COTTAGE INDUSTRY

Pretty as a picture, with colourful beds of roses and foxgloves, this idyllic retreat in rural Victoria evokes the delights of the English country garden.

- Chris Pearson

Feature plants

TREES

Golden elm (Ulmus glabra ‘Lutescens’)

Golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata)

Silver birch (Betula pendula)

Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’

SHRUBS

Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans)

Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris)

Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii)

Snowball tree (Viburnum opulus)

GROUNDCOVERS & PERENNIALS

Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina)

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)

Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis)

Kiss-me-quick (Centranthus ruber)

Lush and green, with bursts of flowering colour, this cottage-style garden – aptly named Hedgerow – could be nestled in England’s Cotswolds district rather than Kingston, a little town about 20 kilometres from Daylesford in regional Victoria. The secret to this abundant garden lies in its fertile clay-loam soils and generous rainfall. “There is a local saying,” says owner Suzanne Batch. “ ‘If you plant a feather here, you can grow a chicken!’ It is the perfect environment and climate for a garden to thrive.” Which her garden certainly has since she moved here in 2015.