With a landscape gardening career spanning more than 30 years, leading Australian landscape designer Michael Bates is renowned for being at the forefront of garden design trends. In all of his work, spanning more than 1200 gardens over thirty years, Michael is guided by a simple philosophy. Timeless design.

“If you’re creating a beautiful garden, it will transform over time,” he says. “Yes, it needs maintenance, but it’s going to get better and better and better every year.”

Michael recently took us inside the garden of one of his clients. Once a family home, it is now the meeting point for three generations of the family. Michael was given the brief to create a space that the grandkids could enjoy just as much as the adults in the family. Using furniture from the King Outdoor collection, Michael did just that.

An extension of the home

The outdoor dining space, featuring the Quay Dining Collection, is a flow space leading from the indoors to the garden.

A fan of the Thomas Church quote, ‘Gardens connect house to landscape, plants to soil, and people to nature,’ Michael takes a holistic view of the garden as a part of the home. 

“I like to craft the composition of the garden so that it looks good from where you conduct most of your daily activity, like food preparation and eating,” he explains. “90% of the time that you spend enjoying the garden, you’re just looking at it. The other 10% is being in it.”

Rather than treating the garden as a separate design element, he suggests starting with the flow spaces directly adjacent to the house.

“I’ve discovered that your propensity to use your outdoor dining, lounge and kitchen are about whether it’s easy to throw a tablecloth on the outdoor table as it is the indoor table.

“When designing, we start with the dining, lounge and, in this particular case, the barbecue. They just exist in series, one beside the other.”

Creating outdoor rooms

Lode Ottomans by the pool are versatile to move to different corners of the garden.

Following on from the idea of the garden as an extension of the home, Michael believes that entry points from the home into the garden are important.

“I like to create entry points wherever I can,” explains Michael. “Places to welcome home the occupants, or places to meet and greet and say goodbye to visitors. 

“The home is a refuge. It’s a place for rest and regeneration. It’s a cocoon and a place to separate yourself from the stress and busyness of modern life. The entry point should create an experience for visitors so they can relax and unwind.”

Michael also believes in the idea of having different “rooms” within a garden, so that all of the activities people do inside the home can also be done outside.  

“We want to create lots of places for people, to recline, to rest and just take everything in,” says Michael. “The Quay Outdoor Sofa and Luna Outdoor Chairs on the eastern terrace are perfect for reading the paper with a cup of tea in the morning. Or the poolside Lode Ottomans which can be moved into the shade in summer or the sun in winter.”

Designing within a space

The Quay Outdoor Sofa and Luna Outdoor Chairs are framed to create a snug within the garden.

Timeless design that works all boils down to working with the space you have.

“People don't know what they need or what they want until they have it,” he says. “But when I come to a site, I'm always informed by the current layout. If a piece of furniture has been pushed out into the garden it’s usually because that’s where the best breeze or shade is.”

Michael is also inspired by the Japanese design principle of using the borrowed scenery from the surrounding trees as part of the composition of a garden.

“If we’re creating a snug, it involves creating some kind of closure and something tall at your back that makes you feel safe and secure. People don’t even realise that they feel this way in this space, they just tend to act or feel a different way.”

Versatility in design  

Luna Outdoor Chairs are the perfect seats for parents to relax while watching the children in the pool.