The Garden Merilyn Made.

When I arrived at Merilyn and Neil's property it was windy, hot and supposed to be spring! Whatever happened to that? It felt like we had skipped a season and run into summer.  The plants were feeling it too!  The first thing I noticed about the property were the Echiums, creating a wind break for the smaller plants, and the sound of the wind blowing through the gum leaves.  And the eclectic mix of plants and water features that are only a small part of the amazing garden I was about to see!  I was greeted warmly by Merilyn, who, I discovered, knows a great deal more about plants and gardening than she lets on!

When she and her husband first bought their 2 acres of land in Littlehampton, 12 years ago, it was being used as a horse paddock.  At the time, they had very young children and were visualising how their new house would be built and where it would sit.  There was so much land, that they started out with a few trees, and allowed their children the freedom to use most of it for their own pursuits.  Like a mini cricket ground and bike track.  The ultimate kids backyard.

As the children grew older, Merilyn's passion for her garden grew.  She began to create rooms and meandering pathways.  Wide lawned areas and an amazing vegetable patch, with fruit trees, flowers and plants that are a bee's haven.  With maturing trees, the shape of the garden started to develop and she began to underplant with smaller and more delicate plants.

She has always had to consider her surrounding environment while building up her garden.  She has hot northerly winds, that can be quite vicious on her plants, and she has had to deal with the typical hills frosts, that burn the tender shoots of anything delicate.  There are also a few big gum trees, that take all the nutrients and the soil is clay, which can be a blessing and a curse.  On top of that, she has rats and rabbits always trying to eat all her delicious veggies. And the birds, who love to steal all the fruit!  To deal with these hurdles, the vegetable and fruit tree areas have been built up, with fences, and hedges, to keep the critters out and the wind to a minimum.  

Merilyn is amazing. She doesn't ever use pesticides or weed kill / roundup. She hand weeds her garden. All on her own. And she plants flowers that she knows will attract the good insects, simply to enable then to have a haven.  And to enjoy watching them grow and change.  Like planting swan bushes especially for the monarch butterfly so that her children can watch the cycle of their life.  From caterpillar, cocoon, then to gorgeous butterfly.  She encourages the good insects with plants that invite lady beetles, bees and garden spiders. The native birds now nest in the garden, and there is the joy to be found in seeing the young learn to fly. Not to mention the amazing sound of bird song which throbs in your ears! They all live in harmony with each other. Anything she doesn't want to share with nature, she nets and fences.

What an amazing place to grow up, as a child. To have such an intimate relationship with nature and be taught how to nurture it so beautifully.  Because that is what Merilyn does.  She nurtures every single one of her plants.  In a way that is in harmony with her surrounds.  A lot of what she has growing in her garden she has propagated, from seed, cuttings or by grafting.  She does this all in her "girl cave", aka the green house!  When told, oh no you can't grow that, you will fail, she tenaciously does it anyway, and whether she succeeds or fails, she has given it a go.  If it succeeds, there is that sense of achievement.  Even if it means it takes a long while!

Merilyn describes her garden as eclectic.  She says "if you have a garden with different planting levels, then you get all the good bugs, and the birds. They all keep the gardens ecology flowing smoothly".  Where she fails, she tries again, sometime conceding that she needs to try something else. Particularly where hedging from the winds are concerned.

100 bales of peas straw are purchased each year.  To mulch and reduce the need for watering.

Merilyn uses a layering method, of cardboard, heavier compost and mulch to keep it from blowing away, then pea straw. Doing it this way, she can usually avoid watering her garden until January, which, I have to say, for a garden this diverse and large, is a feat of wonder in itself!  It has only been in the last two summers that she has had to water before the new year, because of the dry winters.  She will always mulch prior to winter, to lock in the moisture, and she only hand waters special plants, to get them through the summer.  Sometimes she will dig them up and put them into a shaded area to ensure they get the care they need to survive.

Merilyn's garden is simply stunning.  There are so many gorgeous blooms, all in co ordinating  colours, with oranges together with blues and purples, reds with yellows, and whites with all shades of pink.  There are many wonderful textures too, varying greens, leaf shapes and sizes, so that even where there are no flowers, there is something interesting to see.  There are many unusual plants and flowers, too.  Some that are difficult to grow, others that are simply diverting and sweet.  She has three very healthy clematis, growing into the trees and surrounding plants.  Echiums and salvia.  Lavender, Viburnums, crab apples and old world roses, to add a contrast and encourage the insects.  She doesn't ever worry about aphids or black spot.  It has never affected the blooms or fruit, and is simply an accepted part of running a pesticide free garden.  She still gets loads of fruit, even if they have leaf curl, and if her veg are not absolutely perfect, well, that's just one of those small sacrifices you make. 

She has joined the Rare Fruit Society of South Australia,  and in recent years done a few courses at the Adelaide Botanical Gardens to learn about propagation and grafting.  Just wait till you see her girl cave!  It is incredible!  And she supports the South Australian herb society by propagating and nurturing young plants, to be sold later on.  This lady is as special and wonderful as her garden!

There are just so many flowers in this garden, I couldn't help but indulge my snap happy self in taking quite a few photos of them.  Hopefully you won't mind such a big post, but I just loved this garden so much!
Enough chit chat. Shall we go visit?

Gorgeous flowers of the Echium.

This one just grew in the middle of the path, so rather than remove it, 

Merilyn has let  it stay till it finishes flowering.  That is one huge flower spike!

I adore these roses, all those beautiful colours on the same bush! 

Rosa chinensis Mutabilis and Iris.

Sweet delicate plants to discover in all the nooks and crannies of the garden!

Fennel and Borage

Looks like a picture postcard, doesn't it!

Rosa chinensis Mutabilis 

Like little fairy lanterns!  

Silene fibriata 

Crab Apple Blossom

Merilyn's son built her this swing seat. I love it's bold colour, 

and the view from it is just breathtaking!

Clivia, Yellow and Red.

I don't know why we don't plant these two more often in our gardens!

Lavender and Cerinthe Purple.  

The lilac pictured below was take as a cutting from Merilyn's mothers garden. 

It was also the same parent lilac from her grandmothers garden too. 

 That makes it rather special, doesn't it.  The smell, by the way, is utterly divine! 

 Viburnum Opulus  (snow ball tree! )

Aquilegia

Views, glorious views!

Grevillia rosmarinifolia and Acer negundo - flamingo

Graywoods Pink

Clematis

The Eupatorium hasn't bloomed yet, 

but I still found the buds really interesting and the colour lovely.

Salvia

Iris and Peony bud! I wish I could have seen it in bloom!

The arbour into the vegetable garden!

In the produce and working part of the garden you will find

all sorts of wonderful, innovative things.  Like these old washing machine drums,

converted into pots! What a fantastic idea!

Extensive netting in the fruit and veggie gardens.
It's the only way to keep the little critters out!

Layer of cardboard, mulch and pea straw keeps the moisture in till mid summer, and also 

recycles unwanted materials. It's a win, win, in every way!

Look, the Girl Cave!!!

Packed out with all sorts of goodies! This is simply amazing!

Nurturing and propagating is what Merilyn does best! 

And these little plants below are no exception!

And check out the great pond! Complete with water pump!

Goosberry Blossoms!

Euphorbia

Artichoke

Little paths and steps, enticing you to wander around and discover even more places.

Clematis Dr Rupel

 Alstroemeria and Pacific Coast Iris

In winter, this pond fills.  The bridge that Neil built!

Centranthus ruber "kiss me quick"

Look how high this  Clematis The President  has climbed into the tree!

Fuchsia bolivana red and white form

The secret of good gardening is patience and a great sense of anticipation
- Peter Cundell

Plant a tree that takes 15 years to flower
and anticipate being there to see it bloom.
- Merilyn

Abutalon Hybrid