Nicholas Pembroke Design

Nicholas Pembroke Design Garden Design | Landscape Architecture
Considered gardens for design-led homes
👉 Start with The Garden Edit
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05/06/2026

Buxus balls are beautiful. Dense, architectural, timeless. But they’re expensive.

These three natives give you the same look for a fraction of the cost

01/06/2026

Four decisions that will completely transform the exterior of this house. Wall colour, accent colour, driveway surface and the roof.

24/05/2026

Every garden we design starts with someone else’s vision. The previous owner’s taste, their priorities, their plants. And clients often get squeamish about removing them even when they don’t work. But once they’re replaced with plants that actually suit the way you want to live, nobody ever looks back.

22/05/2026

Many people can often be stumped by their sloping gardens. But as a designer I find them to be the most interesting scenarios to work with. They offer so many opportunities. Oh and always add a place to sit and pause.

Lento Lounge Chair from
Design by
Landscape Installation by .sh

20/05/2026

This is my out of office.

Baby number 2 has arrived! Two weeks of paternity leave, a newborn on my chest and a toddler who is absolutely running the show. Zero complaints.

Can’t wait to share the design with you. Construction starts soon. Lots to share when I’m back.

12/05/2026

New carpet laid! It was a big one but a non-negotiable for my wife when there will be a newborn and a toddler rolling all over them. It’s made a massive difference!

Hard to fully appreciate it until this unfortunate pinky cream situation on the walls gets painted. What colour do you think we should go for on the walls? No white!

The spend counter is climbing.

09/05/2026

The roof quote came in at $65K for a full Colourbond replacement.
Painting the existing tiles is $7.5K.
So I’ve been exploring some options. What is your preference?

08/05/2026

I chopped down a tree. Two actually.
Before you come for me, hear me out.
The sycamore was a declared noxious w**d in our area. It was actively threatening local bushland. The pittosporum had been left to grow and was blocking our neighbours behind us from getting solar panels. They’d asked the previous owners to remove it. They were over the moon when I agreed.
Since the pittosporum came down, a flock of parrots has moved into the big tree on the western boundary because they finally have clear perching. And now that we’ve got light back in this part of the garden, I can plant nectar-rich flowering perennials that will attract bees and butterflies. Instead of my kids being scared of a dark overgrown corner, they’ll get to watch pollinators do their thing in a bright, inviting space.
But here’s my policy, when you remove trees, you replace them. And then some.
For every $1,000 I spend on this renovation, I’m planting one native tree and returning unused paddock land back to native forest.
The spend counter is currently at $10,300.
That’s 10 trees and counting

07/05/2026

Is your garden a bit sh*t? Like mine currently is?
Here’s something most people never think about, your garden doesn’t have to start at your boundary.
The nature strip is grey area. Use common sense. But if you’ve got north-facing space in front of your fence that’s currently just grass and council neglect, that’s an opportunity.
Mine’s getting a row of dwarf espaliered apples. Productive, beautiful, and narrow enough to not annoy anyone.
Oh and free apples for the neighbours. Which in my experience is the cheapest goodwill you’ll ever buy.

02/05/2026

Episode 5. I asked my wife what she wants in the garden.

She’s 38 weeks pregnant, with a toddler, and about to have a newborn. So before I finalise anything I need to know what she actually wants.

Clothesline. Cubby house. Chickens. Sitting areas. All very reasonable.
Then Basil weighed in. He wants a kangaroo 🦘. We’re looking into it.

Oh — and the spend counter. It jumped. I’ll explain later.

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Bundanoon, NSW

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