Garden gives a chance to be creative

Amy Ritchie and Bevin Roy have spent nine years developing their quarter-acre section in Gore into a delightful space with lots of colour, shape and form.

The cottage garden is a place where Amy can express her creativity and Bevin can enjoy being outside mowing lawns, bringing in the compost and removing trailer loads of garden waste to the tip.

Amy said she views her garden as an art canvas and tries to keep it interesting all year, purchasing plants she likes every month to ensure year-round interest and colour.

"Bevin and I moved to this house in Anzac St in 2015. The garden was densely planted, and you couldn’t see the house from the street," she said.

"There was a lot of prickly plants, a pond, bamboos and numerous bird aviaries. We filled in the pond, removed many privets, bamboos and other plants to allow light to the house.

"We had no real plan or design for the garden. I describe myself as a plant-a-holic as I find it very hard to not plant anything offered to me, so the garden is a mix of everything I love.

"Over the years it has developed using curves lined with recycled bricks to soften pathways with trellis work and archways which invite you to explore our space."

She said making rooms with the use of trees and shrubs had made the town garden feel larger than it actually was.

"I love using trees, hedges and shrubs like rhododendrons, kowhais, crabapples and maples, planting to utilise foliage shape and form, noting leaf and bark colour to add year-round interest in the garden planting. In the backyard, an Acer Shiraz has taken nine years to establish its presence, offering a gorgeous pink and cream leaf colour and red bark in winter."

Peonies, hellebores, spring bulbs, irises, dahlias and maples with their evolving colour are among some of her favourite plants and shrubs.

"We have several places to sit and relax, listen to the birds and the sound of water. One feature I created is a solar water fountain made from a large pot placed on a piece of concrete set in amongst the plantings."

She also enjoys using recycled ornaments, mirrors and potted plants in the garden to add interest and a sense of whimsy. Amy said her mother instilled a love of gardening in her from a young age.

"I’ve been gardening since I was 3 or 4, alongside my Mum, and I learnt a lot. Now I garden alongside Bevin. We have a productive vegetable garden, which takes up a lot of our time, as well. We use many bales of pea straw mulch each year and compost to reduce weeds and maintain nutrients and moisture in summer.

"Some people say I’m an artist when they look at the garden. I don’t think I’m a very good artist on paper but am very creative when it comes to the garden."