Baldwin Myles - Rural Australian Gardens

Contents

Introduction

The gates at Panshanger, Longford, Tasmania.

As a fairly eclectic gardener, I have a passion for a wide diversity of plant types, trees, shrubs and perennials. I also like a whole range of climates and landscapes. With such broad tastes, its almost impossible to pin down my dream garden. The only decision Ive come to so far is that it would have to be in the country.

Despite having all my roots in suburban Sydney, I spend a fair bit of time in rural areas. My designs over the years have moved from my clients metropolitan residences to their rural escapes and on to their full-time country friends. I feel an incredible affinity with the country, although many of the locals, seeing me in thongs, jeans and T-shirt, can spot me a mile off as an outsider, wearing not the most practical attire for a site visit.

My relationship with the country started as a kid via the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. I went there every year until I was 18, and still go every now and then. I like the fact that in the country a good sponge cake is still appreciated, that theres still tea cake and scones, and its not necessarily put on for tourists. As a family wed go on day trips to the country at one point, my father even had dreams of becoming a sheep farmer in the Braidwood area, not far from Canberra. My garden adventures to the Southern Highlands were also a big part of growing up. Mum and I would drive down in spring for Tulip Time, when most of the gardens were open, and take in cool climate gardening at its best. Kennerton Green, Moidart and Milton House were the usual favourites, but also the Paul Sorensen garden Redlands was a huge inspiration.

However, through this, I had a very warped view of the countryside. For most of Australia isnt in high country, it certainly doesnt have plenty of water, and the bulk of Australian gardens dont have great soil, all of which the Southern Highlands has in spades. It was therefore a huge eye-opener when I began working in the country on my rural projects to discover the reality of such locations.

Before I talk about the challenges of rural gardening, lets look at the positives. The first major appeal is space to create your own overall environment, something thats impossible to achieve in metropolitan Australia. Blocks are getting smaller, life is becoming busier and a sense of individuality is harder to achieve. People dont tend to make landscapes, but install five-minute gardens that change with fashion. Having a garden now often involves a row of plants, a brightly coloured wall and a timber deck.

Theres a sense of permanence to a garden in the country you plant a tree or a hedge and they look nothing like your vision of how they will be. Youre not thinking about today, youre thinking 30 years down the line. Gardens in the country take time; you cant slap on a coat of paint or lay a few rows of tiles to brighten the place up. You have to wait for the effect, and theres something strangely reassuring about that.

Possumwood, Southern Highlands, NSW.

Of course in the country your neighbours wont be right on top of you; the chances are you wont be forced to contemplate screening out their ugly fibro garage or feel overlooked by their second-floor renovation. What you create is up to you, and depends on your ability, your budget and tastes, interests and skills, as well as the surrounding landscape. With nature as a backdrop cows, bush and paddocks are all beautiful in their own right you really cant go wrong, and with that, the simple placement of a group of trees or shrubs can become a garden.

View over the Fleurieu Peninsula from Boats End, a garden at Currency Creek, South Australia.

As Ive said, my own dream has always been to have a rural garden. I might look like an urban person, and much as Id like to keep a bolthole in the city, Id love to be able to escape to my own chunk of Australia. I dont know exactly where that would be, and after working on this book I feel more confused than ever. Ive visited so many parts of the country and have fallen in love with all of them the rolling grassy hills of the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and the sense of sophistication that area has; the village-like atmosphere of the Adelaide Hills; the Georgian architecture of Tasmania; the climate, the subtropical plants and long district views to the ocean around Maleny in Queensland. I like the fact that from certain smaller cities such as Adelaide or Launceston you can be in a metropolitan area one minute and, quite abruptly, be out in the country, not having to battle your way through unattractive suburbs.

Of course, when people overseas imagine Australia, they often picture the Red Centre and think thats all there is to the place (and Australian city dwellers, as well, can be guilty of having that kind of skewed view). I must say, even though I was better informed, it did come as a surprise to realise that in alpine Australia hardy souls still manage to make gardens despite dealing with regular, quite heavy dumps of snow.

As a designer, I love working in the country. Wherever Im working, city or country, I have to consider the property, the architecture and the environment, but in rural areas, theres often the added element of an agricultural aspect to that space, which is something I find intriguing and inspiring.

Its when you travel around Australia and experience the different light around the country the almost furry, northern European light of Tasmania compared with the strong, sharply outlined colours found in Queensland that you understand just how vast the continent is. Its a contrast that can only come through widely varying latitudes.

There are two types of country as far as Im concerned the country lite and the real country. The country lite, usually quite close to large metropolitan areas, seems to take an almost English approach; the produce, the architecture, the openness, even the tea shops, and all condensed into a small area. And then theres the real country way out in the middle of nowhere, which has a really different feeling to it. Theres nothing easy about it; its often subsistence living with no time for scones with jam and cream.

In every area of the country, one of the greatest gardening challenges is time there are usually far too many other things to do, often including agricultural commitments. The garden is generally seen as a leisure time activity, and the thing is, we all need to make money in order to afford leisure.

There are as many different types of garden as there are people; gardening is a very personal pursuit. There are those who want to make the most of views, others who go for protection. Some try to impose a formal garden into a rural setting; others prefer a more organic approach. Ive found the best gardens take note of the environment and also work, in some way, with the architecture of the house. With time and money, incredible things can be done in a rural setting; in the right place, you may be able to develop your very own forest if you wish. But one of the things Ive discovered is that Im often having to convince my clients that their dreams are unrealistic the country is not a completely blank canvas, the land has its own say. You can be inspired by whatever you like, but have to respect where you are it will eventually let you know anyway.