Tel Aviv – Building entrance garden

What was once a shaded construction site is today a beautiful and low-maintenance entrance garden. Home to a rich variety of shade-tolerant plants, bushes and trees and a calming green space for residents to enjoy as they leave and enter their house.

An old, shaded apartment building in the heart of Tel Aviv may seem like a hostile environment for a garden to grow but these entrance gardens are exactly the niches that we need to – and can – make greener, brightening our city and reminding ourselves daily of our connection to nature.

The residents of this building asked us to leave the existing mature trees and create a lush shade garden under their canopy. They wanted a garden with a natural appearance, a kind of urban jungle and a “green lung” that would attract the birds and butterflies as well as improve the quality of air around the building.

It was also important to the residents that this garden would be self-sustaining, requiring little investment in maintenance once it was established.

Through precise design, plant selection and positioning of vegetation, we successfully created a beautiful entrance garden that focuses on luscious undergrowth. Much like a sprawling forest floor or jungle ground cover crawls or reaches to seek the sunlight. See the pictures below. 

Meeting their request this Tel Aviv garden is designed for minimum maintenance and visited by our gardeners every two to three months.

Design, execution and maintenance: Gina Mezina
Photography: Yuli Gorodinsky