DesignFest a feast for gardeners

BIENNIAL Rotary fundraiser, the Garden DesignFest, will be held this weekend, with members of the public invited to explore open gardens across the region.

Eight professionally landscaped gardens will be open this Saturday, 19 and Sunday, 20 November, throughout Ballarat, Buninyong, and Creswick, from 10am to 5pm, with funds raised set to benefit charity Youth Suicide Awareness, and the restoration of the Ballarat Botanical gardens’ fernery.

The work of landscapers Anne King, Janene Byrne, Mark Bickerdike, Nicky and Darren Barnett, Paal Grant, Ricky McLeod and The Scape Artist Paddy Milne, is set to be showcased across various sites.

Two gardens by Milne, a local landscaper and the co-presenter of lifestyle television show Selling in the City, will be open in Ballarat North, and Creswick.

“The Ballarat North garden is one that we designed and did the construction for in 2015,” he said.

“We were greeted with a big, old, in-ground swimming pool and the initial design brief was to remove that to have it as a more inviting space that emphasised natives in the planting style, and would bring in more birds.

“The second out in Creswick is lovingly nicknamed BeauVue, with a

beautiful, elevated perspective of plantings, lawns, a swimming pool, and ponds, which create a tranquil and inviting space.

“There is high-impact colour through exotics there, with the blue colour of Perovskia or Russian sage, that highlights steps running down the driveway. Each area evolves, whether it’s in the full sun or in the full shade.”

Milne said he expects the two gardens, which both mix native and exotic plantings, will evoke unique responses from visitors.

“Creswick will tickle the fancy of anyone with a larger property looking for ideas. An elevated space with level changes is always far more interesting in garden design,” he said.

“North Ballarat has more of a standard size backyard, and it will help to inform people about what they can do with that amount of space.”

The aim of Garden DesignFest beneficiary charity Youth Suicide Awareness is to offer scholarships to assist people to complete University of Melbourne post graduate diploma courses in adolescent health. Visit gardendesignfest.com.au for more information.