Rebuilding with Heart: A Rustic Landscape with BAL-40 Flamewood Decking and Native Planting 🔥🌱🪵
Wye River, after the Christmas Day bushfire
Project Snapshot
- Location: Wye River, VIC
- Project Type: Bushfire recovery landscaping
- Scope: Composite deck (BAL-40), bluestone retaining, tiered access, indigenous planting
- Key Materials: Flamewood decking, local bluestone, crushed rock, native plants
In the wake of devastation, landscapes can offer more than beauty—they become symbols of recovery. This recent project by Bryce Minett Landscaping in Wye River is a quiet, powerful example of that.
Following the Christmas Day bushfire, the client needed more than a new garden. They needed resilience, access, and a landscape that worked with the steep terrain—while honouring the wild, natural beauty of the area. The result is a rustic, fire-conscious garden, grounded in local stone, indigenous planting, and a new composite deck in BAL-40 rated Flamewood.
This is a garden built not just to look good, but to last.
Designing for Fire, Function, and Flow
Nestled on a steep coastal block, this site demanded practical solutions: tiered access, safe movement, and bushfire-safe materials. Bryce’s team worked carefully with the land’s contours to build up retaining walls, steps, and terraced beds that feel like they’ve always belonged.
Key features include:
✅ BAL-40 Composite Decking (Flamewood)
Designed for bushfire-prone zones, this decking mimics the warmth of timber but offers long-lasting performance and fire resistance, ideal for rebuilding in vulnerable areas.
✅ Bluestone Retaining Walls & Rustic Steps
Using weathered local stone and curved forms, Bryce’s team constructed walls and stairs that control erosion, create planting pockets, and guide movement through the property with a natural, grounded look.
✅ Indigenous & Native Planting
Working with the client’s knowledge of local species, Bryce selected low-maintenance natives that not only bounce back after fire but also support local biodiversity. These plants are placed for slope stability, seasonal colour, and habitat value.
✅ Low-Maintenance Crushed Rock Paths
Blending with the site’s rustic aesthetic, compacted gravel and crushed rock paths were used for clean, walkable access across uneven ground—particularly between stairs and terraces.
A Garden That Knows Where It Stands
This build isn’t about shiny finishes or curated Instagram shots. It’s about living with the land, not over it. You can feel it in the way the stairs curve around tree trunks, in the handmade edges, and in the simplicity of a garden that lets the native environment lead.
The Flamewood deck, built tight to the home’s corrugated cladding, offers a safe, beautiful place to sit and reflect. Below it, tiered rockwork and paths wind down to a series of planting beds—each one an invitation to regrow.
Need a Fire-Ready, Future-Focused Landscape?
Whether you’re rebuilding after bushfire or simply looking to design with smarter, tougher materials, Bryce Minett Landscaping brings the skills, sensitivity, and site knowledge to make it work.
From composite decking and fire-conscious design to native revegetation and access improvements—let’s shape a landscape that respects the land, protects your home, and lasts for the long haul.
📞 Get in touch today to talk through ideas—whether you're starting fresh or building back.
