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Comelearn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

Hello! I'm Pam Penick, a dirt-under-my-nails, hoping-for-rain, spiky-plant lover gardening under the Death Star in Austin, Texas. Here's where I share all the gardening goodness I can dig up, not just at home but wherever I go. Want to know more? Read about me and my gardens, dive into my menu offerings, and follow me on Instagram & Facebook. Or drop me a line to say hi.

Before Mein Rhys and other European based champions of naturalistic design, Edna was encouraging Australian gardeners to make design choices in stark contrast to the flattened lifeless lawns that were being planted around suburban homes across Australia (and the USA).

Walling believed gardens should blend seamlessly with the natural landscape, rather than impose upon it. She favored using native plants and creating designs that looked as if they had always been a part of the environment. Her gardens often emphasized an informal, wild look rather than rigid, formal layouts.

A pioneer in sustainable gardening, Walling advocated for the conservation of native flora and fauna. She often used locally sourced materials and promoted gardening practices that preserved and enhanced the natural environment.

Walling was passionate about educating others on the principles of good garden design. Through her books, articles, and lectures, she shared her knowledge and inspired countless gardeners and designers.

Edna Walling worked during a time of significant social and political changes in Australia and around the world. These changes influenced her work and the broader landscape design community in several ways.

From the aftermath of World War I to the economic challenges of the Great Depression and the suburban boom of the post-World War II era, Walling navigated these shifts with a timeless design philosophy. Her legacy continues to inspire, demonstrating how thoughtful, environmentally conscious design can create beautiful, enduring spaces.

After World War I, there was a growing interest in returning to nature and creating serene, beautiful spaces. The trauma of the war led many to seek peace and tranquility in gardens and natural settings.

The Great Depression had a profound impact on Australia, leading to economic hardship for many. Despite this, Walling continued to find work, as her designs were known for their practicality and low maintenance, making them appealing during tough economic times.

The post-war economic boom led to the rise of the middle class, who had more disposable income and interest in home and garden improvements. This provided Walling with a steady clientele eager to create beautiful, functional gardens.

As an English-born designer, Walling was influenced by British gardening traditions. She brought elements of the English cottage garden style to Australia, adapting them to the local climate and flora.

JOHN PATRICK: People often ask me how do you go about designing a home garden. Well, what seems as if it might be quite complex is actually relatively simple, as long as you follow some basic principles of garden design.

Now the garden in here is really quite compact and it's newly built. It means that you can really see the bones of the garden and that makes it a really good example in which to study the good basic principles of garden design.

I'm with designer Kate Seddon in Glen Iris in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and this garden is one of her recent creations. It's on an L-shaped block and the results are very striking - reflecting the owners quite specific requirements.

KATE SEDDON: Here we've got two professionals who are approaching retirement age. They've decided to move out of the leafy outer suburbs where they had a really quite expansive bushland garden. They wanted to replicate some of that bushland, so the garden was very much designed around that basis.

I don't know about you Kate, but I always find it really useful to photograph a site because it's amazing how much you don't notice, but you can also, by using photographs, just draw over the top of them to get an idea of how you'll garden might look as you build it.

KATE SEDDON: Yeah and I find that very useful as well and the photos always - that first impression that you get - are so key in terms of looking around you, looking in the site itself, looking at what's beyond over the boundaries, looking in the street and what other people are doing and to sort of balance the elements of what you want to achieve within the garden with the broader landscape.

KATE SEDDON: Yeah. Even in a small space, we've got lots of different areas to be utilised. So we've got a deck up there which faces east which you can have breakfast at. We've got this lovely shaded bench where you can look back up the garden, look at the water feature and over there we've got the upper deck which faces to the north where they do a bit of entertaining which is quite well enclosed with this screen.

KATE SEDDON: Yeah. Well with the lower fence, you know, you really need to take into account that there is a landscape beyond and that allows you to feel that the space is much bigger than actually the confines of the site.

KATE SEDDON: Well particularly with the stone, we wanted it to look as natural as possible, so we've chosen the Castlemaine slate in a block form that you can then use as a flat paver set into the pebbles and these colour tones are also reflected in tile work that we see on the outside of the house.

I notice Kate, that at this end of the garden, you've used Woolly Bush (Adenanthos sericeus) and sun-loving plants - the santolinas for example, whereas down there, where it's more shady, you've used correas and native violets (Viola hederacea), suggesting to me that you've worked hard at trying to establish plants in the right ecological conditions for them.

JOHN PATRICK: And do you plant in any particularly numbers. I mean, I've sometimes noticed that if you put plants in twos they look a bit contrived. I've heard threes and fives and sevens are the way to go.

JOHN PATRICK: You can see and feel the fundamental staples of good design throughout this garden and it shows that by using a few basic principles, it can be a fairly straightforward process to achieve a functional and beautiful garden.

COSTA GEORGIADIS: Now this windmill is actually a working replica and people can go inside and mill some grain as a way of getting a bit more of an understanding of just how much wheat needs to be grown to produce a loaf of bread.

This here is spelt wheat (Triticumsp.). I planted it about 7 weeks ago from this very seed and its purpose is to illustrate just what's involved with growing our bread, so I would need at least 10 square metres to produce 4 loaves of bread, over a period of 9 months, so our farmers are exposed to the elements for all this time in order to support us city consumers.

"People often ask me how to go about designing a home garden," says John. "Well, what seems as if it might be quite complex is actually relatively simple - as long as you follow some basic principles of garden design."

John's with designer Kate Seddon in Glen Iris in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne at one of her recently-created gardens. It's on an L-shaped block and John says the results are very striking and reflect the owners' quite specific requirements.

Kate explains their needs: "Here we've got two professionals who are approaching retirement age. They've decided to move out of the leafy outer suburbs where they had a quite expansive bushland garden. They wanted to replicate some of that bushland, so the garden was very much designed around that."

"I always find it really useful to photograph a site," says John, "because it's amazing how much you don't notice. You can also, using photographs, just draw over the top of them to get an idea of how your garden might look as you build it."

"I find that very useful as well," says Kate. "The photos and that first impression that you get are key in terms of looking in the site itself, looking at what's beyond the boundaries, looking at the street and at what other people are doing. They help to balance the elements of what you want to achieve within the garden with the broader landscape."

"Even in this small space, we've got lots of different areas. There's a deck that faces east for having breakfast. There's a lovely shaded bench where you can look back up the garden and the water feature. There's also a north-facing upper deck where they do a bit of entertaining - it's well enclosed by a screen," explains Kate.

Sitting on the bench Kate has 'borrowed' the landscape from the neighbours. "With a lower fence, you really need to take into account that there is a landscape beyond. That allows you to feel that the space is much bigger than actually the confines of the site,"

"Particularly with the stone, we wanted it to look as natural as possible," says Kate, "so we've chosen Castlemaine slate in a block form that you can then use as a flat paver set into matching pebbles. The colour tones are also reflected in the tile work on the outside of the house."

He says Kate's obviously worked hard to establish the right plants in the right ecological conditions. At the sunny end of the garden she's planted Woolly Bush (Adenanthos sericeus) and sun-loving plants - santolinas (cotton lavenders), for example. In the lower, shadier areas of the garden she's introduced correa species and native violets (Viola hederacea).

John believes planting in numbers is also a key and says sometimes putting plants in twos can look contrived, but threes, fives and sevens are the way to go. "I do tend to plant in odd numbers," Kate agrees. "Once you get past about nine, you don't notice it anymore, but I also try to plant in non-grid fashion to give a more natural feel."

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