| 79 T T Kim Bowden Landscape designs closer to nature The company has won a host of awards for its gardens, which emphasise naturalistic, low-maintenance planting and strong connections between indoor and outdoor spaces. “We always try and incorporate plants that can look after themselves.” Green Therapy CONTRACTING A Christchurch-based landscape designer has built a business that combines practical know-how with a genuine passion for creating sustainable outdoor spaces his clients love. As a child, Bryce Coulter remembers being happiest with his hands in soil, learning to garden alongside his father. That early love for the outdoors set him on a path to a horticulture degree at Lincoln University – but it wasn’t a straight line to landscape design. After spending years in corporate roles, it took the upheaval of the Canterbury earthquakes to steer him back to his roots. In August of 2011, Bryce launched Green Therapy, turning his passion into a profession. The company has won a host of awards for its gardens, which emphasise naturalistic, low-maintenance planting and strong connections between indoor and outdoor spaces. “We always try and incorporate plants that can look after themselves,” Bryce says. “And typically, we’ll have big planting drifts.” In Green Therapy gardens, plants are grouped into broad, flowing curves that mimic natural landscapes – creating a layered effect that’s both resilient and visually cohesive. “If you did a garden and put in 200 plants of 200 different types, it’s a maintenance nightmare,” Bryce explains. “And it doesn’t look cohesive.” He describes Green Therapy’s design ethos as “bringing nature closer”. “Where some people are happy to jam a hard patio or deck right up against the house, we’re very careful to incorporate some greenery in amongst it to link the indoor and outdoor zones,” he says. In the South Island’s often challenging climate, where cold winds and seasonal extremes can limit time spent outdoors, Bryce thinks it is especially important to create gardens that are visible from inside the home and help connect people to the natural world. At one recent project, Bryce and his team were tasked with creating a garden for a family living on a rural section on the outskirts of Queenstown. The property borders a Department of Conservation reserve, and by the time Green Therapy completed its design work and extensive native plantings it was difficult to distinguish garden from wilderness. “When you were standing in the house looking out, it was really hard to tell where the DOC reserve began and the property boundary finished,” Bryce says. “It was about blending – we were able to bring the wider landscape into the site.” Creating that sense of seamless connection to the environment is only part of Green Therapy’s philosophy. Just as important is designing gardens that offer something new to enjoy through every season of the year. “We want our clients to be able to look out the window and see something in the garden is changing,” Bryce says. “Every week something’s different, something’s highlighted.” He recalls a project at Cass Bay in Christchurch, where Green Therapy designed a garden woven across multiple levels, working carefully with established trees already on the site. Planting pockets were created between paved outdoor living zones, and custom seating was built around mature trees, softening the hard elements with layers of greenery. “It created beautiful pockets of sun and shade, which were really important on that site,” Bryce says. “We had plants flowering in winter, different things again in spring and summer, so it had that seasonal change we always aim for.” Green Therapy is a small, close-knit team, with the equivalent of five full-time staff bringing a diverse range of skills and years of experience to every project. They are backed by a trusted group of contractors and subcontractors. “Over the years, we’ve built some really good relationships,” Bryce says. “The way our contractors interact with clients is just as important as the work they do.” BIGGEST RANGE / BEST QUALITY / GREAT SERVICE COMPETITIVE PRICING / NATIONWIDE REACH TALK TO THE DECKSPERTS Free call today on 0508 4 DECKS or visit us online at onestopdeckshop.co.nz
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