Trade Secrets: Levelling Up With Layers

A lush terrace shares design DNA with the gorgeous surrounding garden. 

Is it still called landscaping if It's happening two storeys above the ground? Whatever the semantics, Bianca Bodley of Biophilia Design Collective in Victoria has tied together the plantings on the bedroom patio and the loose, textural gardens of the backyard so thoughtfully that each feels like an effortless extension of the other.

€œThe homeowners wanted a modern look for the landscape, but one that was still full and natural,€ says Bodley. €œIt's my favourite kind of aesthetic.€ Up top, simple pheasant's tail grasses, Mexican feather grass and bamboo in planters line the green terrace to create some privacy and bring a hit of nature to eye level; at ground level, a Corten-steel water feature is surrounded by verbena bonaris and morning light miscanthus.

Further away from the house (designed by Adam Fryatt of Mdrn Built), you'll find the vegetable garden and apple trees down a pea-gravel path€”a material chosen for the comfort of a homeowner, who's happiest barefoot out in the garden.