Pretty in pink

When Caitlyn Mason started gardening, she was given some crucial advice. “An experienced gardener told me that gardening was all about looking and learning. She said, ‘If you don’t learn something new every time you go out into the garden, you’re not looking hard enough’. And I really think that’s true!”

This look-and-learn approach has been Caitlyn’s guiding principle in the making of her sweet cottage garden in Toowoomba, the famed ‘Garden City’ 125km west of Brisbane, on the traditional lands of the Jagera, Giabal and Jarowair people. It’s hard to believe now, but when Caitlyn and her partner, Sam Clothier, bought this property in 2016, the only existing plantings were one weary tree and some weedy lawn. The pair was drawn to the history of the place – the timber dwelling on the site is a former corner store and residence dating back to 1897 – and excited by the ‘blank canvas’ offered by the 414m2 block. “Because it’s a former corner store, there is no front garden, but there was lots of scope for planting in the rear garden, which wraps around the house in an L-shape,” says Caitlyn.

From the moment she set eyes on the property, Caitlyn (pictured above right) knew she wanted to create a lush, rambling garden with pockets of meadow-like plantings. But first, there was some poor drainage to attend to. It was a sloping site with soil banked up around the house, so they needed to undertake some major earthworks – and this led to terracing the garden. “We created three levels. It came about by necessity, but it has given us three defined areas, and adds a sense of formality to the garden,” she says.

The lower garden level extends straight off the back verandah. It consists of an oval lawn with a central circular garden bed featuring a weeping crabapple underplanted with the soft-leafed cranesbill geranium ‘Mavis Simpson’. Around the perimeter of the lawn are rose beds filled with frothy pink David Austin Shrub roses.

Dotted around the roses are clipped mounds of Japanese box (Buxus microphylla var. japonica) and English box (Buxus sempervirens) interspersed with drifts of cranesbill geraniums (Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and G. ‘Bill Wallis’), catnip, nepeta, forget-me-nots and campanula.

Around the corner from this lawned area, in between the house and Caitlyn’s potting shed, is her densely planted wildflower ‘meadow’. It’s filled with rambling, self-seeded annuals and perennials, including cosmos, foxgloves, nigella, dahlias, nicotiana, echinops, asters, sea holly and Verbena bonariensis. It’s a happy mass of colour and twinkling movement.

Up on the top grassed terrace there are more perennial beds, which are bordered by hedges and topiary. This upper level also features a couple of mop top trees (Robinia spp.) and a Japanese flowering cherry.

To tie the garden together, Caitlyn has scattered some of her favourites – such as foxgloves, forget-me-nots and nigella – through all three sections. She has also created cohesion through colour. “I generally stick with pinks, purples, blues and whites, but I’ve also added a little bit of lemon, with jonquils and daffodils in spring and sprinklings of the David Austin rose ‘The Poet’s Wife’,” she says.

The garden shimmers with candy colours and sweet scents all year round. “I’m very conscious of planting for all seasons,” Caitlyn says. “There’s always something flowering, and it’s all layered. Some plants I’ll plant every year and some things self-seed, such as the nigella, primrose and Orlaya grandiflora.” While she enjoys every season, summer is especially sweet. “I love it when the roses are in full flush and the hydrangeas are flowering. They’re the statement pieces with lots of other plants chiming in. They all sing together.”

Caitlyn loves seeking and trialling new plants (“I’m a bit of a collector”) and has become adept at editing and curating what works, and what doesn’t. It all comes back to heeding that early advice. “I love to look and learn,” Caitlyn says. “I probably stand around looking at my garden too much – but I adore it.”