2009 Spring Festival Designer Gardens
Below are gardens 8 to 15 of the 15 Designer Gardens that took part in this year's Spring Festival.

Visit Garden World now and view these magnificent gardens!

Also see the seven gardens submitted by children from selected schools.

To see a detailed view of each garden, please double click each image.

On this page, view Gardens 8 - 15

Natures Art encompasses a unique relationship and balance between the three elements of Nature, Art & Lifestyle. Inspired by birds this contemporary design is a mirrored-image ground pattern, with a strong relationship between different shapes, forms and levels to bring depth and added space to the design. All these elements come together in a low maintenance environment, where the indigenous plants have been designed by nature to suit their surroundings. These plants enclose a deck made from recycled plastic which supports ecological trends. This design offers many opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint, from irrigation pipes made from recycled tyres, environmentally friendly low VOC content paint products and plants such as the Portulacaria afra that absorbs high levels of carbon dioxide.

All senses are awakened in this garden, through colour, fragrance, sounds and textures. The soul of this garden is the pyramid and the sequence of colours from the colour wheel that reflect off it. Match your mood to the colour, choose a place, then sit and reflect. This is a garden that revives and inspires the spirit. The soft-pink and beige stoned walkway that surrounds the garden is scattered with groundcover herbs to add their scent to the pathway experience.

The two main influences in this garden are 'Art' & 'Entertainment'. Here, art being entertainment and a garden being art in its own right. This garden includes sculptures in both its structures and its plants, topiary being a living sculpture. All elements in the garden have both a functional value and an artistic presence. Everyday gardening materials (like pebbles, decking & reclaimed timber) find new uses as art in the garden.

Water soothes, cools and calms body, mind and spirit. In a contemporary urban setting, we often do not have the space, nor can we spare the water for both a water feature and swimming pool. This swimpond or biotope, combines both elements by incorporating an environmentally friendly combination of bio-filter and wetland garden to clean water so that it can be used as a swimming pool; as well as a water feature which will bring nature back into our environment. Entry into the swimpond is via a gradual sandy "beach" slope. This ensures that water is accessible to all users of the pond (human and other). A sloped side also makes it easier for exiting the pond – especially for children and wildlife. A natural sand-scape creates the backdrop for this delightful feature.

As with any other art form, landscape design needs to relate to people. 'STRAWBERRY FIELDS' is just such a design – intended to satisfy the quiet, private space of an individual. The emphasis of Tshwane University of Technology is to empower people and a large percentage of the Universities attendees are young adults. We at the Department of Horticulture chose to design a fun, warm and cosy space for the young and young-at-heart to relate to and relax in. The design draws attention to the central whimsical 'suspended' water feature. The mirrored wall sections provide fragmented images of both users and surroundings alike, further enhancing the whimsical nature of the area.

The garden is simple and quite austere, but this may be the mood of gardening in the near future. Indigenous plants are adapted to their native environment so generally they require less water, less pesticides and create a habitat for native birds and insects. Islands of indigenous planting in urban gardens make a small contribution to environmental preservation. This garden is an example of what a small urban garden could become since is it predicted that with climate change many parts of South Africa will receive less rain and we will have more droughts and therefore less water. The planting all has low water requirements and in fact is unlikely to need any supplementary water over natural rainfall.

This garden showcases the aesthetic side to creating a vegetable and herb garden. The garden will have examples of seasonal produce that can be grown in South Africa, and more specifically, Johannesburg, during the winter months. The garden design takes into account aesthetic elements such as plant height, texture and colour. The tallest varieties of winter vegetables such as climbing peas elegantly vined onto wooden obelisks, broad beans towering up to 70cm above ground, and daylilies, for colour as well as consumption; the backdrop is created. The central feature to the garden is the beautiful mosaic pot with Eureka lemon tree. The lemon tree is the one constant and essential in a well planned veggie garden. Other touches that the garden demonstrates are an edible flower border, neat edging and ways of creating height in the garden, cute cottage-style fencing and the benefit of using an organic method of growing.

 This garden has been designed to reflect the diversity of landscape design and construction in a small, modern Canadian home backing onto a natural woodland. While the design may be fairly straightforward, the implementation of the required construction and installation are set to challenge all the landscaping teams participating in this year's WorldSkills competition in Calgary, Canada on the 1st September 2009. We wish the South African WorldSkills finalists Ashley & Iwan who will represent us in Calgary all the best in their quest to come back with a gold medal.