The passionate ‘HEDGE’ gardeners collective in Mount Alexander will be generously opening their garden gates to the community once again this November.
Held on alternate years to Castlemaine’s biennial Festival of Gardens, HEDGE (which stands for – Happy, Energetic, Dirt-Loving, Garden Enthusiasts) enjoy celebrating their love of all things gardening with fellow green thumbs.
This year’s HEDGE event will run for nine days from this Saturday November 1 through until Sunday November 9, and feature 12 incredibly diverse local gardens, some of which will be open for the first time.
The Mail recently enjoyed a sneak peak at Alison McMillan’s gorgeous sprawling garden on her property ‘Fox Hollow’ at Moonlight Flat on the fringe of Castlemaine.
McMillan is a renowned stained-glass artist whose works grace buildings across the state and beyond, most notably her massive commission at the Austin Rehabilitation Hospital Chapel – a project which has spanned 40 years.
When she is not in her workshop Alison can be found enjoying her second passion – gardening.
This incredible garden is a wonderful example of one woman’s labour of love with Alison having painstaking build the gardens surrounding her home from the ground up over a 28 year period.
Aside from some stone and muscle from late friends Ramon Pavlin and Casha Wilson, who helped put some of the larger rock monikers in place and built the foundations of a couple of stone walls, Alison has spent countless hours carting wheelbarrow loads of soil, sand, and stone to build each garden bed, vegetable patch, walls and paths, and installed hundreds of plants and cuttings, tons of mulch, and installed thoughtful sculptures, artworks and meaningful relics to create some magical spaces which have to be seen to be believed.
We started our tour in a garden a short stroll from the home aptly named the ‘Family Circle’.
“Here I have various quirky art pieces dedicated to various aunts and uncles and other family members. There is a ‘eye tooth’ shaped rock inspired by a comical story about my aunt losing her false teeth, a railway artifact in honour of my uncle who was among those who helped save Puffin’ Billy, a Norway Maple for my mum ‘Norma’, and a bootmaker’s ‘shoe last’ in honour of my grandfather who was a leather merchant and had a shoe shop in Prahran. There is also a special stone bearing runes carved by my daughter atop the table in the centre of the space and stepping stones to represent each of my cousins,” Alison said.
From here visitors wander into the Lilly Garden which as the name suggests is awash with lillies and also features a water lily pond and then onto the Pinnacle Garden and Cacti Corner which includes some thriving cacti salvaged from the former Borderline Garden Centre at McKenzie Hill and a swath of other cacti species.
From here the ‘Boundary Garden’ meanders down the fenceline (also completely constructed by Alison) past two innovative ‘soaks’, designed to protect the driveway from torrential downpours and divert the excess water into the garden, and down to the ‘Old Rose Garden’ and extensive vegetable patch.
Alison has utilised some innovative techniques using sand and pots to create a thriving vegetable garden which provides everything from herbs and lettuce to ripened tomatoes.
From this space visitors move on to ‘The Terraces’, constructed during covid, which offer lovely views over ‘The Golden Pond’ (dam) and wind back to the original ‘Trentham Garden’ which was built from cuttings foraged from her former home at Trentham.
Whilst building her garden Alison is also proud to have completely eradicated invasive species Cape Weed and Barley Grass through three years of patience and persistence. The colourful vistas which surround her home are a testament to what can be achieved and a living example of what plants will survive and thrive in Australia’s often harsh climate.
Be sure to pick up your copy of the HEDGE brochure the Castlemaine Visitor Centre, Maldon Visitor Centre and various nurseries around the district and visit the eclectic mix of gardens on offer. Entry to the gardens is by gold coin donation with funds to support wildlife rescue unless otherwise stipulated at each garden.
