Jemima's garden of dreams: A kimono-inspired river of rocks

This is the top slope of the river bed

Gardeners Tony and Cathy Marker

Cathy Marker got the inspiration for the flow lines of her dry creek bed garden from a beautiful silk kimono. Cathy woke up one morning, saw the imagery and knew that was the shape for their flowing river of rocks which combines traditional Japanese design elements with an Australian eco-solution that is beautiful, functional and zen-like in its delicate and respectful mimicry of a natural environment.

Cathy, like many of us, has a fascination for Japan shared by her husband. As a teacher of Japanese, she is particularly immersed in Japanese culture and she and Tony have designed an eco-friendly house and garden that integrates many Japanese design principles and traditional favourites observed in their travels. Their dry creek bed is sheer genius, solving a drainage problem when their sloping block is hit by occasional localised flooding due to heavy rain. The dry creek bed diverts water running down the hill and sends it to a settlement pond in the front garden.

There are no lawns to mow and the river bed is an instant hit with all children who visit. My little visitors were balancing up and down the rocks constantly and did not want to leave this beautiful space after our tour. We had been kindly invited by Cathy to look at the potential of the dry creek bed as a natural play space.

Swales of river rock are buffered by plantings which work to stabilise the sand and mortar base. The dry creek bed leads up to an Australian native garden which sweeps around to a terraced herb garden, veggie patch then takes the visitor into a Japanese courtyard with traditional maple and verdant ancient ferns. The combinations all work wonderfully and are a tribute to the melange of influences and ideas the Markers have channelled into their garden.

Intense shots of colour are an antidote to winter in their welcoming front garden. Blue and red blooms pop up through the winter coat of fallen leaves from the giant trees in the neighbourhood including a Chinese Sappora. Red coral maple show their winter beauty and complement the colour scheme of the house which includes palettes of red and blue in the various built forms and garden adornments. A Japanese rain chain, for example, links the gutter to an exquisite red-hued pot which also channels water.

Cathy and Tony inhabit a beautiful space both internally and externally. The front garden creates a highly visual and contemporary first impression based on a series of gentle curved pathways that connect and frame the base of the dry river bed which can be glimpsed from the front. Azaleas form some of the plantings and pay tribute to the Asian species lovingly cultivated for centuries in Japan and Europe. Cathy explained how she briefed her landscaper to plant in multiples of three, five and seven according to one of the rules of Japanese garden design. The deliciously dark slate paving offset by white pebbles, is something you would also see in Japan, Tony and Cathy told me. We left the garden feeling inspired and uplifted. A design solution that is beautiful in itself and unites an Australian bush essence with zen principles in a river of rocks shaped by the forces of nature.