Deep connection

Spilling down the hillside on a two-hectare plot outside of Daylesford, Victoria, Lily Langham’s garden is a nurturing, welcoming, nourishing space for her family and all the native creatures that visit.

Carved into the landscape, the garden consists of a series of magical zones overflowing with trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials. Granitic sand pathways meander their way past a dry garden of verbascum, dianthus, corn poppies and phlomis, leading around perennial beds filled with salvias, agastache, Scotch rose and ornamental grasses, and under a timber archway where wisteria and honeysuckle climb from opposite ends to meet in the middle.

Further down the hill, a flourishing vegie patch and fence lined with espaliered fruit trees provide enough food to feed the entire extended family, while six hens keep them in fresh eggs. At the top of the hill, a row of pygmy cypress pines acts as a buffer against the prevailing southerly winds, while Quercus canariensis oak trees – grown from acorns and now 4.5 metres tall – line the roadside. “I just love oak trees,” says Lily. “I think I have about 14 different varieties. There’s just something about them. They feel ancient and very connected to the ground.”

Indeed, connection to the land is a constant consideration in everything that Lily creates. The garden has been a steady work in progress over the 18 years since she and husband Rodney Baker first settled here. Surrounded by Rodney’s Swiss-Italian family’s farm, and backing onto bushland, it bears little resemblance to the “grassy, barren paddock” they initially inherited. The family home sits at the centre of it all, hand built by Lily and Rodney from hardwood timber found or cut on the property and milled using traditional methods.

The gardens envelope these structures, and were borne from a desire to allow the couple’s two sons, Max-Orlando, 17, and Oscar, 13, to immerse themselves in nature. In the early years, they planted hedging to shelter a sandpit area, and an oak tree, which is now a fantastic climbing frame and cubby space, and grasslands behind the house provided unrivalled access to myriad insects, birds and reptiles.

This desire to give her boys a positive start in life comes from the invaluable role that Lily’s parents, Jenny and Peter “Stripey” Stripes, played in fostering her own creative spirit and love of gardening. “Growing up in Glenlyon, Mum created this incredible backyard for us all. She was always talking about plants and reading gardening catalogues – with no pictures in those days! – and she travelled to see gardens in Europe and the Middle East, bringing back photos of plants in their native habitat,” Lily recalls.

She credits her dad, an artist and designer, for encouraging her to follow her heart, be true to herself and make things by hand, which translates today into the wearable sculptures, paintings, drawings and needlework she creates in her studio when it’s too hot to garden.

The native birds, insects, lizards, frogs and marsupials that venture into her garden are a constant source of joy and wonder for Lily. “One year, we had a large family of crescent honeyeaters, who stayed for a season then left. The next year, we had quite a few white-eared honeyeaters,” she says. “Every morning, I’m greeted by the birdsong of grey shrike-thrushes, and met by the beautiful golden striped skinks who come out when I’m watering. After dusk, there are spiders and katydids and wallabies. I feel so lucky to see and observe and understand them more. And the more I create, the more they come.”

Lily’s gardening style is patient and intuitive, listening to the soil and the weather and what grows well, constantly replicating and experimenting to see how her plants respond in different conditions, leaving things to go to seed and continue the growing cycle as nature intended. “It’s almost like you can hear the music of the land, and I’m always learning,” she says.

An oasis among the bush, the property sits on the dry side of Daylesford and enjoys a Mediterranean-style climate, albeit a bit cooler. “We get big frosts and very hot summers, and the soil ranges from rock hard to completely waterlogged – it’s a battle to get it right,” says Lily, who adds a good amount of compost and horse manure to increase nutrients, and keeps everything heavily mulched. “I’m hoping to get to the point of no-dig.”

It’s enough to keep her busy, but not so much that she can’t sit and enjoy it all in one of the areas designed as a place to reflect and recharge. “I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to create my garden. It’s where I feel happiest and most connected.” Follow Lily on either of her Instagram pages, @lilylangham and @lilylangham_gardens, or visit www.lilylangham.com

Header image by Simon Griffiths