Ideas & past work
Stone wall and planter box ideas, Brisbane
Limestone, travertine, granite and sandstone — retaining walls, feature walls and raised planter boxes, lit so they still read after dark. 10 photographs.
How Duncan designs it
No two the same.
On a sloping Brisbane block a retaining wall is usually the most expensive single item in the garden, so it should earn more than its keep. A good one holds the ground, gives you a bed to plant, somewhere to sit and a surface to light after dark.
Duncan designs walls around the slope and the stone rather than a catalogue block. Sandstone, limestone, granite and travertine each set differently, and the choice depends on the house, the levels and what the wall has to do. Steps are worked in where people will actually walk. Planter boxes are sized so the plants in them have room to get established. Lighting gets designed into the wall from the start rather than bolted on later.
The walls below were all built from the same small set of materials and not one of them repeats another. A curved pond wall, a coursed wall with a timber gate set into it, sandstone steps between low retaining — each one came out of a site visit, a concept on paper and a costing, and was built by the person who drew it.
01Natural stone feature wallA natural stone feature wall mixing limestone and sandstone, set above travertine paving.
02Stacked sandstone garden wallsTwo tiers of stacked sandstone garden wall, with clipped hedging along the top level.
03Lit sandstone wall with agapanthusA sandstone block wall with recessed lighting built in, and agapanthus planted along its base.
04Curved stone pond wallA curved wall of natural stone retaining a dark garden pond.
05Sandstone steps and retainingSandstone block steps rise between low sandstone retaining walls towards a gate.
06Stone pillars and paved entryNatural stone pillars flank a steel gate above stone paving at the entry.
07Stone wall with timber gateA coursed natural stone wall with a timber gate recessed into it.
08Sleeper steps cut into a slopeHardwood sleeper steps cut into a grassed slope — an economical way up a bank.
09Stone steps with hardwood handrailPaved steps beside the lawn with a hardwood post-and-rail handrail.
10Boulders in paper daisiesPlaced sandstone boulders bedded into a drift of yellow paper daisies.
Next step
Like what you see? Make it yours.
None of these get built twice. Read how Duncan approaches stone retaining walls 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.