Whimsy And Wild Patience paid off for the owners of this garden in southern WA.

Thirty years of patience, nurturing and heavy lifting have gone into shaping this graceful country garden in southern WA.

Located near Kojonup, a little town three hours south-east of Perth, is a property called Pine Avenue. Sitting at the end of a drive lined with the venerable maritime pines is a nuanced, elegant garden of the same name that is settled in the gentle undulations of the landscape. Cathy and Eric (known as ‘Lefty’) Wright have been gardening here since they married three decades ago. A few protective trees on the garden’s perimeter are the legacy of Lefty’s mother, Olive, who lived here when the house was built 40 years ago. “Olive was wonderful and a real plantswoman,” says Cathy. “I learnt so much from her – and from my own mother, who created a lovely garden at our family home at Kulin, in south-west WA.”

The pretty garden at Pine Avenue occupies about 1 hectare of the 4000- hectare grazing and crop ping property that is something of a landmark in the region. While the Wrights have officially retired from farming and leased out their land, they chose to remain living in the family home they love in order to enjoy their garden and to stay close to friends in the district.

The garden entrance to the north is defined by a waist-high, curved stone wall, with entry via a gravel path. The impressive stone work is Lefty’ s latest addition to an array of handmade features throughout the garden built using granite gathered from the property. “They add structure in the landscape, à la Edna Walling,” he says, referring to the pioneering Australian landscape designer whose thoughtful stone work became a trademark. Behind the wall there’s a claret ash ( Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa) and revamped gardens with an informal mix of roses, st at ice, aeoniu ms, borage, valerian, euphorbia and poppies.

There’s a wonderful collection of deciduous trees too, including maples, crabapples, Pyrus and Prunus, claret ash (“slow growing but worthwhile”, says Cathy), and desert ash (“not as colourful but good value”). Expanses of lawn to both the north and south are interspersed with gravel paths and flanked by perennials.

The gravel is a recent addition. Cathy had to persuade Lefty to remove the crazy paving pathways he had installed some years prior as weeds had begun bullying their way through the cracks and loose stones had made walking a little wobbly. The compacted gravel delivers a different aesthetic: it’s visually soft and neutral, giving the impression that the surrounding perennials are growing wild.

This is a garden that neatly segues into the surrounding landscape thanks to farm vistas from almost every angle. When the couple first began gardening here, they removed a driveway and shrubs along the western boundary to open up the view. Terracing of the front lawn creates the illusion that the garden disappears into the paddock beyond. Meanwhile, magnificent eucalypts – white gums, ironbarks and paperbarks – draw the eye to views of nearby fields and grazing sheep. To reinforce the connection between the garden and the grazing land beyond, Lefty planted a sprinkling of oaks, ro bi ni as, plane trees and Prunus in the paddocks within sight from the garden.

Original farm fencing made from a white-ant resistant acacia known as the ‘jam tree’ (due to the timber’s raspberry jam scent) has been repurposed into garden fencing to link the garden to the wider landscape. “We always try to use materials from the farm in the garden,” says Cathy.

Another technique favoured by Cathy is mass planting. Although native to the northern hemisphere, Prunus species grow well in Kojonup, so Cathy planted an avenue of Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’, an ornamental black cherry plum with burgundy foliage to bring eye-catching colour to the southern boundary of the garden. Beneath them grows Cotyledon orbiculata, the silvery foliage delivering a beautiful contrast to the surrounding plants. Plantings are grouped by colour: the arbour supporting a white rambling rose and surrounded by a collection of white-flowering plants is just one example. “I’m conscious not to have the garden too fussy on the periphery,” says Cathy. “We keep it simpler and have more intense plantings closer to the house.”

Over the last decade, the annual rainfall in the area has fallen from 550mm to 500mm. Mindful that water, or the lack of it, is always an issue in Australia, Cathy focuses on using less-thirsty plants and regularly enriches the clay and quartz soil with sheep manure and barley-straw mulch. Roses are among her favourite plants, include ‘Sally Holmes’, ‘Crepuscule’ (used here as a hedge) and the gorgeous ‘Altissimo’ – she’s resigned to sharing her precious blooms with the cheeky Port Lincoln parrots.

Late last year, the garden provided a fragrant backdrop for the wedding of the Cathy and Lefty’s youngest son, Nick and his new wife Lauren. The couple and Nick’s brother Tim, who returned from London for the nuptials, are justifiably proud of their parents’ garden. Clearly, Pine Avenue enchants all who visit.

There are sweeping vistas of the countryside in every direction, on the perimeters of the garden. Here, the view is framed by the arching branches of a crabapple ( Malus ‘Eleyi’). In the foreground is a bed of bougainvillea, purplespired echium, agaves and lime-tinged Sedum dendroideum praealtum. In the paddock beyond strategically planted oaks, robinia, ornamental plums and plane trees help create a sense of continuity with the garden.

Cathy and Lefty Wright take a late-afternoon stroll. OPPOSITE Clockwise from top left Acacia paddock fencing has been repurposed as garden edging. White gums frame the view to the grazing land beyond. Raised vegetable beds and pots of geraniums alongside the spacious chicken run. Duranta is trimmed into lollipop shapes in a bed behind one of Lefty’s stone walls. An allée of ornamental black cherry plums underplanted with silvery Cotyledon orbiculata. Spires of kniphofia.

ABOVE Apricot-coloured crepuscule roses, red poppies and pink-toned valerian line the gravel path leading to the eastern lawn where cedar ash trees provide welcome shade. RIGHT Relaxed beds filled with roses, blue-flowering borage, red poppies, blue-green euphorbia and more bring colour and a cottagey feel to the garden. The naturalistic pathway wends beneath a crabapple and a box elder maple on its way to the south-west lawn.