Outscape

Catriona came to our home to help us develop a high level plan for our garden. She was friendly and professional and provided us with some great ideas and structure with consideration for our requirements and the functionality we desire. Would highly recommend Catriona's services.

We were very happy and enjoyed over many years the rural garden Catriona helped us to create and now having recently moved to town we have once again asked for her help. Catriona listens to my 'vague ideas' and with her creative skills translates them into a design best suited to our needs. Her keen eye and expertise takes into account spacing, balance, suitable products to use and with her vast knowledge of plants she gives choices best suited to your area and the layout of the garden. She is a lovely person, has great communication skills, inspires confidence and it is already a relief to have a copy of her comprehensive detailed design plan. I know my husband and I will be very happy with the outcome and have no hesitation in highly recommending Catriona at Outscape.

Catriona was lovely and very helpful. We were both on the same page instantly and was very easy to work along with. A few changes were made along the way but that is expected on any large project i would think. I fully recommend using Catriona.

In 1997 we bought a very run down property with no garden. I did not know where to start and we engaged Catriona to design a garden which would fit into and enhance the natural native landscape on the banks of the Lachlan River. It was wonderful to have a plan to work towards over the years and avoid the husband/wife disagreements about what goes where. We absolutely love our garden. It has attracted beautiful birds such as blue wrens, kingfishers, kookaburras and finches and many other species. It is a very peaceful and relaxing garden to enter with lovely shade ( there was not one shade tree in 1997.). We have sweeping beds filled with plants that survive the tough climate. The energy in the garden is a joy to enjoy and everything I want in a garden. We do not have a lot of time to spend in our garden but because of the way it has been designed so skilfully by Catriona one does not notice the weeds so much. The bones of the garden are so good that it looks lovely all the time.

Catriona has designed two separate gardens in different houses for me. I feel very confident in her expertise. I love that she doesn't create expensive plans that cant be executed. she has an amazing creative flair and appears to be able to look at a space, either very big or small and come up with a mud map that contains every detail that will be required. the designs have always been very suitable for the space. I have then enlarged and laminated the plan for long term use.I can then work with whoever is available at a pace that suits my budget to implement the plan. it is always possible with her plans for it to be a work in progress . She is not trying to sell anything other than her creative and informative advice per hour.

Catriona was recommended to us by a previous client with an established garden. When I met Catriona at the opening of the Girragirra Retreat Garden near Forbes I was keen to sound her out and talk about her work. She is very approachable, knowledgeable and has a great understanding of our climate and needs of rural gardens. The scope of our brief was to take a mature farm garden and plan more zones in the garden by usage and maintenance as well as plan the best location for a new pool. Catriona understood our needs, as well as complimenting the homestead and exisiting garden. She easily drafted a design after our walk around the garden and discussion of how we want to use the garden and linking outside and in. We wanted a master plan to chip away at in manageable stages over the years as our family grows. Catriona seemed to read my mind and selected plants and trees I love, which also tie in well with the existing garden. She also used her knowledge and design expertise to suggest plants I hadn't heard of which are perfect for the conditions, tricky areas in the garden and linking the garden with farm and river landscapes. We would not hesitate to recommend Catriona at Outscape to anyone needing help with their garden plans and projects.

For many years Outscape has been delivering professional landscape and design advice around our traditional country garden.The consultation is often over a number of hours and advice is always practical, while in keeping with the objective of maintaining an 'easy care, no fuss' garden. Outscape possesses a wide knowledge base and is particularly aware of providing drought tolerant plants that matches the landscape. Outscape is always on time and works within budget.

Catriona, Principal of Outscape has a rare skill set and we feel so fortunate to have benefited from her expertise in helping us realise our vision for Girragirra. With a wealth of experience behind her, both as a professional landscape architect and as partner in a broad acre farming business, Catriona brings a perspective shaped by experience and practicality. Catriona comes to the design brief with an open mind, truly listens to your dreams and schemes and sets about helping you make them come true within the constraints of soil type, land form, climate and the all-important budget. We have always been impressed with Catriona’s sense of scale and perspective – it’s quite uncanny. Her knowledge of plants and the conditions they require is encyclopedic and she’s just as happy (and capable) of drawing a freehand sketch onsite to get you going at minimum cost as she is delivering a meticulously thought through, beautifully presented masterplan. Our relationship with Outscape goes back a long way. As a member of the School Council at Forbes Primary School and later as Chair of the Development Committee at All Saint’s College, Wendy recommended Catriona to both institutions where her advice and planning were both sought and implemented to great effect. The Girragirra brief has been all encompassing, beginning in 2010 and involving close collaboration with our architect on the house location right down to using an ancient River Red Gum as the central axis for house and garden. Building on the floodplain naturally came with constraints and required careful, imaginative planning. We added a further layer of complexity with the request that the garden design adhere to permaculture principles. Catriona delivered on that brief in spectacular style. Undoubtedly Catriona’s beautiful plan for Girragirra has been a big part of the several awards we’ve been fortunate enough to win and more importantly we absolutely love it! Working to the plan makes implementing the amazing garden and property wide tree plantings she designed for us “discussion” free – always a bonus and heading for seven years down the track in 2017 Catriona’s ongoing support and advice remains invaluable. If only there were more Catriona’s – the world would definitely be a more beautiful, functional place! Kim and Wendy Muffet

To whom it may concern, Building a new house comes with a lot of challenges, but it’s one thing to get the house built…..where do you start with the landscaping on 1 acre of what used to be farm land?? We had a few ideas of what we would like and a few plant styles we liked, but didn’t know where to start and how to make it work. We contacted Outscape and organised for Catriona to come out and meet us on site, it was a great experience, to have someone that would listen to your ideas, but then with her professional approach and knowledge she transformed our few ideas into an interesting garden with a lot of character. Within an hour or two we had a clear vision of what our garden would look like sketched up on paper with all the plant and tree names we needed to know as well as spacing’s and everything else. We have now started our landscaping and with such a clear vision and extra advice from Catriona when needed, our garden is coming along very smoothly and looking great I think it’s essential for anyone that has built a dream home to get a professional like Catriona to help with your landscape design, the expertise and knowledge for the very reasonable rate, makes all the difference… helping turn a house into a home. Regards, N.S Molong.

Catriona was very friendly, knowledgeable, and listened to our requirements carefully. She organised a site visit very promptly (about 100km or so from her home), and quickly sketched out a few ideas. A few days later, we had a scaled conceptual plan for our backyard that was exactly as we had pictured it. We are still in the process of completing our project, but Catriona's professional help is continuing to prove invaluable, and she is very responsive to our needs. We would not hesitate to recommend Outscape to anyone needing help with outdoor projects.