About us
So much more than landscapes
Babylon Gardens are contemporary landscape construction experts and designers, providing quality craftsmanship, loyal service, and careful installation and maintenance services.
We treat every project, big or small, modern or classical, native or exotic, with the utmost care and consideration. We understand how to enhance any environment to its absolute potential, and how to create connections between house and landcsape — creating places to live, relax and socialise, and to play and produce.
We are great believers in producing food from your garden and have fantastic ideas to produce edibles without sacrificing good design. We also love to include the needs of children with exciting and enchanting play areas.
We understand however that not everyone has a large section to work with, and we relish the challenge of making incredible spaces within tight limitations.
Babylon Gardens would love to be involved in your project, either designing for you or working with your own designer. Simply give us a call or email us and we'll arrange a time to visit your site and talk through ideas and options.
Things we do... anything you need outside.
Pools, decks, fences, patios, paving, tiling, stonework, vege gardens, service areas, firepits, kid's gardens, tree huts, play structures, water features, planting, maintenance, courtyards, outdoor rooms, lawns, pergolas, pagodas, bespoke furniture, irrigation, lighting
Our philosophy
Natural, Simple, Respect
Babylon Gardens will create a peaceful sanctuary which gives you immense pleasure throughout the year.
We believe our landscaping should deliver a place that is visually stimulating to your own style and that creates the places and spaces you personally require.
In our own family life we like to keep things natural and simple, we are not believers in using chemicals in our environment, we use all natural or low voc products, and are very conscious of using local supply and tradespeople. We also make sure our offshore products are from reputable sustainable suppliers.
We believe in growing as much food in our own garden as possible, and we also love structure and form creating views from inside our home, coupled with personality.
Borrowing from many different styles, we appreciate a rambling old cottage garden as much as an immaculate Zen garden.
We believe in working in harmony with natural features where possible, using borrowed views and minimizing changes to land contours. We use clever design to avoid unnecessary permit processes and costs, wherever possible.
Putting the right plants in the right areas not only means they perform better but can often perform a task as well, such as soaking up excess groundwater or looking great when there is no water to be seen.
Craftsmanship and attention to detail is very important to us, as a great garden should stand the test of time and get better with age.
Whilst on site we are acutely aware that it is your home. Our people are immensly respectful of your property and private life and will always try to minimize the impact of construction as much as possible.
Who we are
Jared Reynolds and Sandii McDonald — a husband and wife team
With over 12 years experience, the charming Jared started out initially specialising in stonewalls and building work. He is well known for his lovely gentle manner and ability to work like two people at once, in fact we often say "if only there were two of him." He has the ability to interpret a site and enhance the features and atmosphere, preferring to use mostly natural materials to compliment architecture and the surrounding environment. He is a careful and meticulus craftsman who leaves you with another dimension to your life, not just a garden. Jared's extensive experience in constructing and maintaining gardens in the Auckland area is invaluable to anyone wanting to start a project.
Sandii has been in the garden all her life, she is passionate about design and all things that look good. A well regarded photographer for many years Sandii has joined her husband to run the business, keep up with trends and technologies, and collaborate on design development with Jared. She has extensive plant knowledge, masses of creativity and life influences, and always knows how to make spaces work well and to look their best.
Contact us
Phone: 09 575 3141 or 021 802 890.
Email: info@babylongardens.co.nz
Blog:
babylongardensnz.blogspot.com
Post: PO Box 125221, St Heliers, Auckland 1740.
A bit of a history lesson...
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Gardens of Babylon are said to have stood on the banks of the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq, although there's some doubt as to whether they ever really existed.
Legend has it the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BCE) constructed the gardens at his Royal Palace in the Mesopotamian desert as a love offering to his wife, who came from Media and who longed for the lush greenery of her mountainous homeland.
However, thousands of clay tablets from that period in Babylon still exist today. They describe in detail many facts about the city, its people and its surroundings — and yet records of the Hanging Gardens are conspicuous by their absence. The ancient tourist and travel writer Herodotus, for example, mentions nothing at all about the hanging gardens in his extensive descriptions of the city of Babylon and the surrounding countryside.
So are the hanging gardens of Babylon a reality or are they merely a myth? One suggestion is that when Alexander the Great's army entered Babylon from its barren surroundings, the soldiers were amazed by the lush growth of the date palms, olive trees, and other fruit trees. They later recounted their time in the city with increasingly fanciful detail. When they returned to Greece, the poets continued the tradition until, when told enough, the stories became accepted as fact.
What we do know is that archaeologists rediscovered the city of Babylon under a large mound that the natives of Iraq called Babil. More recent archaeological discoveries include the foundation of the palace, the Vaulted Building, and an irrigation well that may have supplied the hanging gardens with water. Massive, 25-metre thick walls along the banks of the Euphrates River, which could have been stepped to form terraces, have also been discovered. Some people believe the Vaulted Building was the site of the Hanging Gardens, while others believe they existed between the walls by the Euphrates River and the site of the foundation of the palace (Ashmawy). No one knows for sure.
