Mary Jo has just visited the Singapore Garden Festival where the gardens of two Australian designers were awarded medals. Here are some images of ‘Australasia‘.

The garden Jim Fogarty, and his implementing partners Home Landscape Pte Ltd., presented attracted a gold medal for Horticultural Excellence; and the garden of Brendan Moar, and implementing partner Hawaii Landscape Pte Ltd., was awarded silver for Best Construction. Well done – Australia’s proud of you both!

Fogarty says “the colours of the walls are inspired by the bark of the Rainbow Tree (Eucalyptus deglupta). Aged painted concrete walls create the feeling of the tropics and reference the long life spans of many tropical trees. As you enter the garden, you symbolically walked through the peeling layers of bark to discover this metaphorical interpretation of ‘Australasia‘.

Exploring cultural garden design influences, lifestyle elements of Australian gardens have been melded with design influences from the East. The threshold of the lime green wall is based on ancient Chinese Feng Shui ideology that encourages visitors to physically step into the garden and to leave the rest of the world behind.

The outdoor setting area takes inspiration from tea-houses and in-floor dining style that is so popular in Eastern cultures.”