The following is an edited extract from The Coastal Garden by Phaidon
Surf House Ground Studio Landscape Architecture | Santa Cruz, California, USA | 2019
For a family of avid surfers, a property with a view overlooking an iconic surf break in Santa Cruz is a close second to actually catching that perfect wave. Surf House was built to take advantage of its location on a steep sandstone bluff, and to fit in with the eclectic, laidback local scene.
Designed by Feldman Architecture, the house is fit for easy living, but it was the task of acclaimed designer Bernard Trainor and his design team at Ground Studio to integrate the house into its setting. From the street, you enter the courtyard, sheltered from the wind and set for relaxed entertaining. Once in the house, huge glass windows connect you with the view.
The focal point of the oceanside garden is the huge, reclaimed slab of local Monterey cypress, weathered to a light silvery grey and crafted into a raised bar, complete with bar stools. Set on the edge of the bluff, it is the perfect spot for contemplating the ocean view, with a glass in hand. Couple this with the firepit and the garden becomes an essential space for gathering friends and enjoying the outdoors.
Combining with its lifestyle appeal is the palette of resilient plantings, featuring a curated blend of coastal Californian and Mediterranean native plants to give textural and seasonal interest, as well as structural resilience to the salt-laden breezes. Succulents, such as round-leaved naval-wort (Cotyledon orbiculata) and Californian poppies, intermingle with the silvery greens of ground-covering manzanita, while drifts of dark green Cape thatching reed (Elegia tectorum ‘El Campo’) move with the breeze, echoing the wind patterns on the ocean. The subtle integrity of the plantings enhances the living spaces and suggests a sense of belonging within this compelling landscape.
Private Garden Anthony Paul | West Wittering, West Sussex, UK | 2017
The mesmerising sound of waves on shore is captivating, more so when amplified by the distinctive clatter of a shingle beach. Characteristic of much of the south coast of England, these shingled shores are home to an equally distinctive palette of plants adapted to growing in this fragile habitat amid its rounded pebbles.
So, to discover a beautifully styled garden amid this setting seems both surprising and delightful. This challenging location was embraced by designer Anthony Paul, who crafted this shorefront garden for a newly built house by Mark Robinson Architects. With the house elevated, the garden gently descends in a series of shallow terraces, each defined by gabion cages filled with flint stones – a material choice that echoes both detailing on the house and the shingle beyond.
From the house, a sleek reflecting pool acts as a mirror, pulling the wide sky down to ground level and lending a touch of formality to this elemental setting. Moving down the garden, bold mass plantings of mounded beach aster (Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’), pigface (Carpobrotus edulis), thrift (Armeria maritima), and sea kale (Crambe maritima) form a robust tapestry of colour, perfectly adapted to the salt-laden winds.
Paul has introduced additional plants less familiar to this seashore scene to extend the season of interest, including the compact Aster alpinus ‘Happy End’, perfect for dry sunny borders, along with Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) and New Zealand sedge (Carex testacea), which fade to a sun-kissed tawny brown by late summer. The garden’s boundary is aptly seafront in style, resembling the wooden, wall-like groynes that extend into the sea to hold sediment and help to stabilise the shoreline. Its outward lean acts as a windbreak while still allowing views to the sea. Access to the beach is through a drawbridge set within the fence – a characterful detail that speaks of a stronghold against the forces of the sea.
South Seas Garden Fiona Brockhoff Design | Somers, Victoria, Australia
When designer Fiona Brockhoff isn’t working, she’s an enthusiastic bushwalker, beachcomber and camper. Her appreciation of native flora and fauna undoubtedly informs her work, with planting choices and local materials selected in response to each project’s location.
The area around this beachfront property, set above Western Port Bay on the Mornington Peninsula, some 64km southeast of Melbourne, is lucky in retaining pockets of native bush, and Fiona’s aim was to seamlessly integrate the house into a complementary vegetative tapestry. The family also needed spaces for children’s play and for growing fruit and vegetables, all the while forging an effortless connection down the slope to a boathouse nestled on the edge of the beach.
The project began with the preservation of two mature coast banksia trees (Banksia integrifolia), which wonderfully frame the views over the bay. A dialogue with the architecture of the house was established through Fiona’s choice of material features. Most strikingly, the home’s cladding of wooden slats – with screens that serve as oversize shutters and add an extra dynamic when open – play directly to the winding path that leads down the slope, its retaining vertical slats of native cypress pine echoing those of the house.
At the bottom of a flight of steps constructed in local stone is the boathouse lawn, opening up space for outdoor living and homegrown produce. Throughout the garden, Fiona has combined indigenous species, such as Australian rosemary (Westringia fruticosa) and coast beard-heath (Leucopogon parviflorus), with other resilient plantings, including New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), providing texture and rich foliage contrast. The carefully considered plantings, blended use of materials, and easy practicality of design have resulted in a garden of great character that allows for relaxed beachside living and a strong connection to its setting.
Silvermoon Shack Jo Ferguson | Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia | 2024
In search of a more holistic, natural environment, a family based in Melbourne seized upon the opportunity to renovate a neglected 1970s beach shack on the Mornington Peninsula. Just four-minutes’ walk from the beach, the compact dwelling is the perfect holiday home for them and their daughter.
Having done the refurbishment themselves, it was local garden designer Jo Ferguson’s task to design a garden of equal charm and character, linking the home with its beach-edge location. Located a stone’s throw from a sandy track that leads through native bush to the beautiful, sandy Dimmicks Beach, the garden needed a relaxed, natural coastal aesthetic that allowed for a sense of immersion within the environment.
Initially, the project focused on the front garden, taking in the driveway and curbside area. Invasive overgrowth was removed to reveal remnant drooping she-oaks (Allocasuarina verticillata) and moonah (Melaleuca lanceolata), immediately opening up the space and making it feel more welcoming. Jo chose a planting palette that mixed natives with coastally suited exotics for an enhanced visual tapestry – her colour palette was chosen to complement the shack’s duck-egg blue paint.
A wooden boardwalk curves to the front door, with locally sourced limestone boulders dotted throughout the space to give a rustic appeal that blends with the garden’s sand and gravel covering. These material elements bring a deliberate textural quality, perfect for walking on barefoot and encouraging a connection with the natural world. A split wattle fence completes the relaxed, informal appeal and allows for a visual link beyond the boundary. Stepping out of the house into this cleverly thought-out garden is to gently immerse your senses and allow for a seamless transition from curated design to the natural world beckoning beyond.
The Coastal Garden by Phaidon is available to buy at Phaidon.
Read more:
- A horticulturist’s guide to pet-friendly indoor plants
- Landscape designer Guy Hessell on growing native plants in New Zealand gardens
- Harakeke: A story of New Zealand flax and its cultural meaning
