Sporty elegance is not a phrase you’d normally associate with landscaping, but it aptly describes this sophisticated 2.4-hectare property at Duffys Forest, a semi-rural northern-Sydney suburb surrounded by Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Within the site’s perimeters lie a contemporary country garden and an Olympic-size equestrian arena.

“If you compared the garden to a clothing label, it would be Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger,” says landscape designer Michael Cooke. “It’s formal, yet relaxed.”

But the property wasn’t always a picture of perfection. In 1991, when Pam and Andy Laidlaw were still full-tilt into their respective careers, Pam decided she needed a hobby. Revisiting a childhood passion, she bought a horse. It was during the search for a place to keep it that they found the site they nicknamed ‘the dust bowl’.

Having been ravaged by severe storms earlier in the year, the property was the ideal blank canvas upon which to create the couple’s dream house and garden. The storms had blown the tops off the trees, leaving just two salvageable gums, and what hadn’t been devastated by the weather had been ringbarked by horses. Wondering how to revive the land from such abject desolation, Pam and Andy called in horticulturist Anne Burns.

“I’ve never seen anything so damaged in my life,“ says Anne. “It was down to clay, the absolute subsoil. They were wise to get landscapers in from the beginning. It allowed us to work on soil improvement while the house was being built.”

Budget-savvy Anne sourced truckloads of topsoil from pool-building sites around nutrient-rich areas of the North Shore to prime the site, then introduced chicken manure, worm castings and old hay for mulch. She then left it all to settle in until the house was finished. “The process took about two years,” she says.

The next step was to get things growing. “When you’re doing regenerative work, you think both long term and quick fix,” says Anne. “You start with pioneering plants, knowing they’ll eventually be removed. We used fast-growing peppercorn trees (Schinus molle) to create quick shade cover and drop litter to add to the organic matter in the soil. The trees also protected slow-growing plants, which would mature over time, such as Magnolia grandiflora, Nyssa and Japanese maples.”

Anne also created a network of meandering pathways, laying recycled-brick paths to delineate zones, and putting down fescue to create a series of lawns.

“I’m a keen golfer, so I co-opted part of the upper lawn for a chipping green and sand bunker,” says Andy. “Consequently, I have a pretty reasonable short game!”

Ten years after buying the block, when Pam and Andy moved into semi-retirement, they turned their attention to refining the garden and brought in plantsman Michael Cooke.

“Part of my brief was to keep plants low enough that they could be chipped over,” jokes Michael. “It was a delight to work on this garden. Pam and Andy gave me free rein and the result is a great showcase of the hardy, drought-tolerant species I love, such as succulents, hedging plants and native grasses.”

Michael’s most impressive inclusion is the south-facing front garden, where scrolls of cherry laurel hedge flank the path, leading to a dramatic display of the giant succulents Agave americana ‘Marginata’.

“As you walk through that garden, you get a sensation similar to being underwater,” says Andy. “Those monstrous plants with curly fronds look like big kelp beds. It has a totally different feel to the lawn areas.”

Pam and Andy agree that it is the garden’s many moods that make it so special. “It has a formal structure, but it also has rambling aspects to it,” says Pam. “Michael’s ability to choose and locate plants is amazing, and he’s incredibly good at creating low-maintenance gardens. Ours looks high-maintenance, but it isn’t.”

Less time spent tending the garden means more time enjoying it, and Pam and Andy are a very active couple. As well as the equestrian facilities and golf green, the garden has an area for petanque, a croquet lawn and swimming pool. While horses must keep to the paddocks, two other energetic residents enjoy access-all-areas.

“Andy and I will have a drink on the verandah and watch the whippets race flat-chat around the lawn,” says Pam. “It’s comical how they hoon around. They’re working dogs in their own right as they keep the rabbit population down and go off every Tuesday to provide pet-therapy at a local aged-care facility.”

As for the residents of the ‘Duffys Forest Dust Bowl’ no-one is ready for full retirement just yet. There’s far too much fun to be had.

Michael Cooke Garden Design, Central Mangrove, NSW; (02) 4373 1212.
Anne Burns, Forbes, NSW; (02) 6859 2373.