Via Palm Springs

This Sydney garden belongs to ceramicist Liane Rossler, her architect husband Sam Marshall, and their two teenage daughters, Lana and Scarlet. The family share it with two freeranging guinea pigs, known as Lanyo and Lazlo, and a multitude of wild creatures – including two crested doves who visit every afternoon, as well as magpies, possums, rainbow lorikeets, hosts of butterflies, and a pair of ducks who fly in from nearby Centennial Park to splash in the backyard swimming pool. All are welcome. It’s a generous and inclusive attitude that Liane extends even to the humble weed.

“I see weeds as a gift,” she says, without a hint of irony. “People kill weeds with poison, which kills bees and birds and people. But if you look at a weed as a gift rather than something you have to delete, we’re all better off. Because our guinea pigs roam free in the garden I’ve become very encouraging of whatever grows here.”

Her appreciation of weeds also comes from her artist’s eye which recognises beauty in things others might shun or overlook. Tumbling over the edge of a beautiful, glazed green pot on the kitchen windowsill is a dainty clover, with heart-shaped leaves and clear yellow flowers. “Look at it,” she urges. “People go around killing these and I find them quite beautiful.”

A rampant vegetable and citrus garden takes up one side of the north-facing rear yard, replacing an unproductive strip of lawn. Overarching the fruit trees and vegetables is a sprawling bougainvillea with intense pink-magenta flowers and a trio of bangalow palms, planted to give the garden height and the added quality of movement when the wind ruffles the fronds. Visiting koels also enjoy the seeds. In the beds below, herbs and marigolds jostle with a cornucopia of vegetables through which the foraging guinea pigs scamper, as happy as the proverbial.

The other half of the rear garden is almost filled by a large, rectangular 1960s swimming pool – complete with aqua tiles and a stainless-steel pool ladder – put in by the house’s previous owners. Between the pool and the side fence fragrant frangipanis grown from cuttings are under-planted with hibiscus. By midsummer the garden is a riot of colour, heightening the Palm Springs vibe that Liane and Sam liked about the garden.

“The 1960s was the period we grew up in, so we’re fond of it,” says Liane. “There was a real sense of optimism then and a lot of the design was simple and elegant. With this garden we’re trying to create a green canopy which will envelop the backyard. When you’re in the pool you can lie back and look at the frangipani overhead. But it’s also lovely to be able to ‘borrow’ our neighbours’ trees as well. Next door there’s a large jacaranda and when it drops its blossoms we enjoy the sight of the purple flowers floating in the blue pool.”

The front garden is also sheltered by a canopy of trees, but the tone of this space is completely different. Here the colour palette is all muted grey-greens and olives, created by a grove of tall, lemon-scented eucalyptus inter-planted with tea tree and West Australian wattles raised from seed collected in Broome. Beneath is an under-storey of fine, tufted grasses and architectural grass trees, with a thick mulch of fragrant leaf litter underfoot.

“Having the two different landscapes is interesting,” Liane observes. “In the back garden there’s always something going on, while the front garden is more consistent.”

Bordering the front of the garden a handsome palisade fence of pale coloured, rough-cast concrete posts complements a series of concrete blades that flank the entry to the house. The gaps in the fence allow shafts of low afternoon sun to penetrate the garden.

“What I really love is the light and movement in the garden,” says Liane. “When you enter the front garden in the afternoon, it feels like you’re entering another world. The sunlight is shining through the fence onto the different grasses and they are all moving in the breeze … It’s quite a beautiful space to enter and you feel enveloped in a creative environment, where the architecture and the plants work together.”

The front garden was previously home to a large cactus and a camellia bush when Liane and Sam bought the 1930s bungalow fifteen years ago. Those plants were gently prised from the earth and given to friends. Now the bushland space the couple have created – inspired by the native garden at the National Gallery in Canberra – screens the house and attracts yet more wildlife.

Returning to the back garden in the late afternoon light the pair of crested pigeons flutter in right on cue to peck at a bowl of birdseed.

“Our garden provides for us and the local wildlife as well,” says Liane, “and I really like that element. The life that comes with the garden is very important to me. I love sitting here and watching the show.”