COUNTRY EXPRESS HOMES Landscaping & Driveway Designs
For all enquiries: Ph: 1300 885 162 Tom Munro on 0412 707 787 Nick Florio on 0414 783 218 countryexpresshomes.com.au
DRY RIVERBEDS ROCKERIES RETAINING WALLS LANDSCAPING DRIVEWAYS “By investing in a beautifully landscaped garden, you are increasing the value of your property…”
WHY CHOOSE US? Country Express Homes add beauty and value to your home whilst building on your investment. With over 25 years’ experience in the industry we have grown to understand that every property is a unique project. We believe in maximizing the potential of your home by developing a custom design. We pride ourselves on being able to identify all the positives of your property and capitalizing on them. We’re committed to eliminating the weaknesses by turning them into strengths. 1
WHO ARE WE?
COUNTRY EXPRESS HOMES We’re a locally owned and operated business that specialise in the creation of unique landscaping designs that provide a beautiful and practical outdoor space for your property that increases value. Our signature feature is our Dry Riverbeds, which are both beautiful and practical in creating solutions for wet areas around your property. We use only natural materials and predominantly Australian native plants and we also offer services in Rockeries & Retaining Walls, Driveways, General Landscaping and House Relocation. We’re located in Healesville in the heart of the Yarra Valley and provide services to properties located in Healesville, Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges and the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. By landscaping you are investing in your property. Find out how we can increase the value of your property, call us today!
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DRY RIVERBEDS
“Solve your wet area problems in the garden…” Dry riverbeds are a beautiful and practical solution to a wet area in the garden. Make a positive feature out of your negative space.
Dry riverbeds are a big advantage for your property for two major reasons; One) It takes care of wet areas, draining water underground, and, Two) The pebbles make a garden come to life when combined with the correct planting and rockery. A dry riverbed looks much more appealing than the standard boring bark and shrubs. When the pebbles are wet, they come to life displaying hidden colours and when the riverbed is dry it still looks fantastic. The concept for featuring dry riverbeds in our designs came about while camping one day in a hot area in a dry riverbed. It was much cooler in the riverbed and after three days it grew on me by how beautiful it looked compared to the barren landscape outside the river. Growing up near the Emerald Lake in Victoria where there are many creeks and rivers, dry riverbeds now form a major part of our landscaping. Most importantly, dry riverbeds are practical in solving the problems of wet areas and they add life by creating a standout feature to the area. Better still every dry riverbed is a unique garden feature that will last the test of time.
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LANDSCAPING Landscaping your property and creating stunning features to be viewed when arriving or overlooking the garden is a must. One of the key principles of our landscaping designs is to create space, by not blocking the view and drawing the eye deep into the property to absorb all the beauty and scenery. A definite landscaping mistake is to have small blocks of garden beds everywhere as it makes the space too busy. The goal of our landscaping is creating depth as you can see from our gallery. The value that landscaping adds to any property is immense. Almost always the money you invest in your garden will equal double the value added to your home.
“Increase your property value…” By investing in the landscaping of your garden you will substantially increase the overall value of your property as well as improving the enjoyment of living in your home. 4
ROCKERIES & RETAINER WALLS Rockeries and retaining walls are a favourite landscaping feature of ours and our clients alike. To create structured banks in your garden you have two choices: you can retain the soil and use boring sleepers or brick walls without adding any aesthetic value or you can combine some rocks, native shrubs, some colour, and some sleepers and create an incredibly appealing and very inviting space which adds heaps of value to an area that may have been very bland.
“Improve the structure and appeal of your garden…” “In my travelling through the bush and mountain areas I was fascinated by how these massive rocks would stay on the mountain sides and not move. When I found out why it made sense, three quarters of the rock must be buried and each rock locks the other one in position right down to the bottom. Complimented by plants of all sorts, rockeries encourage the native fauna while the plants cradle the rocks, making them look like they have always been a natural feature of the garden. This is a very highly skilled way of doing things and the great Ellis Stone mastered this skill many years ago. The natural beauty of a rockery adds incredible value to a property before you even enter the home. We have had many clients become friends through the love of these features. The combination of rockeries and retaining walls can be used to complement a house or driveway as well.“
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DRIVEWAYS First impressions count. Your driveway is the first impression of your home so why use the unnatural look of concrete and asphalt when the natural materials of Tuscany Toppings, Lilydale Toppings, and alike add more depth and natural appeal to your garden and driveway? While at times we may add cement to the natural products to give it extra strength, you can’t tell that it has been added as it does not detract from the natural look. When designing our driveways, we always add plenty of curves to break up the starkness of straight lines, as your house has enough straight lines as it is. We compliment the edges of the driveways with rocks, sleepers, logs and Jarra edgings to soften the look and add life to your driveway and the overall presentation of your house.
“Enhance the entrance to your home…” Driveways are the entrance to your home, they can be beautiful as well as practical, increasing the overall appeal and adding value to your property. 6
A FEW WISE WORDS… Nick Florio is the Owner and Landscaper at Country Express Homes. Nick has over 25 years in the industry and is very passionate about landscaping. His creative vision and landscaping skills are second to none. All work he undertakes is done with professionalism and attention to detail. He takes an average garden and turns it into a masterpiece. With Nick’s extensive experience comes extensive knowledge. Here’s what he’d like to share…
“The space between the notes makes the music”, “Here is a little formula that we have: 1 rock in a garden is lonely, 2 rocks may have a fight, a 3rd rock will keep the peace but 7 rocks – they have a party! In other words, nature is unpredictable and it’s beautiful. If you’re placing rocks, they should be at a good size. Rocks should be one third buries to create the sense of being there for a long time and this adds to their stability. With shrubs and trees, start off with a high tree and work your way down until you get right down to the lowest plants such as creepers (which create its own family environment). Garden beds should have definite curves and a create softness about them around the house. Driveways should be done naturally with compacted rock and curved edges bringing your garden to your driveway (there is many varieties of rock to choose from). Steps can be a very prominent feature in your garden if you combine them with natural sleepers or rocks and plants. Try not to have them running straight. Also, breakup the angles where possible and make them part of your garden.”
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