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Coolabah Turf is over the moon to be part of the winning Lawn Solutions team that took out a GOLD medal at this week's Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.
The team, made up of Lawn Solutions Australia, brand ambassador and Better Homes and Gardens resident landscaper, Jason Hodges, Candeo Design and Semken Landscaping, created The Other Side to showcase affordable luxury and simple but inspiring landscape design, and this shared vision has won GOLD!
Coolabah Turf joint funded this gold-medal-winning show garden with fellow Victorian industry peers and our national grower group, Lawn Solutions Australia, of which we are proud and passionate members, and to say we are thrilled with the win would be an understatement!
Our Managing Director Susie Shearer says "the real win though is for our customers to see lawn landscapes integrated simply into backyard designs, which gives people faith to invest in a landscape of choice that is going to be versatile enough to accommodate physical space requirements, as well as enhance usability of their backyards".
"Water smart grasses are really important to this generation and the lawn varieties we produce these days are cheap and easy to install and maintain for the long term," she says.
Our long-term turf buddy and passionate backyard ambassador, Jason Hodges was on hand yesterday to help celebrate the win and agreed that the great Aussie backyard is the dance floor of life for every kid growing up in Australia – where they learn resilience, life skills, and ball skills.
"I learned more in my backyard than I ever did in any classroom... it’s where you learn to play cricket, golf, take your first catch, first kick, learn to wrestle and to just reboot from our busy lives," Hodges said.
“There is nothing more affordable and more amazing than a simple lawn landscape in your own backyard,’’ he said.
Hodges, a prominent Sydney sider but lover of our Victorian garden state, has integrated elements of both major capital cities, including symbolic use of bluestone, representing the many alleys and buildings from Melbourne streetscapes, and sandstone representative of many iconic Sydney features like The Rocks, coastal landforms, workers’ cottages, piers and the harbour.
This stunning garden was given the name The Other Side – a play on words inferring that ‘the grass isn’t always greener’ but actually in this case it is, as confirmed by Hodges and the winning team yesterday.
"Through this design we wanted to put lawn landscapes back on the global agenda to promote healthy, simple living by profiling affordable backyard luxury... you actually can have your cake and eat it!" Hodges said.
"So many people think you have to custom design and manufacture materials to create amazing outdoor spaces", he said.
Hodges explained that all the materials used in this winning garden design have been bought off the shelf at 'real stores' (i.e. an existing retail supplier that any Joe-blow can walk into). In addition, all the pavers and Merbau decking were purchased from Bunnings, and some of the plants were sourced from various other independent nurseries.
"We wanted to prove you can have a fun, stylish and sophisticated outdoor space to accommodate modern Australian families at an affordable price,’’ he said.
This brilliant design was also an opportunity to showcase the newest kid on the lawn block, Sir Grange - a slow grow, low mow, super-low maintenance, shade tolerant home lawn that is currently taking Australia by storm and we love it because it reinforces messages of sustainable, affordable backyard design concepts.
We understand that to meet the needs of modern families, once established, gardens and residential lawns need to be super drought tolerant, and pretty much self-sufficient, because people are too busy to be a slave to their landscapes.
Sir Grange well and truly meets these needs as it requires less water, less fertiliser, less mowing and will withstand greater periods of prolonged dry than most other varieties currently on the market, which makes it a huge box ticker.
There is still plenty of time to see this show stopping, award-winning garden design, which boasts a pergola, pool, shady tree, low-maintenance gardens and of course and a luscious lawn - life doesn’t get any better than this! Sometimes… the grass actually is greener on The Other Side!
Come and check it out at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show today through to Sunday at the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne.
Make sure you also pop in and see our Coolabah Team at site B65 and maybe even have your photo taken with the man of the moment, Jason Hodges.
