Best Gardens of the Flower Show | Discovery | Gardening Australia

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is the biggest garden event in the southern hemisphere, and Costa, Sophie and Millie went along to be your virtual tour guides.

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00:00 Intro
00:56 Ben Hutchinson
02:29 Christian Jenkins
02:57 Paul Pritchard
04:46 Rob Cooper
06:05 Jason Hodges
07:00 Matt York
08:22 Brent Reid

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While there are plenty
of planty things on offer, we’re going to start
with the main event – the freshly-built show gardens that dominate the Melbourne
Exhibition Gardens. There are seven competitors
in this category. MILLIE: These are the most ambitious
and large-scale installations at the show. Teams have just a week to transport,
assemble and plant their entry, whilst taking care to leave
no impact on the ground. There’s no digging or modifying
the earth allowed at all. Everything you see here will
be removed when the show is over. Each entry is labelled with the name
of just one principal designer. But as all the designers will tell
you, none of these gardens can happen without the collaborative effort
of a big team over many months. Ben Hutchinson’s garden
‘Between Moments’ has a stunning natural swimming pool which people will be able to swim in, but because there’s no chemicals, birds, insects and wildlife
will love it as well. I wanted to create a garden
that would show someone that you could put a space
in your own backyard to get away from the craziness
of life. Somewhere you can just retreat to
for a little bit of mindfulness, a little bit of health relaxation. So, we’ve got the sauna
and the swim pond up the back, surrounded by a beautiful,
subtle native garden. Adding water like this, it really
invites nature, doesn’t it? Absolutely.
It’s just clean, fresh water. The amount of wildlife these things
bring into a backyard is phenomenal. Is it true that a frog found this
fairly shortly after you built it? Yeah, we found a southern brown
tree frog floating around. Not even sure where it came from. Yeah, it’s probably still
in the garden somewhere. So it really is an example
of build it and they’ll come. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, we’ve already had dragonflies
flitting around as well, so it’s been amazing. Any particular plants
you’re really fond of? Ooh, that’s a really tough question. I’m a big fan of the Ptilotus. It’s a bit tough to grow
in Melbourne, but it’s an absolutely stunning,
really unique plant. And the Richea dracophylla, I think that was a really good
textural contrast for the garden. Yeah, it’s a beautiful
little addition. MILLIE: Christian Jenkins also
uses water in his garden ‘Yutori’. His modern Japanese design includes
a palette of cycads, Japanese maples, bamboo, and conifers. The garden surrounds a tiny house that demonstrates the possibilities
of paring back to the essentials. That, of course,
includes a sauna and an ice bath. MILLIE: Oh, look at this. COSTA: Yeah, wow.
I love the car. Paul Pritchard’s richly-planted
family home garden is distinctly mid-century modern
in style. Named ‘Nostalgia’,
it aims to evoke a time when families spent time together
working in the garden. Wow. Just the architecture and then the style of the gardens
that they’re depicting here, wow! It’s such an iconic, kind of, image
of 1950s Australia, isn’t it? Oh, 100%. None of the plants are from here…
(CHUCKLES) Yeah. but that’s kinda what was…
Where it was at. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like I’ve visited
houses like this. That was my dream first car.
My dad and I looked at quite a few. I never did it, but that was the car I wanted.
(BOTH CHUCKLE) I love this.
There’s even plants in the paving. I mean, from a detail point of view, it means it’ll catch
and slow down water. Totally.
But look at this! This has taken me back
to my childhood, because that’s how our bicycles
used to lay on the grass. It’s so beautiful, though. Like, it’s telling us
this is a family garden, right? And it’s doing exactly
what it’s titled – ‘Nostalgia’. Yeah.
It is nostalgic. It’s capturing these evocative
moments that really mean something. It’s taken me back there. And the grass and the lawn, which was
such a big thing of houses then, you know, there was so much yard. And the planting, I mean, it’s of
a time gone by really, isn’t it? But it says so much about how much people
would’ve tended their gardens. Like, that’s what you spend
your Sunday doing. Yeah. ‘E’skap’ by Rob Cooper is a place
for peace and reflection. Tall, textured grasses
move in the breeze, still water brings the sky
down to earth, and the central stone fire pit
is a place to contemplate or bring people together. MAN: The garden’s been designed as
like a place you can go and escape and just relax and, you know, get back to nature,
get back to yourself. We tried to do a predominantly
native green garden. We wanted a lush green space
with shape and form. Put some really hard, clean elements
of the architecture into it. It’s just a really nice softening
with all of the grasses and the stone
and everything like that. Rob and his team are based
in South Australia, adding long-distance transport
to the logistical challenge of assembling their garden. Yeah, we’ve got three semi-loads
of materials here. We’ve got a truck-and-a-half
loads of plants are here, and every person who’s built on the
garden has all come over as well. So it’s been a challenge, but it’s something
we really wanted to do and we wanted to represent
South Australia and show how well we can do
in the landscape industry. There’s a lot, a lot of work, but really proud to be able
to walk in and have a gold medal, and, yeah, really good. MILLIE: This garden by Jason Hodges
is called ‘Doable’. The design sets out to prove that
a beautiful garden can be created with inexpensive
and easily-accessible materials, making a point of using
store-bought pavers, affordable timber, and using a lot of plants
that are easy to get hold of and propagate yourself. COSTA: ..and you prep it, and just
watch it climb around the bathroom and then up over the mirror. Our team… (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
(LAUGHTER) It’s so fun to see so many people
fired up about plants and gardening. And I think the thing I love
is just the energy, like, cos there’s that anticipation. You see a garden and then…
ooh, hang on, we’re on approach here. Look at this one. The designer of this garden,
Matt York, is showcasing lessons that he’s
learned from all around the world. MAN: We’ve been working in Africa
more recently, so our garden,
titled ‘In Ratio with Africa’, looks at some of the learnings
in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria around small-garden design and just how efficient
small-garden design has been, in terms of small footprint
and looking at pollination, urban canopy, water security
and all of these things in, sort of, high-performing
landscapes but in a small setting. The bird motel is a structure
that we designed around biodiversity and habitat. It comes with a series of nests
and perches. The idea came from, how we could
have something sculptural and a key part of the design that had a really strong function in
terms of local and migratory birds. So, we often think about Melbourne
as it is now, a leading world city, but there’s still so much
that we can learn to facilitate the growth
that we are experiencing. And I think the role that landscape
and gardening plays is significant. And so, to have a platform like this
at Carlton Gardens, I just think that’s
an incredible opportunity, and I love being a part of that. MILLIE: In the glow
of the Royal Exhibition Building is Brent Reid’s Garden ‘Ode’. From the bold structural shapes to the soft plantings
of evergreens and perennials, all elements of the garden
are deeply symbolic. This garden
is the most personal garden I’ve ever brought to the show. It’s called ‘Ode’
and it’s a thank you and an ode to my mentors
and people who have guided me and led me through my journey
in the industry. So, the trees are about legacy and the lasting legacy
left by people, you know, strong figures
in the industry and people who have left
the industry. The water feature is about sharing
of information and ideas, and we’ve left a void in the centre
of the water feature for people that, when they leave
the industry or they pass on, if that knowledge hasn’t been
passed on, it leaves a void. And Marty,
you’re one of those mentors and you’ve been tasked
with building this garden. Yeah, lucky.
(BOTH CHUCKLE) How many gardens have you built
in the history of this show? Uh, well over 90.
Wow. What’s it like when you’re presented
with four large dead trees? Yeah, well,
it’s got a logistical problem. One is, nothing goes in the ground.
So there’s no footings, no anything. There’s a metre of these trees
below the ground. They’re on big plates – they’re actually old grader blades
that we got off a farm – that are really heavy. And then we have to lay
the trees down and cut them with a chainsaw
to get them… To sit.
..to sit. I’ve worked with sticks myself.
They’re…. (CHUCKLES) Yeah.
They’re not straight up and down. And a crane turns up
and puts the pond in, and it puts the four trees in,
and we hope. Where have these come from? They’ve come from
a development site. But the best part about it is if we’re able to educate people
a little bit about these trees and they’re able to tell a story, and then they’re gonna go back
to the site and have habitat
planted around them. So, they’ll then continue
their life. I mean, old trees, dead trees
are really important. Hugely important,
especially for wildlife habitat – insects, bugs, birds, everything. MILLIE: It’s pretty amazing,
isn’t it? All that thought and planning
and collaboration and work to get to this for five days. But it’s a pretty beautiful result. It really is because you think
of how busy this space is. There’s thousands of people
wandering around, and yet here we are feeling relaxed
and comfortable and at home. Makes you wanna put the kettle on.
I’m up for that.