Palms, sleepers, and golden paving

This Crows Nest backyard had been neglected for years — a rectangle of compacted clay behind a Federation semi. The owners wanted somewhere their kids could play and they could host, without it feeling like every other Inner North courtyard.

We laid bluestone crazy paving with decomposed granite between the joints, giving the ground plane warmth and texture. Recycled railway sleepers form raised beds along the boundary fence, planted with golden cane palms, agaves, and bird of paradise that will thicken into a green wall within two seasons.

The result is a garden that feels ten degrees warmer than the street — a suburban tropics that works year-round on Sydney's Lower North Shore.