Established in the 1970s, Virginia admits that the first garden she planted on the site was filled with the in-vogue plants of the time – rainforest species such as tree ferns and palms, which quickly ‘turned up their toes’. Next, she planted old roses because of their beauty and fragrance, but these only looked good for a few months and then were unsightly for nine months of the year.

Sick of these failures and still set on having a lush, romantic garden, Virginia put aside her preconceived ideas and decided to find plants that would give her the look she wanted, while coping with her garden’s harsh conditions. The result is a space brimming with plants that suit Adelaide’s harsh Mediterranean climate, largely selected through trial and error.

In a nutshell
Where: Hills east of Adelaide.
Aspect: Front faces north, back faces west.
Size: 1500 square metres.
Style: Mediterranean plants with herbs.

Age: 35 years.

Establishing your gardens look
Decide on the shape of the garden. The ratio between mass (trees, shrubs, flowers, the house) and voids (lawns, paths, paving, pool) determines the garden’s balance and the placement of these determines its shape.
- In areas that can be seen as a whole, choose a colour scheme. You can use another colour scheme in another area.
- Don’t have one of everything. Repeating certain favourites links the various parts of the garden and helps create a unified whole.
- Use arches, birdbaths or statues to draw the eye to the location you want people to go to.

- Use plants with coloured or variegated foliage to create contrasts and highlights in large swathes of otherwise green leaves.

Top garden tips
- Formality and apparent chaos of mixed flower beds. A neatly clipped hedge will always make everything look tidier.
- Balance the colour and visual intensity of flower beds with more serene areas devoted to foliage combinations in various shades of green using leaves of different sizes, shapes and textures.
- Identify the type of climate you have and choose only plants from similar climates, wherever in the world they occur. Plants from a similar climate always look good and grow well together.

- Plant the garden to look good all year, not in just one season. Visit nurseries throughout the year to see what’s in bloom and what suits your colour scheme.

Sustaining your soil

Compost saved this garden and it can improve yours. It’s on a fast-draining slope with little topsoil. To build up what soil she had, Virginia started regularly adding organic matter in the form of compost – which she now makes herself.

A 12 square metre heap transforms all garden and kitchen waste into rich, soil-improving, moisture-holding compost. It now supplies enough material to mulch all garden beds at least once a year. Without this organic matter, the soil would go dry