Landscaping in Glen Iris, on both sides of Gardiners Creek

• Garden renovations. Overgrown beds cut back or rebuilt, tired corners sorted, and the trees and hedges worth keeping left where they are. This is most of our work here.
• New lawns. The old, patchy lawn comes out, the soil under it gets fixed, then instant turf goes down. Sir Walter Buffalo is our usual pick because it copes with part shade better than most.
• Paving and paths. Bluestone, brick or pavers on a proper base, with falls that send rainwater away from the house.
• Retaining walls and steps. Low walls to hold a terrace or a raised bed where the garden changes level, always with drainage behind them.
• Soft landscaping. New beds and planting that suit an older home, with shade-tolerant plants for the spots under big trees.
• Irrigation. Hunter systems fitted into established gardens, with a registered plumber on the team for the connection.
• Artificial grass. For dark corners where real lawn keeps dying, when it's honestly the better call.

Glen Iris sits in two councils. Gardiners Creek runs through the middle of the suburb and the council boundary follows it. The Camberwell side of the creek is the City of Boroondara, and the Malvern side is the City of Stonnington. That split goes back to the old Camberwell and Malvern councils, and it stayed put when the councils were merged in the 1990s.

It sounds like trivia, but it decides the rules for your trees. Both councils protect larger trees on private land, and they draw the line at different trunk sizes. In Boroondara you need a permit to remove a canopy tree, even a dead one or a weed species, and works within 2 metres of its trunk need one too. In Stonnington, significant trees fall under the council's local law, and you need a Tree Works Permit to remove or prune one, or to dig in its root zone.

Since September 2025 a state planning rule also covers canopy trees on residential land, so some need a planning permit as well. That's why I check early which side of the creek you're on and which trees are in play. We design around the good ones and keep machines off their roots. If one really has to go, council and an arborist sort that out before we start.

The creek matters for more than paperwork. VICSES keeps a local flood guide just for Glen Iris, and it records real events. In February 2011, 146 millimetres of rain fell in 15 hours and properties near the creek flooded. In December 2016 the suburb was one of the worst hit by flash flooding after a severe storm.

Flash flooding is the everyday risk: a big downpour hits roofs, roads and paving and has nowhere to go. A garden can't stop a creek, but it shouldn't make things worse. On blocks near the creek I look hard at where the water runs: falls away from the house, paving that sheds to a drain, beds that soak water up instead of pooling it against a wall. Your flood level is a question for council and VICSES. Moving the water the right way is my job.

Under all of it is clay. This part of the inner east sits on old mudstone and siltstone, and the soil that weathers off it is heavy and slow to drain. It swells in a wet winter and shrinks over a dry summer. So new lawn goes onto a proper soil bed, every wall gets drainage behind it, and thirsty beds stay back from the slab edge. It changes block to block, so I read it on site.

Glen Iris filled in early. Trams were running through the Malvern side by 1917, and on the Camberwell side the Toorak Estate is a heritage-listed pocket of bungalows built mostly in the years after the First World War, still with mature street trees and some original fences. Plenty of gardens here have the same bones: a big tree or two, established hedges, an old brick path worth keeping.

The quickest way to wreck a garden like that is to scrape it like a new build. Mature trees take decades to replace. So the spend goes on what's past it, usually the lawn, the soil, the worn-out beds and the watering, and the framework that makes the place feel settled stays.

Parts of the suburb also sit under a heritage overlay, so check with council before changing a front fence or front path. And if doing it all at once doesn't suit, we can stage it, front first and the back next season.

Everything gets scoped at the site visit and put in writing before we start. A typical renovation here might cover:

• Cutting back or clearing overgrown planting, with the green waste taken away
• Soil improvement, levels and surface drainage
• A new lawn laid on a properly prepared bed
• Paths, paving or a low retaining wall where the garden needs one
• New beds, shade-tolerant planting, mulch, and drip or pop-up irrigation

1. Give us a call. Ring 0489 952 492, or send a few photos of the garden through the quote form.
2. We walk the garden together. I look at the trees, the shade, which way the water runs and how we'll get materials in.
3. You get a written quote, with labour, materials and waste each priced on their own line.
4. We book a start date. If rain pushes it back, you'll hear from me early.
5. We build it, and we clean up as we go.
6. Handover. I show you how to water and look after the new work, then check in once it has settled.

• Several finished jobs in the suburb this year, and a local household that brought us back for more.
• 5.0 stars from 60+ Google reviews, landscaping since 2013.
• 15,000 square metres of turf laid, so we know what a lawn needs underneath it.
• Insured with Bizcover public liability and Allianz WorkCover.
• Straight answers. If an idea won't work on your block, you'll hear it from me before you spend anything.

If the garden has good bones under the overgrowth, give us a call on 0489 952 492 or put a few photos through the quote form. We work nearby in Camberwell, Kew and Mount Waverley too, so getting out to you is easy. You can see every suburb we cover on our service areas page.