gravel garden, and dashed outlines where the three trees will go.The same isometric view planted: a maple, a crepe myrtle and a magnolia over shrubs, perennials, grasses and groundcover, with a rose on the arch and climbers on the fences.The same view with the planting faded back to show a drip line through every bed, the downpipe piped under the landing to a small rain garden, and the soil in section: new topsoil over the clay.

  1. 01

    Layout

    The deck, the lawn and the brick path come first: the shapes that make the garden easy to use every day.

  2. 02

    Planting layers

    Trees and shrubs on the boundaries, softer planting towards the lawn, so the middle of the garden stays open.

  3. 03

    Water and soil

    A drip line on a timer runs through every bed, and the downpipe feeds a small rain garden by the deck.

Isometric drawing of the rose arch over the brick path with planting on both sides, and below it the path drawn apart in layers: bricks in basket weave, bedding sand, compacted crushed rock, geotextile and the clay beneath.

The rose arch marks the halfway point of the path. Its footings sit in a crushed rock base, so the brick stays level on the clay.

A garden that changes withthe seasons, not against them.

Section through the courtyard from the house to the back fence: the deck, the lawn, the brick path, the Japanese maple and the layered planting along the fence, with a person for scale.
A white garden arch over a brick path

By the second spring the planting spills onto the path and the climbing rose covers the arch.

A garden this size has to work hard. Every bed is deep enough for three layers, and every path leads somewhere worth sitting.

Shrubs and grasses planted in front of a slatted timber fence

We want gardens that are used every day, not just looked at from the kitchen window.

The studio’s aim for every garden

Purple salvia and lime green foliage in close up

Picture yourown garden

Start a garden brief
Next garden

Mount Martha
Gardens