WILD whimsy

Collette Dinnigan weaves her creative magic through the grounds of her home in the Southern Highlands, NSW.

- Bethan Lacoba

When designer Collette Dinnigan purchased her homestead in Bowral, NSW, in 2018, the garden wasn't at all remarkable.

"There were a few hydrangea bushes and some well-established trees," she recalls of the two-hectare property. However, while she wasn't well-versed in garden design at the time, she ploughed ahead and tapped into her intuitive style to create her own Eden, striking a balance between chaos and order.

"I wanted my garden to be charming, enchanting, whimsical, kind of effortless, and to feel just natural. But on the other hand, I'm quite structured. I like borders and I like the lawn to start where the garden ends. So, I contradict myself, actually!" Collette's dear friend, the late Harriette Conway, helped carve out some order early on. "She was a garden designer," says Collette. "She drew a plan so that, initially, when I wanted to plant roses, we had some structure to work from." On her friend's advice and aided by gardeners, friend's advice and aided by gardeners, Collette removed an old gravel road that once ran past the house, along with a layer of clay, then aerated the earth. "We made a worm farm and added new topsoil - we really started from scratch." While making tasteful updates to her late-1800s weatherboard, Collette slowly transformed the entire grounds, replacing a tennis court with a pool and a wisterialaden cabana. She converted a barn into a guesthouse, and a garage into a cottage for her daughter Estella.