Shadow and Stone garden seeks to explore and present the beauty of cultural landscapes and plant communities of the Kvarner region (the northern part of the Croatian Adriatic coast).
This a landscape in which areas of sun-loving, hardy perennials and sub-shrubs interchange with a local type of Mediterranean forest characterised by a combination of deciduous, warmth-loving trees and garrigue-type evergreen bushes like Viburnum tinus, Laurus nobilis and Phillyrea latifolia. The name of the garden evokes a dense, shady wooded area in contrast with sun-exposed, rocky Mediterranean habitats.
As agriculture gave way to tourism and other uses, natural forests expanded over the former pastures and fields formed by traditional land-shaping techniques: drywalls in various shapes and preservation statuses. This created a very specific environment which inspired our garden: a dark green shrubby forest that casts a shadow over rough drywalls.
Visitors experience the atmosphere of walking between the drywalls, along a gravel path. The path then widens and opens into a clearing with an outburst of colours and scents of sun-loving perennials, grasses and ball-shaped bushes typical for the local flora like Centranthus, Euphorbia, Salvia, Stipa or Satureja. The archetype of the landscape we are creating is that of a sunny glade that opens within the denser, shady forest. The middle of the clearing is enclosed by a semi-circular drywall that serves as a sitting area where one can rest and enjoy the surroundings. The special focal point of the clearing is a “forest mirror” that evokes field water collectors, while the paths are accentuated by elegant arches with wines reminiscent of garden colonnades. Shadow and stone is an exploration of a specific type of landscape and its plant communities that we intimately know and through which we seek to contribute to wider knowledge and appreciation of the incredibly diverse and rich Mediterranean flora and its use in gardens.
Sara Stojaković was born in Rijeka, Croatia. She is a landscape architect experienced in landscape design and planning that spans different typologies and scales, ranging from large-scale competitions in China and Germany to small, private gardens. While working for several landscape architecture offices in Vienna, she has been engaged in many projects involving all design phases, from research and conceptualising through technical details and execution, as well as numerous competitions and planting designs. Since 2021 she is working in her own design practice Oblutak based in Zagreb, where she combines her knowledge about the workings of urban spaces with an interest and observations of local landscape conditions at the intersection of central European and Mediterranean landscapes. One of her special interests is research and planting design based on natural planting communities.
Ana Toth from Zagreb, Croatia is a landscape architect mostly engaged in hospitality and residential projects throughout the Croatian coastline. Her scope of work ranges from large resorts, business parks, campsites or beaches to private gardens in all scales. Gaining experience in taking conceptual ideas through all design phases to completed construction, part of the practice she enjoys the most is creating elaborated Mediterranean planting schemes and climate-resilient urban greenery. Her other interests expand to researching cultural landscapes and/or garden art history that can be embedded into future projects.
She is currently working as a senior landscape architect in one of the leading offices in Croatia, concentrating on combining landscape heritage with modern luxury.
