As my garden had taken over a paddock

 As my garden had taken over a paddock   I am not sure if it was a blessing or not as a water course ran right through the middle. House and garden on one side, and walk, perennial beds, vegetable garden and ‘more’ garden on the other. Undaunted I decided on a bog of sorts. Placed a wall out of site and allowed the rain, paddock drainage and roof run off to fill quite a large area of water. The only planting I did was some water iris, allowing the native grasses to do their thing and they have done so wonderfully. I know my garden is healthy because when this is full of water or just boggy the frogs are so loud and obviously content.

 I have large beds under my claret ashes (Fraxinus ‘Raywoodi’ ) that are full of Hellebores, lilies, clivia’s, euphorbias and a riot of forget-me-nots and aquilegia  in spring. There is a Hornbeam hedge Acer campestre, climbing frames of roses and clematis and a wonderful rose hedge of David Austin’s, Dapple Dawn that seems to forget to stop flowering.  A copse of 15 Silver birch Betula pendula, under planted with agapanthus that the best horticulturist- designer told me was a no-no, and have survived and look great.

I have a vegetable garden, with 12 fruit trees, raised vegetable beds and three rows of vines, for Boyson berries and American Bramble berries.  You enter the vegetable garden through a small rustic farm gate in a hedge of star jasmine on either side. All produce is used in jams, chutneys , sauces , pies, pickles and anything else we can freeze, stew or store.

My borrowed landscape of river red gums standing majestically on the bank of the creek and metres from my garden are a constant reminder of the hundreds of years they have stood guard. The Yorta Yorta people are the traditional owners of this land being part of the Murray Goulburn region, and I feel responsible to care for it and the animals that live in it.

 We have many species of birds and animals. There are a group of King parrots that have grown each year and return to feed. They are so quiet that one will sit on my window ledge and watch me at my computer no more than two feet away.  

Several varieties of lizards, snakes, echidnas and the odd koala are free to roam and last week I even had a Samba deer in my drive, obviously lost.