These days Martin Steel is chief plantscaper and designer of City Botanics, but as a kid, he simply loved spending time in the garden with his father. Together they tended the annuals corner and maintained a colourful vegetable patch. They built sturdy bird cages. It was easy to lose track of time outside in nature, but it was never time lost. These experiences connected Martin early on to the healing power of plants. Over time, his passion for horticulture grew into specialised garden design.
Now, Martin specialises in designing gardens for small (and tiny!) spaces, helping bring other people’s dream green scenes to life. His innate creativity, combined with the incredible inspiration gathered on his travels, generates into gorgeous one-of-a-kind garden creations.
“Because Europeans have been living in apartments for years, their balconies complement their lives as well as the architecture,” he says, remembering his trip to Europe that provided him with an array of balcony-blooming design inspiration. Then there’s Chicago’s famous Lurie Garden. “That had me collapsing with excitement,” he laughs.
Alongside his excellent communication skills, Martin’s honest love for his work enables him to develop gardens that “match people’s lifestyle and commitments”. With a strong desire to get to know people’s plant priorities better, Martin is a natural in bespoke garden design.
Plus, three complimentary visits at the end of each installation allows City Botanics to provide clients with everything they need for a successful transition into plant care.
By helping burgeoning plant parents maintain (or develop) their green fingers, Martin aims to encourage others to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Teaching people to care for their freshly planted gardens allows him to share his genuine love for nature that has been a lifelong development.
After he left his childhood home and purchased his own Sydney abode, Martin filled out the quarter-acre section with scratching chickens and plentiful fruit trees. Then his corporate work bought him closer to Sydney’s bustling CBD. Soon, Martin’s high-rise apartment was bursting with lush plant life, inside and out. It was his natural ability to create gorgeous gardens big and small that led him to study garden design and horticulture.
He has a desire to push the principles of horticulture and transform “bare balconies with broken terracotta pots” into small urban oases. By merging his clients’ dreams with their lifestyle, Martin successfully installs beautiful gardens that people love coming home too.
“Hearing that someone loves to have their morning coffee on their balcony, or that they can’t wait to spend time in their new garden, that’s what I love,” he says.
Martin’s deep-seated understanding of how a garden functions fit an individual’s space and lifestyle stems from personal experience. His many examples of outfitting urban jungles with downsized gardens include successfully sustaining a snug planter bed in a worker’s cottage narrow concrete courtyard.
And as living spaces evolve, garden design moves with it. After relocating from Sydney to New Zealand, Martin noticed a change in Antipodeans’ longstanding dream to own a “house with a lawn”. Apartments with petite patios and tiny terraces are on the rise. Not only has moving across the Tasman provided Martin with an insight into housing’s changing landscape, but it’s also given him a strong education in native plant care. He’s found his gift for garden design has flourished. “When clients say to me, ‘Oh but I kill plants,’ or ‘I can’t have that plant in my place, that would never work,’ I say, ‘You let me worry about that,'” he laughs.
There’s no doubting Martin’s ability to merge modern Kiwis’ love of nature with the beauty of garden design. His team at City Botanics are paving the way in customised courtyards and bespoke balconies. And as well as sowing the seeds of respect for nature, their brilliant garden creations are helping to enrich the lives of every client one small space at a time.
