I designed this quite formal landscape project for new premises for a well-known Cairns carpet shop. We based the scheme on a series of low clipped hedges which enclose more tropical species. The gardens include the lovely red Sealing Wax palms as feature plants. Low-maintenance and reliable tropical shrubs such as Ixora and Crotons are used to provide contrasting colour to the green hedges. I chose native bottlebrush shrubs (Callistemon viminalis) instead of the usual style of street trees. The owners have kept them neatly pruned and they have proved to be a good choice because there is minimal leaf litter.
The landscaped gardens are a good example of mixing some of the more common Cairns native endemic and tropical plant species. All the plants have proven tough enough to survive conditions on the edges of a car park and busy street.
We negotiated with Cairns Regional Council to plant and maintain the traffic island in a similar style to the landscaping inside the property boundary. It was one of the first commercial landscape design projects where we used artificial turf on the road verges instead of natural grass. The product has been a great success and I have specified it in other schemes as a result of this experiment. I’d thought the maintenance might be a problem but it is wearing well, much to my surprise. It is a good product when used in the right location.
Who was involved in this Project? The project won the Master Builders Award in the Retail facilities up to $5 million in August 2013 for Keir Qld https://keirqld.com.au/ . Landscape contractor was well-known local Terry McGuire and his team.
The owners of Hoppens Carpets www.hoppens.com.au have done a fantastic job of maintaining the gardens to very high standards. They keep the miniature hedges of baby Mock Orange constantly pruned to make sure they always look good. It is a good example of how a commercial business can benefit from a well-planned landscape design which has stood the test of time. The landscapscheme is now 4 years old. The project team from landscape designer to landscape contractor and builder and owner have constructed and maintained a landscape which can still set the standards for other premises in the area. This garden has become well-known locally as it is quite striking as one drives past. Even after a few years since construction of the landscape project this is still looking great. I’m very pleased with the result.