Landscaper returns to garden show

BALLARAT-based landscaper designer Daniel Althaus is set to have his work on display at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show this March.

With his new garden Mother Ocean, he’s aiming to challenge the boundaries of design and encourage a more natural aesthetic.

The design is centred around a wave which he said symbolises change, motion and the natural world.

Linear shaped Pietra Grigio paving sits in one corner of the design seeking to represent human intervention in nature, while a red steel path aims to draw viewers to the wave and the garden is full of lush rainforest plants.

“The heart of the garden is this two-metre wave which is steel and mesh,” said Althaus.

“It’s got moss and ground covers all the way through it so it’s all Australian natives and the design intent for the garden was to steer away from something that was traditionally landscaping.”

As much as possible, Althaus likes to use local products.

“I tried to go to regional businesses, and I try and focus on them to bring them up with me,” he said.

Althaus has been working as a landscape designer for the last five years and won silver and the people’s choice award last year in the achievable gardens category of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

“It was pretty special to get the people’s choice award and that garden was the start of everything,” he said.

“It was really well received and kind of catapulted things for the business.”

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is on from Wednesday 20 March until Sunday 24 March at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton.