‘The garden had been designed 15 years earlier but was tired and overgrown, and along with the house, it was due for a reimagining,’ Tim Pilgrim says of his Bent Garden project in Northcote.

The garden designer was tasked with transforming the property’s front and rear gardens into something more sympathetic to the client’s freshly renovated Edwardian, while also taking note of the existing tree-lined streetscape of the inner-city neighbourhood.

‘There seems to be a very active garden culture [in Northcote] with a mishmash of garden styles, but most noticeably a kind of wild native theme,’ Tim says.

‘The Merri Creek is at the end of the street, as is CERES Community Environment Park, so we used these places as local vernacular that drove the design.’

It was something of an ideal canvas for Tim, whose own style is characterised by layered, perennial plantings and naturalistic principles to create landscaping that feels immersive — whether it’s in a rambling country garden or a smaller urban setting.

In the case of this 372-square-metre Melbourne block, they decided to keep the front garden rather ‘subtle’, with minimal shifts throughout the seasons.

A central red-brick path is flanked by two rectangular beds on either side, with a Eucalyptus pulverulenta tree (silver-leaved mountain gum) and grasses like Poa labillardieri (common tussock-grass) that frame the elegant facade.

‘The back garden was where we could work on a more seasonal and naturalistic approach. We stacked, or layered, the planting to always have something succeeding the next,’ Tim says.

Sliding glass doors open the living room directly to a deck and pergola overlooking the broader landscape. A permeable gravel path offers inviting walkways amongst a sea of evergreen foliage, including Pittosporum, Westringia fruticosa balls (coastal rosemary) and hardy shrubs that provide a verdant framework year-round.

There’s also a whimsical edge to the garden, thanks to perennial flowering species like Pycnosorus globosus (Billy buttons), Agastache (sweet Lili) and Tradescantia pallida (purple heart).

‘The garden changes moods as it moves through the seasons. In early spring, it’s all about the textual foliage contrast,’ Tim adds.

‘As the spring progresses, the lime green foliage of the herbaceous perennials erupts and starts flowing, in turn with whites and soft pastels that are offset by deep pinks and electric blues…’

He describes it almost like a meadow, where you can ‘barely see any forms’ beyond the airy wands of grasses, flowers, and sporadic intersections that ‘keep it from looking like total chaos.’

But in the present day, the year-old garden is about to enter its next phase for the first time, as autumn brings on a season of decay and contrasting textures with russet tones. And Tim can’t wait to see it!