Natural NARRATIVE

Memories of a childhood in the country provide fertile ground for the remodelling of a garden in Melbourne's inner north-east.

- STORY Chris PeursÒN PHOTOGRAPHY Martina Gentmolu

Novelist and screenwriter Mira Robertson and film and TV director Ana Kokkinos know how to weave a good yarn. That was brilliantly revealed in the 1998 film Head On, which the couple co-wrote and Ana directed. It's equally apparent in their own garden in Melbourne's inner northeast. In their brief to designer Ben Saunders of Ben Saunders Landscapes, they wanted it to tell its own unique story, tinged with a little nostalgia.

When the couple bought the property in 1984, the garden had seen better days. “There were remnants of an orchard, an apricot tree on its last legs, self-seeded plums, a loquat and a lemon tree. And lots of concrete!” says Mira. But the block proved fertile ground over the ensuing decades, when they “made and remade a few gardens”. Come 2023, they asked Ben, on the recommendation of a friend, to plant the seeds for an exciting new phase.

“The rear garden was tired and cut in half, with a patio beside the house, but the rest was overgrown,” says Ben. A majestic Chinese elm, which Mira and Ana had planted 30 years earlier and were keen to keep, provided deep shade in summer and, being deciduous, admitted sunlight in winter. It would become a key character in the new narrative.

“We wanted to open up the garden, with native plantings and a large table for entertaining,” says Mira. “We also wanted space for herbs and veggies.” And a bubbling water feature to muffle the hum of a nearby rooftop air conditioner. Belying the fact the garden is meticulously planned, above all they specified a free-flowing organic look. “After years of exotic plantings, we were keen for a much more Australian palette,” says Mira. “I wanted something that reminded me of my country childhood - eucalypts and banksias, native grasses and perennials. I was especially nostalgic about lemon-scented gums (Eucalyptus citriodora) and half-buried boulders smothered in groundcovers.”