Sindy

Indigenous Healing Plants

Here's a list of local indigenous plants that I've selected for the healing garden project according to the environmental constraints of the site. The main selection criteria were suitability for growing in shady areas and tradition medicinal or other use. The selected plants vary from small to medium size for planting in pots and have flowers in different colours to offer a good variety for the garden. Many of them are also drought tolerant for low maintenance. 







Green Wall Final Design

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The log planter green wall final design.



Green Wall Design Ideas

Inspired by images of stacked timber logs, here is what I have in mind for the green wall in the healing garden at the moment.





Here are some of my previous design idea sketches:

Idea #1 - Vertical green wall panels system
However, panel system requires built-in irrigation system, which may have high installation cost. Also, only low-profile plants can grow on such system, limiting variety of plant species.




Idea#2 - Pots in wire space-frame
Another type of green wall is stacking of horizontally placed planters, which allows plants to grow vertical, not limiting the height of growth. This also allows individualisation of pot designs. 



Idea #3 - Curved structure with climbers and planters
This loosens the rigidity of a rectilinear design by introducing curvilinear lines. 





Timber Furniture

Some examples of timber log seats and tables, from very simple log stumps, to beautifully carved assemblies.












Timber Log Planters


Our current design has a series of timber logs at varying sizes, serving several different purposes, including planters, sculpture, seats, table, platforms, etc. Timber logs offers a rustic natural feel. Timber logs can be recycled from fallen trees from arborists or sourced from certified timber plantations or firewood suppliers, making them a sustainable and cost effective material for garden designs. Here are some examples of timber log planters:






An article on how to turn timber logs into planters:





Indigenous Plants - some useful resources

The Royal Botanical Garden Melbourne website provide some valuable information on indigenous plants:


The Education section in particular contains some useful fact sheets:


The Australian Garden in Cranbourne is worth visiting for some authentic Australian landscaping design.



The Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-operative has an online database of indigenous plants, which is very informative and useful for selecting the right plants for particular conditions.







Aboriginal Art Installations

There is a series of Aboriginal Art installations along Birrarung Wilam (Yarra) by Aboriginal Artists - Vicki Couzens, Treahna Hamm and Lee Darroch. These serve as inspiration and examples of possible forms of art installation that can be included in the healing garden.
 Lee Darroch and Paul Doornbusch in front of 'possum cloak' speaker panel designed by Lee, audio system designed by Paul.


more information on the sound installation project:




Here are some other art installations that I found interesting:

'Possum Skin Cloak' Glass Panels in Oxfam Office by Maree Clarke (left) & Lee Darroch (right)

'Spirit of the Land' commissioned by the Monash City Council by Maree Clarke, MeganCadd & Vicki Cousens

'Stone Wall' in South West Victoria by Vicki Couzens & Carmel Wallace 

This artwork's simplicity and connection with the land creates a sense of spirituality, which reminds me of the qualities that had attracted me to Land Art.







Living Green Walls

Greenery can transform a ordinary brutalist looking concrete wall into a visually pleasing living vertical gardens. here are some examples:





However, these large scale green walls can have costly irrigation installation and maintenance systems. There are alternative options for small scale vertical gardens that are cost effective and just as aesthetically pleasing and perhaps even more interesting.





There are several blank walls in the hospital courtyard that can be transformed into similar looking vertical gardens, planted with indigenous medicinal plants.


Community Architecture by Greg Burgess


Greg Burgess is an influential Melbourne-based architect who has extensive experience in working with the Aboriginal community on various cultural projects.

'The work of the practice has been upheld as exemplary for its cultural sensitivity, inclusive collaborative process, its powerful and poetic embodiment of spirit of place and identity in all its diversity.' (- GBA profile)

Notable projects include Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Koorie Heritage Trust Cultural Centre, Ulura Kata-Tjuta Cultural Centre and numerous visitor's centres around Victoria and Australia.

Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre

Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre

Royal Botanical Garden Discovery Centre

Gunung Willam Balluk Koorie Learning Centre, Kangan Batman TAFE

High Country Visitor Centre

Koorie Heritage Trust Cultural Centre

Ulura Kata-Tjuta Cultural Centre



Aboriginal Art in Landscape Designs
 
Glenn Romanis

Glenn Romanis, born in Geelong, is a community artist who has created a diverse portfolio of interesting public artworks with large-scale installations working in textile design, mosaic tiling, paving, murals and painting. His Aboriginal heritage informs his work, which has a strong environmental focus.

'As a working practitioner with over 100 large scale permanent, temporary and ephemeral public and community art project, my career has involved various kinds of media and context but always tries to reveal a deep concern for the relationship between story telling and the environment. My visual stories seek to inform people about the natural and cultural histories that attribute to the experience of country (place), with the aim that they may gain respect, understanding and hopefully a sense of belonging.' -Artist autobiography

 Sites of Significance, Smith Street/Stanley street Collingwood, 2010

 Federation Square Fire Pit, 2009


The Ancient Yarra, Red Bluff Cliffs, Beaumaris, 2008

For more of Glenn's work, go to http://www.glennromanis.com/



Nature & Art


  Land Art

Land Art was a movement started in the late sixties and early seventies by artists such as Robert Smithson, who famously create the Spiral Jetty in Great Salt Lake, Utah. It involves using the landscape and natural materials to create sculptural artworks, some ephemeral, some permanent. Other terms for it are earth art, ecological art or nature art.


 

Andy Goldsworthy
Land Artist



Click here for more artworks by Andy Goldsworthy

Click here for links to other land artists
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