LABOUR OF LOVE

After a year spent clearing his land, Nicholas Scott was finally ready to plant. Now his garden just outside of Kyneton in Victoria is truly beautiful, filled with boldly coloured blooms and rich texture.

NICHOLAS SCOTT IS a patient but determined man. After making the decision to leave Melbourne and go bush — but not too far from the city — he spent two years looking around central Victoria for the right place to call home. His search, after inspecting almost 600 properties, ended when he found an old property at Pipers Creek, 10 minutes’ drive from the town of Kyneton. “It had been a working farm — sheep, dairy, chickens — with 60 hectares of land and the owners sent milk to the butter factory in Kyneton,” Nicholas says. “The property was first registered in Kyneton in 1856 and originally there was a stone farmhouse. The drystone walls here are a reminder of that era.” When he arrived at Oak Farm in May 2010, the property’s land had been reduced to less than three hectares and the old house had been demolished. But many of the weather-beaten outbuildings, including a shearing shed, grain shed and outdoor kitchen, were still standing. These and some mature trees — oaks, poplars and cypress — were enough to give Nicholas the beginnings of the garden’s landscape at his new home. “I worked flat out every day for the first year clearing out rubbish; you couldn’t see the rolling hills of the Cobaw Ranges for the thickets of shrubs, ivy running amok and self-seeded wattles,” explains Nicholas. “Inside the house it was so dark — it was like being stuck in a velvet cushion.” However, by the end of 2011, he had lit many a bonfire and cleared spaces where he wanted to make garden beds. Firstly, he created a vegetable and picking garden, and then he started planting the ornamental garden beds, with plants he thought would do well in the area. “I had a lot of disasters,” Nicholas says. “I was still stuck in the Melbourne mindset and just hadn’t realised just how freezing cold the winters are out here; I was trying to fight nature. I started a garden diary in 2012 and when I look back over it, it just reads as a litany of loss. I planted mollis azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons — all completely unsuitable for this area.” “My light-bulb moment came in 2014 when I happened to find a book Garden Plants for Mediterranean Climates written by Graham Payne; it was first published in 2006,” Nicholas says. “I realised that I was gardening in the classic Mediterranean climate: hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Well, that’s the theory anyway.” A magnificent border, sheltered by one of the stone walls, is testimony to his reading. Here Nicholas has created a herbaceous border in the English garden style but using an entirely different palette of plants to great effect. Predominant colours are grey and silver, especially in foliage, with great splashes of orange, blue and acid green as highlights in different seasons. “I wanted to have something to look at all year — not just in the early spring and summer,” he says. >

Good advice also came from Nicholas’ gardening friends who suggested that the border be made to be a metre deeper — that is, three metres instead of two. “This has meant I can have more permanent plantings mixed with the seasonal high points,” he explains. Tough, drought-tolerant shrubs, mainly euphorbia, pomegranate and japonica, are the backbone of the border. Mixed through this structural backbone are bold succulents, for example cotyledons with thick fleshy leaves, while more delicate-looking plants, including fennel, geums and salvias, lighten the mood. Grasses such as miscanthus and clumps of agapanthus also find a place. Roses, too, are included in the mix with bold–coloured blooms preferred. Climbing roses grow up and around the old sheds in great profusion, the faded timbers and tin roofs providing the perfect backdrop. Nicholas has also added some of his favourite trees to the existing plantings. A row of crabapples line the boundary fence; a pear walk featuring the charming snow pear, Pyrus nivalis, is an eye-catcher in spring and out in a back paddock, an oak arboretum is being established. “I don’t want to make the garden any bigger… it just becomes too labour intensive. And, unfortunately, the amount of rain we get is the key to everything,” he says. While Nicholas loves tending his own garden, he is also engaged in helping the district’s gardeners. He is into his third year as president of the Kyneton Horticultural Society. Founded in 1894, the Society is one of the oldest in Australia — this year celebrating its 125th anniversary with its annual spring flower show in early September. He is also a great cook and markets his jams, jellies, relishes, quiches and biscuits under the name of his property Oak Farm. Driving past Oak Farm, you can always tell if Nicholas is home. If the Victorian flag is flying from the mast, you can be sure he is either in the garden or the kitchen. The Kyneton Horticultural Society Spring Flower Show at the Kyneton Showgrounds, Mollison Street, Kyneton, will be held on September 7 and 8, 2019, visit khs1894.com

David Austin ‘Lady of Shalott’ roses in full bloom provide bold colour in Nicholas Scott’s garden. FACING PAGE Nicholas has single–handedly created this flourishing garden. It took him a year to clear “thickets of shrubs, ivy running amok and self–seeded wattles” before he could start planting.

CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE A bench seat under a golden ash looks towards Pipers Creek. Gold Bunny roses climb over the shed; Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii and Pyrethrum daisies frame the view out to the paddocks; Nicholas chose white Iceberg roses beside the verandah because of their reliable flowering; bright orange David Austin ‘Lady of Shalott’ roses. FACING PAGE Lombardy poplar trees, which were planted long before Nicholas bought the property, guide the way to his house and garden.