Matt Shaw
The Underground Garden III
plants (grevillia), soil, rocks, burnt logs
(installation detail)
©2009

This is the third Underground Garden installation at Platform by horticulturalist and artist Matt Shaw for 2009. This work shifts the setting of the previous installation of Boxed In from the night cityscape that was slowly being taken over by plants, and transplants us into a slice of forest recently burned in the Black Saturday bushfires. Consisting of indigenous plants and burnt logs from his friends’ properties outside of Melbourne, Matt has created a memorial to not only the victims of the bushfires this year but shows us that new life always springs back from destruction.

Matt Shaw is a Melbourne based horticulturalist and artist specialising in creative and sustainable gardens, for more information visit Matthew Shaw Designs.

The front of this gorgeous bungalow was desperately in need of some attention. The entrance to the property should have been an inviting companion to this house.


By creating a low-maintenance, drought-resistance solution for this neglected space, it turned from being from an unusable area into an extra entertaining space, a safe play zone for kids and an attractive outlook for the property.

A pump driven, sprinkler system feeds the water from the tank directly onto the lawn. An automatic timer does all the hard work for you. Only 10 minutes per week kept this grass healthy all through the dry summer.

Finally this impressive home has a garden frontage worthy of it's stature.

These photos demonstrate how a grey watered lawn in St Kilda survived the record breaking heatwave that Melbourne experienced in February 2009. Despite temperatures over 43C for 3 days in a row and a peak at 46.4C, this lawn still looks lush, healthy and fresh.

An easy installed, underground irrigation system directly feeds grey water from the household into the root system of the turf, ensuring a year round green lawn. No manual handling of water is required and as the grey water is distributed under the turf, there is no visual residue or safety risk.

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An example of an established MSD garden using a combination of natives, exotics and succulents to create a lush textural environment. Watering demands are reduced and the visual impact increases with maturation of the planting.

Matthew's latest commissioned work for Platform Artist's Group in the Degraves Street underpass is "designed to remind us of nature’s enduring strength, and our opportunity for future sustainability". Read more about the exhibit at the Platform site.

This side courtyard has a small area with main views from the master bedroom and needed theme colour to enhance the aspect. Conical pots were reshaped and set in the ground to give the illusion of strelitzia growing out of large pots. Matthew's sculptural designs show how effectively colour and art can be incorporated with plants.

Matthew was invited by Platform Artists Group to create The Underground Garden in one of the leaky display cases. Platform shows contemporary artists each month in the Degraves Street Subway in Melbourne CBD, and the Garden will now be a regular feature in the program. For the first installation, the challenge was to see which plants would survive for a length of time under flourescent lights. The result was a lush, succulent and tropical design using retro metal cylinders as vessels. After four weeks underground, the garden is growing and evolving.

This tiered, bromeliad garden was incorporated into a 1960 architect-designed house in Caulfield. The planter elements included various reconstructed industrial elements. Designed to mimic tree trunks, the planters gave height and cascading foliage to the internal deck area.

Matthew was brought on to design the sculptural elements in this Jamie Durie garden design. One of the works seen here in the foreground is Vertical Chain by Melbourne sculptor Fred White.

A collaborative sculpture between Matthew Shaw, Fred White and David Wood for a private residence in Melbourne. Part of a series of works that create a contrast between modern urban architecture and industrial art.

Fire Extinguisher Conversion is a continuation of Matthew's reclaimed industrial sculpture. Some of these works are available through The Collective Melbourne shop on Carlisle Street in St Kilda.

Views of the city helped inspire this succulent rooftop garden in Port Melbourne. A careful selection of drought and wind tolerant plants were combined with rusted earth tones in the pots and teak furnishings. A lighting design was also included to highlight the plants at night framed by the city lights and bay views.

Matt recently appeared in a Herald-Sun HOME magazine feature on his work. Focussing on Matt's industrial plant sculptures, the full page piecce discusses his landscape design as well as the work with interior sculpture at Cool Room and Collective in St Kilda. Click on the image to download the complete article!

Industrial jerry-cans were appropriated for this organic installation growing bromeliads. The various pieces form a window display at artist-run space Collective in St Kilda. Other work features metal kerosene heater fittings, fire extinguishers and other rusted industrial components.

Designed to match the warm interior of an inner city house, this courtyard includes raised timber beds planted out with timor black bamboo, water-efficient succulents and a colourful Boston ivy rambling over the fence. White stones spread over the beds compliment the white leather furniture inside, helping to create a subtle visual connection between the two living spaces.

This beachside property required boundary screening to hide the road and highlight the bay and the city beyond. Pier wood verticals compliment the native feel with gravel paths planted out with tall grasses, callistemon, kangaroo paw and allocasuarina. The extended timber deck protruding from the house gives the property a jetty-like feel as the ships move past into Melbourne's ports.

This private front garden involved a turf reclaim, replacing the lawn with a gravelled living area together with a flowering, indigenous garden design. Rock sculptures and pots were colour matched with a retextured wall and native brush fencing to make the garden appear larger. A dripper irrigation system ensured maximum water retention during the summer months.

The brief for this Northern Rivers property in NSW was for a protective border along the escarpment. A series of recycled red gum sleppers are set over a 50 metre area across the top of the cliff. The meandering wood sculpture blends well with the surrounding bushland and also creates a visual reference between the garden and the distant hills.

A textured layering of grey and purple plants gives a depth to this water-efficient inner Melbourne garden. With a brief to remove the lawn, this arid-climate design dramatically changes the appearance of the property, blending with the larger native trees nearby.

This private residential courtyard incorporates a subtropical blend of flowering climbers and hardy native grasses. The garden complements the Edwardian architecture while the deciduous ornamentals allow for maximum winter sunlight and summer shade.

This converted church in a leafy residential street in the bayside suburb of Middle Park required a complete garden and entrance redesign. The native Australian garden includes purple New Zealand flax, used for its textural depth to compliment the purple native hibiscus. The use of gravel and rock surface sets off the red brick building and makes for effective water retention and simple maintenance.

Bronze gates lead into this Japanese-influenced garden in a private Camberwell home. Featuring a multi-level split deck; the walkways are divided using low, atmospheric lighting. The planting design includes a blend of native grasses and miniature acacias, with a backdrop of camellias and ornamental maples, offset with liriopes in rustic handmade pots. A central water feature made from rocks also doubles as a dry streambed.

This private residential front garden features gravel paths leading to a central formal sculpture. The existing maples and magnolias are now accompanied by roses and flowering annuals, together with native hibiscus and weeping eucalypts.

A native garden design with a rustic theme that uses red gum sleepers as steps and seating. The planting features kangaroo paw and creeping grevillea with red-flowering eucalypts.

Incorporating formal and informal planting to enhance this stately property, the design allowed for a low maintenance garden with seasonal, flowering colour throughout the year.

The client requested instant screening to cover the flanking four-storey apartments overlooking the garden. This was achieved by craning in advanced tree specimens to create a parkland feel. The extensive foliage of the trees also camouflages a ten-thousand litre water tank that supplies the garden's water needs.

Manchurian pears grow through the deck alongside a private 25 metre lap pool. The deciduous pears give shade during summer while their autumn foliage compliments the pink wall and grey deck - giving a splash of colour when there's no splash in the pool.

An entrance garden that features textural purple trees complementing the rusted sculpture and red brick of this Edwardian home in Kew. The contemporary design introduces visitors to the highly modern renovations inside the house.

Irregular (crazy) paving in grey slate is incorporated with an arid garden of grey and green coloured plants. The gravel and rock mulch finishes this Californian-style, drought tolerant garden.

Pier-Wood Furniture (recycled)