Phillip Johnson wins 14th Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

LANDSCAPE designer Phillip Johnson has won the 14th Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show for his garden which featured billabongs, the swimming pool of the future.

Johnson’s design also collected the City of Melbourne's award of excellence for best in show.

The landscape designer created a garden which reflected his idea of the 21st century habitat. Johnson says the area is environmentally friendly, with two billabongs, a solar-powered hot outdoor shower, and orchard, vegetable garden, vertical garden, sunset viewing platform and bushfire prevention system.

The landscaper says billabongs play a major part in his garden design; they can be useful reservoirs for run off and make good swimming pools.

‘The billabong is the natural pool of the future,’ Johnson says. ‘It's chlorine-free and fluctuates seasonally. The problem with most pools is that when water goes below the skimmer box, you can't clean them. So the billabong is something really Australian and adaptable to our climate change.’

The billabongs and natural pools featured in Johnson’s garden act as a reservoir for a bushfire prevention system. At the touch of a button, the garden and house can be surrounded by walls of water from the pools. If the power fails, solar and battery storage take over. Johnson says he is developing a way to activate this system by mobile phone. After use, the water is drained back into the system and recycled.
Phillip Johnson included a Hill’s hoist in his garden to encourage people to cut down their energy consumption by hanging out clothes to dry rather than putting them in a clothes dryer.