b'This smart easy-care garden beautifully complements the iconic Art Deco architecture of the house it surrounds.Tracy Brains brief was simple and to the pointday and you need to be there.Thats howLeftThe horse-shoe shaped front gardenshe wanted a no maintenance garden.good the garden wasnt. It certainly didntechoes the shape of the Art Deco house.When told by her garden designer that nocallmyname,andtotallyletthehouseAboveA concrete slab underpins a super-sized outdoor table, with a large, maintenance didnt exist, her response wasdown, Tracy says. black cantilevered umbrella providingto go as low as you can go. the ceiling. The garden was stuck in the 1980s, which LandscapedesignerMichelleMcDonnelldidnt reect the era of the house and itsMost of the plants look great all year round, took heed and created a garden which Tracyiconic architecture. And there was nowhereand somesuch as the Viburnum Eve Price declaresshestotallyraptwith.Theicingto sit, Tracy remembers. Dramatic changeand Dietes grandiora (wild iris)ower for on the cake, she says, is that maintenancewas called for. One of the only remainingabout nine months.equates to half an hour a month.plants is a majestic michelia tree on the back The Brains had a few items on their wish Tracy,herhusbandErrolandtheirthreeboundary, while the likes of palm trees, ax, list,suchasawelcomingfrontgarden. daughters Molly (12), Bella (10) and Scarlettand lots of overgrown bits went. Accordingly,aweepingsilverpeartree (6)plus Ruby the dog and Pepper the catInherendeavourstomakethisanis now the front garden centrepiecesomoved into their 1930s Art Deco house inuncomplicatedgardeningexperienceforgood it was deemed worthy of up-lighting Tauranga two years ago. the Brains, Michelle has opted for mulch toforatouchofnight-timemagic.The When we bought it I rang Michelle andkeep weed growth down and a small palettehorseshoe shaped garden echoes the form said we are moving in on such-and-such aof select plants repeated in different areas.of the house and is edged with Euonymus 87'