Ideas & past work
Flowering garden ideas, Brisbane
Every flowering plant Duncan puts in the ground and comes back to photograph — frangipani, gingers, lilies, orchids and flowering natives, chosen for when they come on and how long they hold. 13 photographs.
How Duncan designs it
No two the same.
A flowering garden is designed around time as much as space. The question is not just what flowers, but when it comes on, how long it holds and what the bed looks like for the other ten months of the year.
Duncan plans flowering plants as part of a layered bed rather than as a burst of colour on handover day. Frangipani for summer scent and a bare frame that lets the winter sun through. Clivia for colour in deep shade where little else flowers. Gingers, crinums and lilies for the wet season, native daisies and flowering gums for the birds and bees. The flowers below are all from gardens he designed and planted, photographed when he went back to see how they had come on.
No two of those gardens were planted to the same list. The palette changes with the aspect, the soil and what the client wants to look at from the house. Each was drawn on paper, costed to the budget, and put in the ground by the person who chose it.
01Plumeria rubraFrangipani, pink & goldFrangipani in pink and gold — summer scent, and a bare frame that lets the winter sun through.
02Clivia miniataCliviaClivia flowering scarlet in deep shade, where little else will bloom.
03Corymbia ‘Summer Red’Flowering gumFlowering gum ‘Summer Red’ in full blossom, worked by bees.
04CrinumCrinum lilyCrinum lily in pink and white stripes above broad strap foliage.
05Plumeria rubraFrangipani, coralDeep coral frangipani massed on the branch.
06HedychiumGinger lilyA yellow ginger lily spike with fine red stamens, at its best in the warm months.
07NymphaeaWater lilyA pale water lily open on a dark pond.
08Spathoglottis plicataGround orchidPurple ground orchid flowering above pleated strappy foliage — at home in a Brisbane garden.
09Brachyscome angustifoliaNative daisyNative Brachyscome daisies massed over fine foliage, a long-flowering edging plant.
10Bulbine frutescensBulbineBulbine in orange and yellow above fine succulent foliage — tough and dry-tolerant.
11CoreopsisTickseedGolden coreopsis open across a planted bed.
12CamelliaCamelliaA white camellia in full flower, petals beaded with rain.
13IpomoeaMorning gloryPurple morning glory open beside pink tubular buds in a border.
Next step
Like what you see? Make it yours.
None of these get built twice. Read how Duncan approaches feature planting in Brisbane, or tell him about your own space.
Start here
Got a space that isn’t working?
Dayboro, Samford, Moreton Bay and across Brisbane’s inner north — Ashgrove, Grange, Nundah and surrounds.