Paradise found

Photographer Brent Wilson doesn’t need to pack his bags for Denpasar when he wants to escape the everyday. For Brent, his partner Wendy Pritchard and daughters Georgia, 31, and Eleanor, 28, an exclusive piece of paradise beckons just beyond their back door.

When Brent and Wendy bought the property in 1992, the yard was a generous 12 x 25m but the garden was ho-hum, with a patch of lawn and a then-ubiquitous Hills hoist. But it had one overarching asset – a huge loquat tree. The couple had worked on lifestyle magazines and television shows and, with a good eye, saw potential.

After trips to Bali, they had fallen in love with the island’s lush charms and wanted to revisit them in Wangal country in Sydney’s Inner West.

Brent wanted to focus on signature features of these tropical gardens, including lashings of lush planting, hanging baskets, statues, pots and ornaments. The loquat tree would provide dappled shade and a microclimate for the Eden below. Here are a few of Brent’s top tips for creating your own piece of paradise:

• Plant densely, with varying plant types and leaf shapes, letting the plants find their own balance as they do in nature – too much primping makes them less inviting.
• Scale the plants, combining plants that tower over you with lush underplanting to create a feeling of peace and tranquillity.
• Embrace shades of green for visual interest. This also serves as a background for flowers to stand out.
• Include views with focal points throughout the garden. They create the sense of space.
• As the garden matures, the shade increases, so replant the area below with more shade-tolerant plants.
• Introduce a couple of statement plants. Our candelabra spurge (Euphorbia ammak ‘Variegata’) is at least 30 years old.
• A water feature adds another visual element and attracts birds and insects.
• Rocks, including the faux rocks made from casts of natural formations, provide strong texture.
• Many of the plants, ornaments and pots are street bounty. My frangipani came from a back lane in Stanmore (Sydney) and my bird’s nest fern from a back lane in nearby Leichhardt.
• Watering is key. If the weather is hot and dry, water more; if it is cold and wet, don’t water for several weeks. But water pot plants constantly.
• Use the correct potting mix. Gritty, free-draining mix is best for cactus and succulents; bromeliads and orchids love bark chips; a general-purpose mix works well for most other plants.

Story by Chris Pearson
Photography by Brent Wilson