Cara Smith Landscape Design

Cara Smith Landscape Design Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Cara Smith Landscape Design, Landscape Company, Unit 19 The Village, 20 Capricorn Drive, Capricorn Business Park, Muizenberg, Cape Town.

Cara Smith Landscape Design is an award-winning landscape design and installation company with a passion for sustainable outdoor living spaces with a South African contemporary aesthetic.

In the Western Cape, water is our most precious design tool. We build gardens that work with nature, not against it.We b...
19/06/2026

In the Western Cape, water is our most precious design tool. We build gardens that work with nature, not against it.

We believe design is fundamentally about what you don’t see. We never leave a garden’s survival to chance; instead, we plan for the wettest winters and the driest summers from day one.

This is why a comprehensive, professional Water Management Report is woven into the blueprint of every project we take on. It is how we ensure that our high-end designs aren't just beautiful for a season, but resilient, self-sustaining, and deeply anchored for the future.

A garden can be green and still be a "biological desert." If your plants don’t support local life, they are simply takin...
17/06/2026

A garden can be green and still be a "biological desert." If your plants don’t support local life, they are simply taking up space.

Real beauty lies in biodiversity. By designing with local species, plants that have spent thousands of years evolving specifically in our unique Cape climate. We shift a garden from a trend-driven luxury to a thriving, self-sustaining ecosystem.

12/06/2026

On-site with the team, installing a Mediterranean-inspired garden.

False olives (Buddleja saligna) frame the front façade, while a rill water feature leads into a lily pond aligned with the front door stone archway. Large natural stepping stones in gravel paths, granite cobbles, large boulders, and earthy aged ceramic planters forms the backbone of the design.

The intention is for the home’s architectural materiality to extend directly into the landscape, creating a cohesive design language.

As this garden continues to settle, our focus has remained on the intentional “softening” of the site.We’ve looked for e...
29/05/2026

As this garden continues to settle, our focus has remained on the intentional “softening” of the site.

We’ve looked for every opportunity to trade conventional materials for organic, living solutions that allow the landscape to breathe and thrive over time. Instead of heavy paving, we opted for bark-mulched and laterite paths, significantly reducing hard surfacing. These organic walkways do more than simply guide movement; they create rich, permeable surfaces where essential soil microorganisms can flourish beneath the ground.

Rather than relying on tar or concrete, the driveways were constructed using grass blocks and daisy lawn, allowing rainwater to infiltrate naturally back into the water table.

To extend the greenery vertically, we introduced architectural steel cables and climbing plants, encouraging nature to reclaim the vertical plane. This “vertical vitality” softens and cools the built form, drawing the garden upward and weaving the landscape into the architecture itself.

📸 Collection by

For us, the true beauty lies in how it works beneath the surface. We moved beyond aesthetics to design a garden that fun...
27/05/2026

For us, the true beauty lies in how it works beneath the surface.

We moved beyond aesthetics to design a garden that functions as a living, breathing ecosystem, grounded in these core principles:

🌿 Permeable Surfaces: Prioritising porous paving to reduce heat and allow the earth to drink.

🌿 Living Thresholds: Drawing the planting directly into the home’s architecture to enjoy the bounty of nature.

🌿 The Eco-Pond and Stormwater Ponds: A functional lung for the site that manages stormwater, recharges the water table, and creates a thriving habitat for dragonflies and frogs.

This landscape is a purposeful example of design that sustains so nature can thrive.

📸 Collection by

I recently heard this on a podcast and thought I HAVE to share:Planting design is basically hosting the world’s most com...
23/05/2026

I recently heard this on a podcast and thought I HAVE to share:

Planting design is basically hosting the world’s most complicated dinner party. You’ve got a hundred guests at one table—one guy needs full sun, one only drinks water twice a month, one’s dramatic in winter, and another peaks in summer. You have the guest who is loud and colourful, sitting right next to the one who prefers to quietly sit in the background.

And your job as the host is to make sure everybody gets along, nobody kills each other, nobody blocks the view, and someone interesting is talking every single season of the year.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, you’re also managing leaf texture, flower timing, colour palettes, shade, wind, soil, pollinators, and the occasional diva shrub.

When planting design is done well, people walk in and say: “Wow… this garden feels amazing.” They say it without realising you’ve basically been coordinating the most complex living seating plan imaginable.

And that’s why we love planting design!! It’s never boring, and you’re forever learning.

For this garden, our standout dinner guests were Leonotis leonorus 'Simba', Protea 'Sharonat', Phylica pubescens, Metalasia muricata, Miscanthus sinensis, Seriphium plumosum, Melianthus major, and Plectranthus ecklonis.

📸 Collection by Davina Mortlock Photography

This sanctuary of solace is a testament to the idea that high-end design and ecological balance are one and the same. Ou...
15/05/2026

This sanctuary of solace is a testament to the idea that high-end design and ecological balance are one and the same. Our vision was to create a space that feels both architecturally disciplined and wildly effortless.

For our client, who leads a fast-paced corporate life, this landscape is far more than an aesthetic choice. It is her essential breath of daily life. We designed the garden to merge seamlessly with the architecture by Michael Lumby Architecture creating a singular, grounded experience where the transition from boardroom to birdsong happens the moment she steps across the threshold.

In a life of constant high-pressure decisions, this is where she comes to find her balance and root herself back into the rhythm of nature. It’s a quiet, living refuge that provides the peace and solace needed to navigate the world beyond the garden gate.

📸 Collection by Davina Mortlock Photography

Tabitha and I have been enjoying spending time in this wonderful indigenous garden.
09/05/2026

Tabitha and I have been enjoying spending time in this wonderful indigenous garden.

Excited for the launch of the Scape Awards of Excellence 2026. , @ scape_awards, ,
20/03/2026

Excited for the launch of the Scape Awards of Excellence 2026.
, @ scape_awards, ,

13/03/2026

There is a certain charm in the smaller, more intimate moments of a garden. 🌱

A circular Corten steel pond and simple spout are such a sweet way to introduce the sound of trickling water without the need for a massive installation.

These features are wonderfully low-maintenance and safe for families with pets or young children, offering all the sensory pleasure of a water feature while remaining manageable and grounded.

Proof that even the smallest corner can become an outdoor living sanctuary.

Address

Unit 19 The Village, 20 Capricorn Drive, Capricorn Business Park, Muizenberg
Cape Town
7945

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+27213003398

Website

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