December in the Garden - Trisha's Meanderings

Exciting moves are afoot here at Bobundara with the big move on! Of all the people I know, Sahra is the one with the biggest heart to take on such a project. Leaving their garden of Eden for fortunate Airbnb guests to enjoy, Sahra and my son Hamish, along with Ali and Missy, will be moving in here early in the new year, and I will be decamping to the stone buildings which I have had such pleasure in bringing back to life.

With my life full to overflowing with tours away, I will have the joy of looking out onto landscape and cloudscapes that need not a fig of prettifying from me!

Looking Back

Opening my trusty old garden journal, I see it is forty whole years since I first moved, so excitedly, to Bobundara. Growing up in an old home and garden, I was beyond thrilled at the thought of discovering another — one with its own secrets and treasures that revealed themselves with the seasons. The star of Bethlehem bulbs in the wild garden each spring, the daily unfurling of rosebuds revealing, to my eyes, the most wondrous blooms, though they were, in fact, rootstock roses: the pale pink Rosa indica major, the single pink multiflora, and the bright red Dr Huey.

There were elms and a creek beyond the garden boundary that I dreamed of one day incorporating into the garden.

At that time, I had toddler children, a love of soft, romantic gardens, and dreams beyond imagining. Set in a picturesque valley, Bobundara is such a sheltered haven from the winds, embraced by a creek that winds through the garden, with views into the landscape and a forest of elms that have suckered over nearly two centuries since the first slab building was erected in 1828. It tells the story of many custodians over the years.

The Making of a Garden

Five years later, my journal notes the removal of the hideously spiky African boxthorn hedge, notorious for puncturing small bare feet at children’s birthday parties. In its place, neighbour Michael Ward, fresh from learning dry stone walling in the UK, built the most wonderful wall.

At the same time, a ha-ha retaining wall was built to open uninterrupted views across the creek into the paddock and the snow gum hill beyond. Trees were planted at the woolshed and the old driveway, lavender hedges wrapped around the verandah, a snowberry hedge lined a path, and tree surgeon Alec Bicknell arrived to lift the skirts of ancient conifers for shady parking.

A new driveway came through the old orchard into the wild garden, more boundary fences were removed, and thousands of elms naturalised along the creek were partly incorporated into the garden. Changing the roof colour was one of the earliest decisions — the soft grey blending beautifully with the mossy boulders on the hill beyond, echoed by grey-leafed plants along the front of the house.

It’s such a joy to have these moments documented. So if you’re fortunate enough to own one of the new striped Le Sac garden journals, do write down those yearly changes — they tell the story of your gardening life.

Lessons in Time

Twenty years ago, the courtyard was gravelled, and I stopped watering. From then on, it was tough love — but I learned to stop buying unsuitable plants and instead filled the garden with multiples of those that thrived through droughts, snow, frost and summer heat. Most were plants I’d seen growing wild on the Greek islands and along cycle paths in France.

The basalt-rich soil here is so fertile that no natives survive,  I’ve had many, many losses on that front!

My daughter’s wedding under the elms in the wild garden marked the removal of the last boundary fence, and that space has since become my absolute favourite, the shade trees forming a canopy for long lunches, poetry gatherings, rain dances, parties and barbecues around the fire pit. Treasured memories, all.

Next Custodians 

Ten years ago, I turned the old tennis court into a decorative vegetable garden, then removed the ha-ha to draw the creek into the garden’s heart. And now, I so joyously hand the garden over to Sahra, Hamish and their children as the next custodians of this much-loved place.

I can’t wait to watch the fun they’ll have as their own dreams and plans take root and grow.