Back in 2015, Ian presented on ‘Naturalistic Perennial Planting in Australia’ at the Horticultural Gardening Festival. As part of this presentation, he highlighted his Top 10 list of landscape designers [...]
Sitting by a cosy fire is the perfect way to maximise time outdoors. So the team at Ian Barker Gardens was both delighted and excited when they recently stumbled across [...]
Whilst most other summer plants have long given up hope of doing anything productive, the Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha) is continuing to showcase its vibrant colour and striking poise [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
‘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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]