Mathoura Road, Toorak Project
A c1890s Toorak Victorian where heritage architecture meets contemporary landscape design with quiet confidence. Silver birch, clipped hedging and layered understorey planting create a calm, structured garden built to endure.
Mathoura Road, Toorak is the kind of garden that makes you slow down. Set behind a white brick c1890s Victorian on 1404m², it’s a masterclass in how heritage architecture and contemporary landscape design can coexist with quiet confidence.
The arrival is instantly captivating. Burnished concrete steps, flanked by silver birches, lead to an ornate sweep of Italian porphyry crazy paving, finished with a crisp filetti path to the porch. Muted pink and maroon tones in the stonework echo the home’s tiled entry and heritage roofline, turning the driveway into something deeply considered rather than purely functional.
The planting is equally disciplined. A dense Ficus hillii hedge frames the boundary in rich, evergreen green, while clipped Buxus spheres add rhythm and structure through the garden. Beneath, layered understorey planting brings texture and seasonal change, with ligularia, arthropodium, oakleaf hydrangeas and hellebores creating depth in shade and softness through winter. Salvias and liriopes lift the scheme with restrained colour and vertical movement.
Climbers complete the composition, star jasmine softening edges with fragrance and evergreen foliage, while Boston ivy delivers autumn drama. At ground level, dichondra and moss white stitch everything together, creating a calm, immersive green carpet.
It’s a garden defined by form, restraint and year-round beauty, perfectly scaled to its Victorian setting, and designed to endure.
Trees & Plants Used
Boundary hedge
Ficus hillii
Hill's Weeping Fig
Planted along the boundary as a dense, evergreen hedge that provides privacy and a deep green backdrop, its clipped form reinforcing the structure of the garden.
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Feature trees
Betula pendula 'Moss White'
Silver Birch
Used to define the arrival sequence, the pale trunks and light canopy soften the home's formal frontage and bring a calm, European elegance from street to door.
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Clipped structure
Buxus sempervirens
English Box
Clipped into balls and spheres throughout the garden to introduce classic structure and rhythm, anchoring the softer understorey planting around them.
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Understorey foliage
Ligularia reniformis
Tractor Seat Plant
Layered through the understorey for bold, glossy foliage and movement, adding texture and depth beneath the canopy alongside hellebores, salvias and liriope.
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Climber
Trachelospermum jasminoides
Star Jasmine
Trained to soften walls and edges with fragrant flowers and evergreen foliage, completing the composition and tying the garden's vertical surfaces together.
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Feature tree
Magnolia x soulangeana
Saucer Magnolia
Chosen as a deciduous feature for its sculptural form and spring blooms, adding a seasonal highlight that complements the garden's heritage Victorian setting.
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