Recent figures from Bord Bia suggest that the landscaping industry has grown by 42% over the past five years, while the bar is consistently being raised with award schemes for the most visually imaginative designs.

Castlethorn Construction, which won an award of merit in 2003 for the high standard of landscaping at its development at Fernleigh, Castleknock, is sponsor of the Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland awards and well aware of the importance of providing well-designed and practical shared open spaces that residents can enjoy.

Peter O'Toole, chairman of the ALCI, says maintenance as well as considered design is a huge factor now both for communal and privately-owned gardens, mainly because we are such a time-precious society.

"People just don't have the time to look after gardens, yet they are increasingly more educated about the potential of any outdoor space from events such as Bloom and popular television programmes. Where previously gardening was looked on as a hobby, the property boom has changed attitudes to what gardens are used for and also the amount of time and money invested in them."

These are views reiterated by Kevin Baumann of KJ Baumann Landscape and Garden Design, whose garden at Leeson Village won the Private Gardens over 130,000 category in the ALCI awards announced on Friday.

"In the last 15 years, the whole concept of gardens has changed phenomenally.

People want to use them as social spaces, particularly since the smoking ban came in and also with drinking and driving restrictions. There is more entertaining at home now with people really making use of outdoor spaces as additional dining areas when the weather is fine, but also as an appealing view from the house all year round."

Seventy-five per cent of Baumann's clients want a low-maintenance garden, and in the case of his award-winning ALCI design (pictured), that was the a key requirement of the owners. Also a priority was that the space would function both as an outdoor room and as a leafy view from inside when framed by the glazed sliding door and picture window in the kitchen. In terms of the design, the shape of the house itself was taken as a springboard for the layout of the garden.

"It was an interesting challenge as the house is 1970s and is strictly square in shape. With any garden design, you have to consider the style of the house it steps out from, as these days home and garden interconnect as interchangeable spaces. Due to the '70s design of the house, it has a huge picture window and a fully-glazed sliding patio door, so the garden had to work as an attractive view from the kitchen/ dining room as well. I always like to think about the garden at night also, as when the outdoor lights are switched on it can look picturesque when viewed from inside the house.

"The first thing I would suggest anyone considering a design should do is to stand inside the house and look out through the windows and doors of the room the garden will relate to and decide on the visual aspect. In this instance, the frame of the door also acts as a frame to the water feature in the garden. A deck immediately outside the sliding door was essential, and the great thing about decking is that you can build it above the damp-proof course. It's very important to have the deck the same level as the room it steps out from because in that way it really is an extension of the living space."

The original garden wasn't a garden at all, more a building site. But the old grey stone slabs that were there were carefully taken up, power washed and relaid as part of the overall new garden 'floor'.

All around these newly-restored slabs, a two-inch gap was filled with Wexford beach pebbles that picked up a pale pebble discernible in the original slabs.

"The idea was to soften the look of the original restored slabs and to avoid the design looking too industrial. Bearing in mind the geometry of the house, we built a square, raised bed all around to frame that, while framing that again is a row of Chinese granite."

The pale bark of the newly-planted slender silver birch trees picks up the colour of the Chinese granite. Low-growing, evergreen viburnum davidii allows the attractive, custom-built stone wall to stay in full view, while privacy is also taken into account with 'a hedge in the sky'. This is a pleached lime hedge at the very top of the wall, planted in espalier design which, when mature, will give a leafy screen to the diners in the awardwinning and very tranquil outdoor room it surrounds.

KJ Baumann Landscape & Garden Design www. landscaping. ie