The studio
The people who keep it alive.
Fernline is a small studio on purpose: the designer who draws your garden walks the build, and the horticulturist who chose the plants answers the phone in year three.
The designers
Maren Okafor
Founder and lead designer
Maren founded Fernline after a decade in landscape architecture practices, drawing large public gardens and wishing she could stay to watch them grow in. She still draws every master plan by hand first.
Jonas Reid
Construction lead
Jonas ran structural landscaping crews for twelve years before joining Fernline. He prices every build against the drawing, then holds the site to it, level by level.
A year in the making
A designed garden follows the calendar, not the other way round. This is the Fernline year, stage by stage, with what you hold in your hands at the end of each.
Weeks 1-2
The walk-through
We walk your garden with you: how you live, what the soil and light will allow, and what the honest budget band looks like.
You receive: a written scope and budget band
Weeks 3-8
The master plan
Survey first, then the drawing: layout, levels, structures, lighting and the full planting schedule, reviewed with you at the half-way mark.
You receive: the master plan and planting schedule
Weeks 9-12
The fixed proposal
The plan is priced line by line and, where structures need it, documented for approval. The number you sign is the number we build to.
You receive: a fixed construction proposal
8 to 16 weeks
The build
Demolition to lighting in one sequence, run by the crew that priced it. You get a named contact and a weekly site note, every week, no chasing.
You receive: a weekly build report
Final fortnight
Planting and handover
Planting goes in last, timed to the season. We hand over with a care calendar, the lighting programmed, and the establishment guarantee running.
You receive: the care calendar and guarantee
The establishment guarantee
The riskiest season of a new garden is its first. Every plant we supply and plant is guaranteed through establishment: follow the care calendar and anything that fails is replaced, investigated and fixed at our cost.
Tend: the years after
Quarterly care visits keep the garden to the plan: pruning to the intended forms, feeding to the soil report, and lighting kept at the dusk settings you chose. Gardens on a Tend program are the ones photographed above.
Credentials
- Structural landscaping contractor, LIC. 000000
- Gold Medal, Residential Gardens, YEAR 0000
- Fully insured, public liability to $10M
Where we work
We take a limited number of projects each year, inside a service area we can genuinely tend. If your suburb is not listed, ask: the answer depends on the project, not the distance alone.
Ferndale, Marlow Hill, Aldergrove, Kingsbrook, Elm Vale and Norford