What arrives
AI Backyard Inpainting
A quick phone snap fed into generative AI — striking aesthetics, but indifferent to drainage, boundary setbacks, and local soil depth.
AI Backyard Inpainting
Botanical Science Meets Spatial Design
Grounding Visionary Ideas
Into Living Soil
We turn digital renders, Pinterest boards, and architect sketches into thriving, site-specific gardens — tested against real microclimates, not just the picture.
Our approach
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01
Read the site first
Aspect, wind, frost hollows, and soil before any plant list is written.
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02
Form follows ecology
Spatial composition that holds as the garden grows — not just as a render.
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03
Specify what can be grown
Nursery-real natives, sequenced for establishment and long-term care.
The moonlighting offer
Concept to ground
Bring the vision. We return a microclimate-tested, buildable native planting plan — the step most digital landscapes never take.
What we return
Plan View Specification
We translate the visual idea into a scaled 2D layout with accurate boundary offsets, contour grading, and functional circulation.
Plan View Specification
Nursery trade list
Sized and substituted for this season’s supply.
- S Sophora microphylla · Kōwhai 1.5 L · as shown · sheltered, mulch
- H Hebe salicifolia · Koromiko 1.5 L · 400 mm · wind-tolerant
- C Carex buchananii · Tussock Pb3 · 350 mm · sun to part shade
- A Wahlenbergia gracilis · Harebell Pb9 · 150 mm · frost hardy to −10°C
Establishment notes
Written for the contractor and the person who will water it.
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Week 1–4
Water to field capacity twice weekly. Keep the frost hollow mulched, not wet at the crown.
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First winter
Check aspect notes before any late planting. Substitute only from the approved nursery list.
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Year one
Stake kōwhai if exposed. Release ties after establishment. Record losses for spring replacements.
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Ongoing
Trim hebe after flowering. Leave tussock standing through winter for structure and habitat.
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Microclimate
Sun path, shade, wind, frost, and reflected heat from walls and paving.
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Soil & hydrology
Drainage, compaction, and what the ground will actually support.
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Native fitness
Regionally appropriate flora, not a catalogue of wishful imports.
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Nursery trade
Sourced sizes and substitutes so the plan can be planted this season.
How we work with you
Services
Three clear engagements — from a remote masterplan to a fully coordinated living space.
Tier 01
Concept-to-Reality Plant Masterplan
Digital delivery for visions that need to survive first contact with the site.
- Microclimate assessment from plans, photos, and aspect
- Native planting plan with sizes, spacings, and substitutions
- Nursery trade sourcing notes for seasonal availability
- A document contractors and homeowners can plant from
Tier 02
Bespoke Residential Spaces
Full sensory layout for private gardens, courtyards, and thresholds.
- Spatial composition — path, pause, prospect, and refuge
- Private courtyards and intimate residential rooms
- Seasonal colour, scent, and texture choreography
- Contractor coordination from concept through establishment
Tier 03
Civic & Nature-Play Consulting
Public-facing landscapes that stay beautiful, safe, and maintainable.
- Public walkways and shared civic planting
- Council asset compliance and specification support
- Child-friendly flora for nature-play settings
- Durable palettes designed for care regimes, not just opening day
The studio
Botanical pedigree, drawn with a fine line
Flora & Form Studio is led by a practitioner whose work sits between horticultural science and spatial design. The gardens are not styled onto the land — they are grown from it.
That combination is uncommon: someone who can read a council asset register and a harebell’s preference for lean soil, then draw a courtyard that will still make sense in ten years.
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01
Dunedin Botanic Gardens heritage
Formed in one of Aotearoa’s great living collections — a working education in plant character, succession, and display.
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02
Council parks asset experience
Specification, maintenance reality, and public-realm durability learned from inside local government parks practice.
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03
Fine-line spatial design
A draughtswoman’s eye: composition, threshold, and the quiet geometry that lets a garden hold its shape as it grows.
Begin with the site
Book a consultation
Share the vision and the ground it has to meet. We will reply with next steps, scope, and whether we are the right studio for the work.
- Renders, Pinterest boards, or sketched plans are all welcome.
- Site location helps us read climate before we speak.
- Consultations are scoped to the tier that fits.
Received, and grounded.
Thank you. We will be in touch to discuss your site, the vision you have shared, and how to bring the concept to ground.