Garden of GOODNESS
Author, artist and plantswoman Kate Herd has created a visionary garden in Melbourne, a place she and the local community turn to for daily sustenance.
“The many pleasures of gardening – creative, psychological, physical and social – are nuanced by the labour and frustrations involved in managing a living, growing, changing habitat,” says Kate, whose dedication has produced this multifaceted garden in north-east Melbourne. In front of her 19th-century home is a lawn fringed by native grass Poa labillardierei. The silver-leafed gum is Eucalyptus pulverulenta ‘Baby Blue’.
Reflecting on more than 20 years of garden-making at my riverside property makes me appreciate that gardening is an inherently optimistic act. My garden’s location and size – 7km from Melbourne’s CBD, and sprawling over 2.4ha along the Yarra River – presents a rather unique blend of urban and rural challenges. With a billabong, amphitheatre, revegetated areas of indigenous species and a terraced hill planted with exotics and natives, it combinesbothbushandaquatichabitats.
And they all require fairly constant attention.
When my mother bought the property in 1994, it had little existing garden. Lawn sloped down from the house towards a dam and there were a few young zelkova trees, a cypress hedge and every invasive weed known to Victoria. The previous owner was the Melbourne Country Club and the house, built circa 1890, required extensive work to transform it from a clubhouse back intoahome.Thegarden,meanwhile,underwentmajorearthworks to prepare for the winding gravel paths and stone walls that now terracethehillside.Mumaskedme(thenaged18)andtwogardendesigner friends to make her a beautiful rambling garden. At the time, I was a keen if inexpert gardener with a passion for flowersandthebush,thankstoafree-range,semi-ruralchildhood.
In many ways I’ve grown up with this garden. And 23 years later, I’m still here. (My mother was clever and downsized to a small city patch.) While its creation has proven physically challenging, given that I’ve been in a wheelchair since a diving accident at the age of 16, my overriding obsession with gardening and plants has compelled me on this journey. Daily gardening has been a balm for my psyche as well as fabulous exercise.
Since 1995, the garden has evolved as a testing ground for all kinds of horticultural experiments. Helped by my gardener, Matt, I play with texture and form, with plant compositions, foliage contrasts and colour combinations. Mine is not a manicured ‘designer’ garden; it is unresolved and eccentric, with parts that are a bit wild. I would characterise my botanical tastes as wide-ranging, occasionally quixotic and happily intercontinental, taking in everything from cabbage trees ( Cussonia sp),proteasandleucadendrons from South Africa to Californian tree poppies and fuchsias ( Zauschneria sp). And then there are my gorgeous Australian natives, adorning the hillside.
Flowersmakemehappy,asdoescolour. These things are crucial, both in situ and when picking blooms to enjoy indoors: fluorescent-orange flowering gum, red kangaroo paws and orange cannas are favourites. I’ve learnt that foliage is essential in anchoring the schemes I’ve created. Silver foliage, in particular, provides a vital framework, especially useful in blending with the surrounding river red gums. Purple foliage – flax, pineapple lilies, Loropetalum (fringe flowers), cannas and Cotinus (smoke bush) – is luscious in its own right but, when repeated throughout plantings, generates mystery and depth.
Most city gardeners don’t have to worry about intermittent flooding of half their backyard or managing a long list of riparian weeds. But caring for this bit of Yarra River floodplain also means having space for a big raspberry patch and beehives, roomtoharvest10kgofgarlicayearandtomake12m3ofcompost from green waste, all of which are special joys.
I grew up near the Yarra, albeit 30km outside Melbourne, and it is gratifying to watch my daughter, Ella, enjoying the same kind of outdoor things I did at her age. She likes to watch turtles laying their eggs, leap onto her rope swing from a giant pile of mulch, and toast marshmallows on winter bonfires.
I love how my garden fosters friendship, whether it’s through sharing plants with neighbours or the tea parties hosted by Ella and her buddies in the cubby. It’s also a privilege to accommodate locals and their activities in the ‘back paddock’, from daily dog walkers and visits from kids at the nearby childcare centre to a biennial community festival, and the recent planting of a river redgumplantedinmemoryofaneighbour’sdaughter. Mygarden sustains the local environment, nourishes my soul and inspires my work, and I am thankful to share it with others.