About us
Brand story
Cities used to be a lot more down to earth. Then came the house extension, the third car space and the yard that shrank with every renovation. We feel the ground under our cities has slipped out of sight, and before long it’ll be out of mind too.
We’d quite like it back.
We are, we should confess, plant people. We get excited about the layer between the trees and the ground. There’s far more to Australian flora than gum trees, lovely as they are, and we’d very much like you to see it.
We design, build and look after outdoor spaces that help people appreciate the land around them, and let anyone lucky enough to spend time there get a little nerdy about what’s growing too. We’ll even put up signs.
Our values
We're quite hopeless at throwing things away, like most grandparents, a good many magpies and nature itself, which has never needed a skip bin. Sandstone from the old garden becomes the new steps. The dangerous tree that had to come down finds a dignified second career on site. Old tiles reappear where you'd least expect them, and green waste is chipped back into the soil. Very little leaves on a truck. Whatever stays has a story, so when a visitor runs a hand along a step and asks where on earth you found such lovely old stone, you can say it was here all along.
We are major plant nerds. Mention a lomandra at a dinner party and we'll give you its full name (Lomandra longifolia, since you ask), where it likes to grow and which small creatures are grateful for it. It's a condition we have no wish to cure, though we'd very much like to pass it on. Every plant in our gardens is there for a reason, and we like to think anyone who spends an afternoon there, whether they own the place or just came for lunch, will wander off a little wiser. With any luck, you'll spot a banksia on the walk home, feel a quiet flush of recognition and start pointing things out to friends, which is how the rest of us caught it.
We are hippies, of a sort, though the sort who has noticed that a well-made garden does remarkable things for what a property is worth. Land that's looked after tends to be worth more each year, and a great outdoor space is one of the surest ways to lift the value of the development that sits on it. It has never been entirely clear to us why caring for the land and running a sensible business are supposed to be at odds, and we're quite enjoying the chance to show they get along perfectly well.
Our Approach
01 02 03 /03Good landscapes are rarely one person's idea. Here's how we get there together:
01 / 03
Site analysis & consultation
The first visit is, we confess, mostly an exercise in nosiness. We'll poke at the soil, follow the sun about the place, work out where the water goes when it rains, and introduce ourselves to whatever is already growing. Then we'll ask how you imagine using the space.
02 / 03
Concept & planting design
We translate the brief into a plan: form, texture and a palette of endemic species chosen to thrive in your specific microclimate.
03 / 03
Installation
Then we get our hands dirty, shaping the ground and planting with a fussiness we're rather proud of, and staging the work so the site is treated kindly as it comes to life.
Meet the founders
Co-Director, SurrealScapes
Alexa has always had a deep love for nature and has cherished memories of bush walks with her mother, marvelling at the birds, the animals and the Australian plants. After working for a while in bush regeneration, she studied horticulture, where she met Lucas - they quickly discovered they had shared passions for plant identification, theorising about plants and their culture and enjoying gardens planted with intention. Alexa has maintained hundreds of gardens since 2018, but has felt a calling to honour her interest in wild bush land and her creative side; fostering her work through SurrealScapes.
Managing Director, SurrealScapes
Lucas came to plants through food. After spending his early working years running events for a well regarded patisserie; a kitchen centred on ingredient provenance and quality. His interest piqued; he followed that backwards out of the kitchen and into the ground with formal horticultural training alongside working for various eastern suburbs landscape design companies, prior to forming his first Horticultural Gardening and Design business in 2019, Succulent Designs Sydney. Convinced that most Sydney gardens fail because they were designed for somewhere else, with his years of experience, knowledge and a goal of planting for the long term. In his spare time he enjoys documenting flora and fauna he comes across in urban and bushland areas.
FAQ
Soft landscaping includes all living garden elements – plants, turf, soil, mulch, and compost. It shapes your garden’s look, feel, and long-term health.
We select endemic and climate-appropriate species suited to your soil, aspect and microclimate, so the garden thrives with minimal intervention.
Yes. We assess what is worth keeping, improve the soil and reshape the planting to bring a tired bed back to life.
Designed well, yes. Thoughtful species selection and healthy soil dramatically reduce the ongoing care a garden needs.
We do. We stay close through the establishment seasons and offer ongoing care so your landscape matures as intended.
