A xeric garden that is reminiscent of the owner’s native country
10 Oct 2018
An Aussie Aesthetic
By Lisa Truesdalephotos by Julia Truesdale
When she founded noosa yoghurt in Boulder in 2010, Koel Thomae was satisfied that she had successfully bridged her homeland, Australia, with her home since 1999, Colorado. She had introduced American palates to creamy, velvety, Australian-style yoghurt, which is manufactured here in Colorado.
So when she and her husband, Tait, wanted to redo the landscape at their newly remodeled 1965 home in central Boulder, it’s no surprise Thomae realized her preferred landscaping style was also Australian.
“I wanted a xeric aesthetic, like in Australia, with just a limited amount of grass where our daughter [Matilda, now 5] can play,” she says. “I definitely didn’t want to have to do a lot of watering, because that just isn’t being environmentally conscious.”
For design help, Thomae turned to Lisa Sangelo, who was working with Boulder’s L.I.D. Landscapes at the time and has now moved to Ecoscape Environmental Design. Besides being a talented landscape architect, Thomae says, Sangelo just happened to have another qualification that came in handy—she’s from Australia, too.
“With Lisa, I didn’t really have to explain everything I wanted,” Thomae says. “She just got it.”
In the front and back yards, Sangelo’s design nods to their native country. “The red rocks are reminiscent of the red desert in Australia and also connect with the Utah desert, where Tait grew up,” Sangelo explains. “The xeriscape was driven by understanding the preciousness of water, and the crusher fines remind us of the rammed earth and limestone trails frequently seen in Australia’s bushland.”
Sangelo chose hardy, drought-resistant trees and shrubs like gro-low sumac, panchito manzanita, moonlight broom and fernbush, and grasses like cabaret variegated maiden, zebra grass, undaunted muhly and avena oat grass. For perennials and ground covers, she planted ice plant, October daphne stonecrop, peonies, hostas and coral bells.
Thomae especially appreciates how Sangelo carefully considered the seasonality of each plant so there would be spring and summer flowers, as well as fall color.
“Lisa made sure that there’s always some level of color or interest through all seasons,” Thomae says. One of her favorite examples is the creeping veronica in the sidewalk cracks leading from the street to the front door. “They’re a gorgeous blue-purple in spring, and then a lush green later in summer.”
There’s nothing too showy, though, because that’s not the Aussie way.
“When we first started this project, we talked about the understated casualness of the remodel and how the landscape can respond to that,” Sangelo says. “And it worked out, because it’s an Australian trait not to overstate things.”
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The family spends as much time as possible on the back patio, which features comfy seating for entertaining. One place Thomae doesn’t spend a lot of time, though, is on the slackline (the post visible in the foreground is anchored so she can rig a slackline from it). “I had good intentions when I asked Lisa to make room for that,” she says. “I’ll get more use out of it someday, I promise.”
Thomae’s mother-in-law, who lived in Utah, “loved to reclaim desert plants.” The prickly pear cactus near the front yard boulder is a cutting from one of those plants. “Sadly, she passed just before Matilda was born, so it’s a very special part of our garden,” Thomae says.
Some of the most vibrant color in the front yard comes from these blanket flowers, which neither landscape designer Sangelo, nor Thomae, actually planted. “I’m not sure how they landed here, but I call them my ‘welcome invaders,’” Thomae says with a laugh.
« While shopping for a boulder as a focal point for the front yard, this one caught Thomae’s eye because of the unique patch of moss and grass growing on top. “I love this rock,” she says. “If we ever move, I’m insisting on taking it with us, but maybe I’d draw the line if it was back to Australia.” The hens and chicks at the base were lovingly transplanted from the couple’s previous garden.
The front yard isn’t overly showy, says landscape architect Lisa Sangelo. She likes the “layered look” in the front yard, where gravel meets mulch beds planted with Nanking cherry, sumac, cactus, grasses and ice plant—all anchored by a moss rock boulder that reminds homeowner Koel Thomae of the deserts in her native Australia and her husband’s native Utah.
Giving Matilda a place to play was crucial, but Thomae and her husband also took the opportunity to teach Matilda about gardening and growing fresh food. The raised vegetable gardens in the back—which yield abundant amounts of herbs, broccoli, tomatoes, beets, radishes, rainbow carrots, sugar snap peas and kale—are set at the perfect height for 5-year-old Matilda to reach. “She doesn’t mind helping with the weeding,” Thomae says, “but of course her favorite part is harvesting the produce. She’ll stand right there eating cherry tomatoes as fast as she can pick them.”
Matilda doesn’t need a lot of grass for playtime in the backyard—she’s got a tire swing, a water table, boulders to climb and lots of child-sized tools for gardening.