Gardenista Paul Bangay on his fab new book.

In his new book, garden designer Paul Bangay returns to a beloved subject, his Stonefields property in country Victoria, and reflects on the evolving changes – in climate and his own thinking – that impact on his garden.

Paul Bangay has been in a reflective mood lately. Arguably Australia’s most famous garden designer, Paul has just completed a book documenting life in his garden at Stonefields, the property he shares with his husband Barry, in the Central Highlands of Victoria. It’s not his first book on the subject. He wrote his first, The Garden at Stonefields, back in 2013, when the garden was young. In this latest book, the garden is older and things have changed – and not just in a botanical sense.

“For a start, my priorities and interests have changed over the years, and these are reflected in the way the garden has evolved,” says Paul. “I first developed the garden 16 years ago and that’s a long time in terms of design. At the time, I was obsessed with straight lines, formality and geometric forms.

But I’m mellowing in my old age and I’ve fallen in love with meandering lines and softer forms and shapes. The garden is becoming much less formal that I had originally planned it to be.”

Paul bought Stonefields in 2005, drawn to its location on a hill – at an altitude of 650 metres – near the village of Woodend. “I love being perched on the side of a hill,” he says. “We have beautiful, red volcanic soil, good water supply and a cool mountain climate, which I adore.” Being in the Central Highlands means Stonefields experiences four distinct seasons. Paul

relishes the freezing winters and mild springs and autumns. He has “warmed to the summers”, although he doesn’t love extreme heat or the lack of rain. What he does love is the effect the changing seasons have on the garden. “They allow it to change radically throughout the year and, as the plants mature, these changes become more obvious,” he says.

And that is the main focus of his new book, Stonefields by the Seasons. With beautiful photography by Paul’s long-time friend and collaborator, Simon Griffiths, the book charts the garden through the seasonal shifts, from the winter months when it is blanketed in frost – “it snows just enough to create magic” says Paul – through to the hottest summer days when the nearby paddocks are shimmering in the heat (as depicted on these pages). Ever the practical gardener, Paul includes helpful information about pruning, weeding and watering for each season, plus tips on planning and preparing ahead.

The Stonefields garden now spans over 4 hectares (10 acres). The first areas developed were the outdoor rooms close to the house: the entry forecourt, parterre and pool area. After that, came the woodland which was looser in style and has now grown to create its own microclimate. More recently, Paul added perennial borders below the pool, which are “a lot softer again”, featuring swathes of Penstemon ‘Firebird’, Salvia nemorosa and Geranium ‘Rozanne’.

The main thing to have changed over the years is Paul’s style of design. He calls it his “evolving sense of casualness” which is at odds with some of the older, formal areas of the garden. “I no longer want to contain the plants within borders or box hedging,” he says, preferring to give plants freedom to sprawl, drift and occupy gaps in the paving or gravel. The impact of climate change, too, means his plant selections have changed, as he seeks species that can survive prolonged, hot, dry summers.

So, where to from here? It’s a question Paul himself poses at the conclusion of the book. He endlessly dreams up new projects for Stonefields, but the garden is already more than enough work. He even fantasises about starting afresh with a smaller garden “with no lawn or hedges”. For now, he feels replete living a life led by Stonefields’ seasons: “If only summer was shorter and winter was longer, it would be perfect”. #

Stonefields by the Seasons by Paul Bangay

($59.99, Penguin Random House Australia).

“Stonefields is my refuge – it’s the place that enriches and relaxes me. To live a life led by the seasons is to live one closely tied to a garden, and Stonefields is mine.” Paul Bangay

Paul’s herb garden has changed as his desire for “more softness and freedom” in the plantings has increased. Intricate compartments of box hedge have been removed, leaving these simpler borders framing beds of herbs and flowering perennials – euphorbia, wallflowers, foxgloves and iris – that are at their best in summer.

TOP Paul’s so-called “blue borders” in the front garden feature Agastache ‘Blue Boa’, ‘Blue Fortune’ and ‘Sweet Lili’, Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’ and Eutrochium maculatum ‘ Gateway’.

OPPOSITE TOP The view from the rear terrace to the pool garden. A low hedge of Cotoneaster horizontalis lies between the pool loungers and the display of flowering perennials.

OPPOSITE BOTTOM The pool borders feature feather reed grass ( Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’) and sunny yellow sawtooth sunflower ( Helianthus grosseserratus).

LEFT Paul Bangay reflects on his garden: “I can, at last, relax and enjoy the fruits of my physical and creative input,” he says.