Finding the right landscape designer for your needs is rarely easy, but Coco the Jack Russell terrier quite literally took the task in her stride. Unbeknown to her owners, Greg and Karen Walker, she slipped out for a sneaky morning walk and found the perfect man for the job in horticulturist Kelvin Carlson, who was working on a garden two doors down the street.

“I’ve never been recruited by a dog before, but there’s a first time for everything,” says Kelvin. “When I took Coco home and met Greg, I looked up the driveway and said, ‘Great house, mate – pity the garden’s a bit average!’ He responded: ‘Well, what would you do?’”

Two-and-a-half years later, the results speak for themselves. Part of a sloping bush block in Sydney’s Bayview Heights, the sculptural dry garden sits perfectly, if somewhat surprisingly, within its surroundings.

“I was conscious of designing a garden that was in the same architectural context as the house, but also in keeping with the eucalypts that provide a canopy to the garden,” says Kelvin.  

Inspired by photographs of the Getty Center’s cactus garden in Los Angeles, Kelvin responded to the challenges of the sloping block and an increasingly drought-dominated Australian climate by creating a low-maintenance cactus garden, which is the central feature of the outside space. He also used mass drifts of hardy, drought-tolerant grasses and succulents. “Cactus gardens aren’t just low maintenance, they’re no maintenance,” says Kelvin. “As long as they have good drainage, they survive on what falls from the sky.”

The plantings are a celebration of sculptural form and textural interest, but there’s no doubt the stars are the golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii). Due to their extremely slow growth rate, these easygoing plants come at a hefty price in their mature form, which has become particularly problematic for the species.

“There is a huge illegal trade in barrel cacti and they’re now endangered in their native Mexico,” says Kelvin. “Cattle rustling, a big part of Mexico’s past, has been superseded by cactus rustling, complete with bad guys, big money and guns. As a result, it’s critical to source stock from reputable nurseries.”

Kelvin secured his stock through cacti expert Noel Butler of Advanced Arid Exotics. All the barrel cacti were grown from seed by Noel and some are up to 30 years old. Their size presents unique challenges when planting.

”My aim was to plant them without becoming a human pin cushion,” says Kelvin, laughing. “I made two long handles out of polystyrene and managed to avoid any injuries.” The garden also includes giant yucca (Yucca elephantipes), foxtail grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides), palms, bird of paradise, mother-in-law’s tongue, cordyline and Agave attenuata. 

Although Kelvin has 20 years’ experience as a horticulturist and landscaper, he prefers to think of himself simply as a gardener. “I make gardens for my clients, not landscapes,” he says. “People don’t pour a glass of wine and sit in their ‘landscape’. They go into their gardens to relax and get away from the business of modern life.”

Kelvin Carlson, Harmony in Landscape, North Narrabeen, NSW; 0416 160 996.

Story Sara Silm
Produced by Megan Morton & Sara Silm
Photography Jason Busch