A GROWING LEGACY

WE VISIT A DREAMY EDNA WALLING GARDEN IN THE SOUTHERN TABLELANDS OF NSW.

ANDREW TONGUE KNEW he wanted to buy Kiloren as soon as he and wife Vicki Middleton turned into the tree-lined driveway. The couple had been searching for a cool-climate garden for some time. “We’d explored country Victoria and parts of Tasmania, but it wasn’t until we moved back to Canberra from Melbourne that we thought about the Southern Highlands,” says Vicki, who grew up in the Blue Mountains near Sydney and then Chinchilla in Queensland. Andrew had a city upbringing but it was his long-held dream to have a garden — particularly a walled garden — with cool-climate trees. “We wanted a garden in a climate where you could grow apples,” Vicki explains. When they set off for Kiloren at Crookwell, about 90 minutes drive from their home in Canberra, it was just to have a look (or so they told each other), but the garden had other ideas, as did their son, William, then aged seven, who told them to buy it. That was back in early 2016. “After we’d put in the offer I woke up during the night in a cold sweat wondering what I’d done,” says Andrew. Kiloren isn’t just a beautiful garden with dry-stone walls and the potential to grow an apple tree. It was created by eminent Australian landscape designer Edna Walling (1895–1973) and is one of only two of her designs that remains entirely extant in NSW. Other Walling gardens are found in Victoria, particularly in the village of Bickleigh Vale that she built at Mooroolbark in Melbourne. If the Walling connection wasn’t enough of a responsibility, the property had only had two other owners before Andrew, 55, and Vicki, 50, took it on. “It was laid out for Dr and Mrs Broadbent in 1951 and then bought by Rob and Jennie Churchill in 1982,” says Andrew. “We are the third owners so it felt like we were taking on a huge responsibility to look after that legacy; we are custodians as well as garden owners.” Both Andrew and Vicki are public servants who work in Canberra but they are at Kiloren most weekends. It has become a gathering point for the entire family. “Our three older children, Lyndsie, Nicholas and Matilda, are now in their 20s and spend time here. We also recently celebrated Andrew’s mother Daphne’s 90th birthday here.” The couple’s youngest son often has friends over to play, too. It is a marvellous garden for small children, says Vicki, and William agrees. “I like to climb the trees and find frogs in the pond,” he says. Now nine years old, William is still very much a fan of the garden. One of the family’s favourite spots is the moss mound tucked under a leafy canopy of deciduous trees, which >

include oak, linden, golden ash and elm, where it’s cool in summer and warm in winter. “It’s a nice place to have lunch outdoors or to lie back on the soft moss and read,” says Vicki. “In winter, when the trees are bare, it is sunny and sheltered.” The property is 3.6 hectares in all, with paddocks surrounding the 1.5-hectare garden. Crookwell is potato country with deep rich basaltic soil, says Andrew. It’s land that rewards you for any effort that you make. With an elevation of nearly 1000 metres, it also has four distinct seasons. “We discovered hard work when we took on Kiloren,” he explains. “And we’ve fallen in tune with the seasons. “In winter we are digging, mulching and often admiring the beauty of the garden under snow or frost, but also looking forward to spring, which brings new leaves and flowers and mowing.” Come summer it’s all about watering. “The garden has access to water in a large dam and to a bore, but watering at Kiloren means moving hoses and sprinklers as there’s no water system here,” says Andrew. He usually visits the garden mid week right through summer just to water. “Autumn is probably my favourite time when the heat abates and the leaves begin to turn and the air is misty. Then it’s all about raking and tidying up the summer’s growth.” Although they are keen to maintain the garden as it matures, they also want to make it their own with an orchard and vegetable garden. “Parts of the garden are hot and exposed and could be developed with more modern, Mediterranean-style planting,” he says. However, they are not rushing into any major changes. “At the moment we are observing it through the seasons and learning about the climate extremes — including the record minus-12.6°c we experienced last winter — and working out a water budget,” says Andrew. “One of our contributions to the garden will be water security to make sure we can sustain the plantings of deciduous and cool-climate plants into the future.” Kiloren is also important because the original house, designed by architect John Mansfield, sits surrounded by the original garden as Edna Walling intended it to. “When I am mowing or working in the garden I regularly stop and just look at it and wonder if Edna Walling knew how her planting scheme would look with mature trees that have a life and form all of their own,” says Andrew. “She didn’t abide by any rules and was strong and forceful — thank God for a strong, determined woman with the vision to plant a garden that’s here to be enjoyed three generations on.” For more information, visit kiloren.com