LEARNING CURVES

THIS ADELAIDE HILLS GARDENER AND TOPIARIST IS CREATING A UNIQUE GARDEN OF ORDER AND CHAOS.

A gardener and topiarist in the Adelaide Hills has created a unique garden utilising existing plantings as well as trial and error.

AS A GARDEN DESIGNER and topiarist, Kurt Wilkinson has spent the last two decades meticulously sculpting formal gardens throughout Adelaide and the surrounding districts. But when it comes to his own garden on a four-hectare property at One Tree Hill north of Adelaide, he experiments with a mix of structured and unstructured plantings. “I want the most extreme juxtaposition that I can come up with: perfect formal elements and then just chaos, really, with something new happening every week or season so I’m constantly surprised and amazed by what’s growing,” the 46-year-old explains of the one-hectare tapestry of colour, texture and form that surrounds his home. Almost eight years ago, Kurt, his wife Lauren, 43, and their two children — 13-year-old Alana and Luke, 10 — moved to the hilltop property which adjoins Para Wirra Conservation Park with sweeping views of the Barossa Valley and Flinders Ranges. At the time, the property’s size, location and contemporary house appealed to the young family, who were living 10 minutes down the road on smaller acreage. However, the site presented new challenges for Kurt, given its exposure to weather extremes and shallow topsoil over shale. He initially considered creating a more formal garden but the environment — and a population of kangaroos and emus — had other ideas. “It’s been challenging just to get things to survive in this environment, let alone make a beautiful garden. It gets brutally hot in summer with strong dry winds, and many trees were blowing over when I first put them in. It was a constant battle,” he recalls. Kurt has since fenced off one hectare of the garden to prevent the wildlife from destroying the plants. While he works on many of the best gardens in the state, his personal design aesthetic has changed dramatically over the years. “I thought formal gardens, with their regular, clean shapes, were the epitome of gardening. Luckily, I was given the opportunity to work with and be influenced by landscape architect Virginia Kennett, who blends informal plantings with formal. Her unique design challenged my idea of what a garden could be and started me on this path.” Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf — known for his naturalistic perennial and grass drifts, with plants chosen for their structure — has been another defining influence. Plants are not just selected for what they look like during flowering, but at every stage of their seasonal cycle. Kurt inherited some succulents and natives with the property and he gradually learned to accept and incorporate them in his plan, after many introduced plants failed to survive in the first few years. “There were a number of native hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii) in the garden that looked like a bedraggled kind of pelargonium. I was going to rip them out but I ended up trimming them into domes and they make beautiful shapes,” he says. “That’s the thing: plants I’ve completely disliked, I end up loving to bits! Now I happily accept >

“That’s the thing: plants I’ve completely disliked, I end up loving to bits!”

a plant I wouldn’t have a year or two ago because I can see how to use it and what benefits it has. Beauty is subjective and, for me, it’s a matter of something living, creating interest and bouncing off the formal elements. “As I go along I become more and more attuned to the garden, and the plants are part of a feedback loop influencing the design,” Kurt adds. Italian pencil pines (Cupressus sempervirens ‘Glauca’) were planted for their form and, over time, Kurt has experimented with a range of perennials such as verbena, Scabiosa and Calendula, dispersing seeds throughout the garden to fill gaps. The garden has developed with a medley of grasses, succulents, perennials, and sculpted shapes. “As soon as you’re taken out of your comfort zone, you start pushing yourself and learning things that you were never aware of,” he says. “I trialled a number of native plants that I thought I could turn into balls, domes or cones to create interest. The garden plan continually changes when I’m in the garden and see different possibilities. It really has been an evolution. “The ideas for my garden keep flowing. I love the individual variation between plants. As my garden changes every month it inspires me to keep trying new things. I’m looking for splashes of colour all through the year, especially when the garden tends to get a little washed out in summer.” The garden is a haven for the Wilkinson children to explore after school. “It’s nice having privacy and a big space for them to roam, as well as space for the birds and animals,” Kurt says. His favourite time is late afternoon when the sun casts a warm glow over the grass seed heads and the gnarled silver trunks of the eucalypts. “I’m out in the garden as much as I can be,” Kurt says. “It’s a bit of an obsession, especially when the light is really great or something has just flowered — it’s irresistible. I’m working with nature and there’s only a certain degree of tolerance. This garden has made me a better gardener as a result.” Follow Kurt on Instagram: @kurt.wilkinson

PHOTOGRAPHY ABBIE MELLE GARDEN ONE TREE HILL SOUTH AUSTRALIA Kurt Wilkinson has spent the past seven years creating a large-scale garden. “My aim is the creation of an ecosystem of brutally tough plants that will provide colour, form and movement as well as biological habitat,” he says.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Kurt loves to spend time in his garden; the soft grey Centaurea gymnocarpa, the clumping succulent Aeonium ‘Jack Catlin’ and the spires of Italian pencil pines contrast; a eucalypt towers over the topiaries; Aster ‘Otis’; Kara, the six-year-old Doberman; Cupressus x leylandii ‘Leighton Green’ cones pop up among the shrubs. CENTRE Dried flower heads are left in place to add texture and reseed.

ABOVE Sweeping views across the valley were part of the appeal for the Wilkinson family when they purchased the property. BELOW “I love the individual variation between plants. It inspires me to keep going and to try new things,” says Kurt.