Case Study - Flourishing in the dry
Barrabool Hills Maze and Garden, Ceres (near Geelong)
Barrabool Hills is not known as the most water-wise garden in the Open Garden Scheme for nothing.
Pretty tough: Richard Seccull strolls through a section of his garden containing plants mainly of Mediterranean origin.
The 1.6-hectare terraced site, near Ceres, west of Geelong, looks attractive and healthy but consumes virtually no water.
The Geelong area is among the State’s driest, with water restrictions in force since January 1998.
Richard Seccull, who owns and manages Barrabool Hills, says the plants that cope with his regimen survive and those that don’t are tossed out.
"I have tried to create a pretty garden that people will appreciate and that will survive in our conditions without additional water," he says. He has obviously succeeded because the garden is used regularly for weddings.
The site is off the reticulated system and relies on tank water supplied from two dams.
The lack of water has shaped the business. Richard Seccull was forced to close the retail nursery two years ago, and he expanded a café into an area that once was the nursery shop.
"With our restricted water supply, we found it hard to compete with the town (Geelong) nurseries," he says. "To have the plants looking A1, I would have had to use more water than I was prepared to."
The Hills are alive: The plants that survive the lack of water at Barrabool Hills survive; the others are tossed out.
But his experience with the nursery has helped him choose plants suited to the tough conditions at Barrabool Hills. He favours succulents such as aloes and agaves, and features a wide range of exotic plants.
"Most people associate gardens with water," he says. "They think that if you don’t have water, you don’t have a garden. That’s why people admire what we’ve done."
For more information on Barrabool Hills Maze and Garden, click here.