In his own garden, Australian artist and garden designer Ralph Bristow gardens as he paints, in bold blocks of bright colour Words: Claire Masset, Photographs: Claire Takacs

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Published: Tuesday, 09 July 2024 at 08:45 AM


Gertrude Jekyll, the queen of the blazing border, wrote: ‘Planting ground is painting a landscape with living things’. Like Jekyll, Australian artist and garden designer Ralph Bristow gardens as he paints. “You make a mark on the canvas and the conversation starts. It’s the same with gardens,” he says.

A silver birch stands sentinel over the shimmering borders. Jewels such as Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Jackanapes’ and Crocosmia ‘Miss Scarlet’, an Agastache aurantiaca cultivar and Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus Superior’ are set off against a canvas of light-suffused grasses, including Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Prairie Blues’ and Festuca glauca. ©Claire Takacs

It’s been just four years since Ralph started creating the Barwitian Garden on his two-and-a-half-acre plot in Victoria, Australia, yet its richness and depth belies its youth. This plant-packed wonderland is a vibrant, sophisticated mix of colours, textures and shapes that play out in a seasonal spectacle of changing light and weather. His deep borders are host to more than 10,000 plants – flowering perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees – exquisitely combined like pigments on a painting.

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“I started working as a gardener as a way of supplementing my income as an artist,” Ralph explains. “I then went on to study horticulture and garden design and eventually found equal footing in both fields.” For many years, he ran a landscape design company in Melbourne, after which he started restoring historic gardens, including ones by the famous Australian designer Edna Walling. “I would live on the property, doing research and chasing original drawings,” he says. Now he creates gardens and continues painting from his garden studio.

When I’m creating, it’s about being in the moment. I like putting plants against each other: there’s the colour, the foliage, the light, the air.

Ralph lives here with his partner Nicky Sanders, who built their strawbale house 15 years ago. Its lime-washed walls are a brilliant canvas for the borders. The spot is now a haven for birds, insects, amphibians and reptiles. “We had a twitcher come round and do a bird count,” says Ralph, beaming. “In a half an hour, she spotted 51 different species.”

Colourful garden with lawn path
Bright sparks of Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ contrast with the soft pinks and creams of Sanguisorba hakusanensis ‘Lilac Squirrel’, Miscanthus oligostachyus ‘Eileen Quinn’ and Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Diane’. ©Claire Takacs

Ralph has kept the layout simple and organic. Curved beds surround the house and the studio at the opposite end of the garden, and encircle a large, gravel dining area. Next to the studio is a smaller entertaining space with a fire pit and log stools. The garden furniture is low-key; elegant wooden tables and chairs and rustic benches, which never obstruct the plant spectacle.

Colourful plants and trees
Contrasting flower and leaf shapes are further enlivened with exquisite colour combinations. Xanthorrhoea ‘Supergrass’ and Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Prairie Blues’ are the perfect foil for crocosmias and veronicas, against a backdrop of Eucalyptus camaldulensis, with its glaucous leaves and interesting bark. ©Claire Takacs

Grass alleyways allow for relaxed exploration, offering up wide and varied views of the borders and surrounding grasslands, while stone paths invite you to step into the beds for closer inspection. “Some of these paths are quite narrow. You almost have turn sideways to get through. I put a few spiky plants in those spots too. It’s important to have fun with it.”

When you’re in the garden, you’re completely immersed and floating. As you move through it you can’t help but be drawn close to the amazing details in the plants.

Fun and joy are words that immediately come to mind when talking to Ralph, who brims with childlike enthusiasm, and not just for the plants and animals. It’s the creative process he adores. “When I’m creating, it’s about being in the moment. I like putting plants against each other: there’s the colour, the foliage, the light, the air.” He likes to think of his garden as a multiverse where everything, from the soil to the sky, is connected.

Colourful summer garden with white building
Waves of grasses, including Panicum virgatum ‘Autumn Glory’, ripple over cheerful mounds of Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, while sculptural Xanthorrhoea ‘Supergrass’ and Yucca recurvifolia ‘Gold Ribbons’ add contrast and drama, with bright blues of Agapanthus ‘Bressingham Blue’ and A. ‘Indigo Dreams’ in the foreground. ©Claire Takacs

He cites Piet Oudolf, Fergus Garrett, James Hitchmough, Cassian Schmidt and Roberto Burle Marx as influences, along with local garden designers Michael McCoy and Jo Ferguson. But Ralph speaks his own plant language. “I’m not into formulas or replicating something else. I try to develop my own thing. What I really wanted to achieve here is a sense of depth. When you’re in the garden you’re completely immersed and floating. As you move through it, you can’t help but be drawn close to the amazing details and qualities in the plants themselves.”

Colourful summer garden with buildings
The house (left), studio (right) and native gum trees anchor the garden within the landscape and to the hills beyond. Stepping stone paths take you right into the borders, allowing for close interactions with the plants. In the centre is the tall flower spike of Australian native Xanthorrhoea ‘Supergrass’. ©Claire Takacs

Agapanthus, echinaceas, agastaches, crocosmias, heleniums, kniphofias, veronicas and sanguisorbas are just a few of Ralph’s favourite flowering plants. A master colourist, he harmonises hues with finesse – from electric blues, vibrant yellows, hot reds and oranges to amethyst purples, soft pinks, creams and corals. And he understands the art of playing shapes against one another and exploiting the shimmering light to choreograph his creation. It takes skill to make every plant reach its full aesthetic potential, but Ralph has it in spades.

Grass alleyways allow for relaxed exploration, offering up wide and varied views of the borders and surrounding grasslands.

Flowers are set against feathery grasses, such as Miscanthus oligostachyus ‘Eileen Quinn’, Pennisetum orientale ‘Tall Tails’ and Panicum virgatum ‘Blue Steel’, sculptural Yucca filamentosa ‘Bright Edge’ and striking Xanthorrhoea ‘Supergrass’, which Ralph has dotted around the borders. “As the garden matures, its huge 2m-tall flower spikes will become sentinel giants,” he says. Many of the plants have autumn and winter appeal, offering up attractive seedheads and structures and darker colours against a more muted tonal backdrop.

When I’m creating, it’s about being in the moment. I like putting plants against each other: there’s the colour, the foliage, the light, the air.

“The garden is still very young. The trees and woody plants have yet to grow to full height. When they do, we’ll start getting little microclimates to experiment with and exploit.” As the garden evolves, so does Ralph’s response to it. It’s a constant toing and froing, a life-long conversation and adventure.

Aerial shot of garden and house with mountains
From above, Ralph’s borders are clearly defined, even though at ground level they appear to merge into one other, creating extra depth. Punctuating the colourful planting, young trees including Cussonia paniculata, Pistacia chinensis, Juglans nigra and Ulmus parvifolia are slowly maturing. ©Claire Takacs

A garden, unlike a painting, is never finished. And yet, like a great work of art, the Barwitian Garden is – in the words of Gertrude Jekyll – ‘a treasure of well-set jewels’.

In brief

What Naturalistic family garden . Where Victoria, Australia. Size Two-and-a-half-acre garden in a six-acre site. Soil Slightly clay loam. Climate Extremes in both winter (down to -10oC) and summer (up to 45oC). Hardiness zone USDA 9a.

Find out more about Ralph Bristow’s work at ralphbristowgardendesign.com.au