Landscape designer Marcus Dentry of Real Earth Developments embarked on something of a moonah mission when he crafted this garden on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. The mature melaleucas – or moonahs, as they’re known – already adorned the property and were subject to a preservation order, so naturally they set the scene for Marcus to create a seductive coastal sanctuary.
“The mature moonahs are the heroes of the whole garden,” he says and, rather than being hamstrung by that heritage order, in his 2019 design Marcus added another half-a-dozen mature trees to the 12 miraculously gifted to him by the site. “Moonahs are almost sacred to this area. Their trunks get twisted and hollowed out, so they take on a sculptural quality.”
Beneath those moonahs, an initial plan by another landscape designer had…
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Inside Out (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2021