Garden of Hope

Designed to delight in every season, Garden of Hope is opening to the public with Open Gardens Victoria this autumn. Following a popular summer opening, this return offers a rare chance to see the same garden at a different point in its seasonal journey, where maturity, texture and structure take centre stage.

Created by garden designer and former medical oncologist Dr Jacquie Chirgwin with her husband Paul Kertes, the Templestowe garden is a layered, expressive landscape that celebrates resilience, creativity and renewal. Once a neglected site with poor soil, it has been transformed into a richly planted space featuring salvias, euphorbias, agastaches, penstemons and ornamental grasses, set beneath established eucalypts and robinias.

Colour is central to the design, with each garden bed showcasing its own palette, unified by Jacquie’s signature pink. Visitors will enjoy a succession of blooms complemented by silver foliage and grasses that bring movement and autumnal interest. The garden blends open lawn and entertaining areas with abundant perennial borders, a native garden and a productive picking garden. A striking wall mural by Sebastian Franz adds a bold artistic flourish.

A deeply personal project, the Garden of Hope reflects Jacquie and Paul’s shared life and values, with a portion of gate takings supporting Breast Cancer Trials.
Garden of Hope is located on the lands of the Wurundjeri People. Open Gardens Victoria wish to acknowledge the Traditional custodians of this land and we pay respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging.