CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT

Accomplished gardeners Howard and Anne Charles; sweeping lawns with mature elms frame the views of the Monaro landscape; a circular bed planted with yellow and white roses, and cream-coloured California poppies, with a border of soft lambs’ ears; stone steps lead down to the tennis court, a work in progress that the Charles family refer to as ‘Howard’s Folly’; deciduous trees, including silver birches and elms, provide summer shade and allow winter sunlight to fall on the garden beds below; a white peony in bloom. FACING PAGE A windbreak of Lombardy poplars allows perennials and a hedge of pink ‘Bonica’ roses to flourish.