Bay Tree (Laurus nobilis)
Screening and hedging plants are in greater demand than ever, and one particular plant is gaining popularity, with good reason – the Bay Tree (Laurus nobilis). Bay trees make excellent [...]
We dig these garden tools!
With our days at home and the beautiful Autumn weather, now is the perfect time to get out in the garden. Not only good for our bodies, time spent outdoors, [...]
Garden Lighting
Choosing the right lighting for your garden design is just as important as the design itself. At Ian Barker Gardens our lighting philosophy is to ‘light up by candlelight, rather [...]
Hawthorn – Garden Design Project
There is certainly great art in creating a garden that respects a home’s heritage architecture, whilst simultaneously providing contemporary style and energy. Ian Barker’s team have painstakingly achieved this in [...]
Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors
‘A great house is always a strong marriage of architecture, landscape and interiors’, says Rob Mills, Director of award-winning Melbourne based practice Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors (RMA). RMA design [...]
Pieris japonica (Lily-of-the-Valley shrub)
Any plant with japonica (or japonicus) in its name means it comes from Japan, as does this splendid shrub. And where a plant is from can tell you a lot [...]
Himalayan Salt Plate with Holder
If you’re going to have salt, you might as well make it as healthy and as flavorsome as you can. (Remember the old saying of course: ‘Everything in moderation, except [...]
The Delicate Balance between Sun and Light
We love our light-filled outdoor spaces but balancing light with excessive sun can be a tricky landscape design challenge. Ian Barker explains that establishing where the sun is positioned at [...]
Curves or Straight Lines?
There has been a pendulum swing between curves and straight lines since landscape design came into being. Gardens with mostly straight lines are more formal in appearance than those with [...]
Antique Perennials Bushfire Fundraiser
Anyone who has been following our garden design work over the years, will know how much we love our perennials. Our passion in creating gardens with naturalistic planting schemes would [...]