By Tony Haslam
The landscape workshop delivered by prominent Landscape Architect Shaun Walsh started with a walk around the Noosa District Landcare nursery at the Futures Centre in Pavilion St, Pomona. Shaun explained how the structure of the garden needed to be conceptualized and designed before buying plants to incorporate into the garden.
Activities then moved indoors into the Futures Centre where the serious part of the workshop commenced.
Shaun explained how there were basic steps to follow in designing a landscape. He showed how it started with a vision, maybe only 2 or 3 points, then moved on through a sight analysis, which included identifying problem areas, views and vistas that needed to be framed, or discovered as a surprise element.
Participants were then provided with paper and pencils to start putting down on paper some of the design processes and elements that related to their own gardens. This process was followed at each stage of the workshop.
Other aspects dealt with included basic elements for all gardens such as considering the foreground, middle ground, and background. Shaun demonstrated how an Urban Wildlife Garden could still incorporate some classical design principles while employing a palette of native plants.
The day’s activities concluded with a short drive to Shaun’s home garden for afternoon tea, and to see how he had incorporated native plants into a structured and breathtaking landscape. The incorporation of plants that were slightly out of their region, but that took account of climate change, was also touched on.
In all it was an engaging day that took some away from a ‘normal’ view of what a wildlife garden is and perhaps suggested different ways of looking at the design inputs and influences that could be incorporated into their own gardens. The breadth of Shaun’s knowledge and his willingness to share his expertise was heartily appreciated by all who took part.
