It\u2019s 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 \u2013 flowering perennials<\/a>, bulbs, grasses<\/a>, shrubs and trees \u2013 exquisitely combined like pigments on a painting.<\/p> You may also like<\/strong>:<\/p> \u201cI started working as a gardener as a way of supplementing my income as an artist,\u201d Ralph explains. \u201cI then went on to study horticulture and garden design<\/a> and eventually found equal footing in both fields.\u201d 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. \u201cI would live on the property, doing research and chasing original drawings,\u201d he says. Now he creates gardens and continues painting from his garden studio.<\/p> When I\u2019m creating, it\u2019s about being in the moment. I like putting plants against each other: there\u2019s the colour, the foliage, the light, the air.<\/p><\/blockquote> 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. \u201cWe had a twitcher come round and do a bird count,\u201d says Ralph, beaming. \u201cIn a half an hour, she spotted 51 different species.\u201d<\/p> 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<\/a> is low-key; elegant wooden tables and chairs and rustic benches, which never obstruct the plant spectacle.<\/p> Grass alleyways allow for relaxed exploration, offering up wide and varied views of the borders<\/a> and surrounding grasslands, while stone paths invite you to step into the beds for closer inspection. \u201cSome 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\u2019s important to have fun with it.\u201d <\/p> When you\u2019re in the garden, you\u2019re completely immersed and floating. As you move through it you can\u2019t help but be drawn close to the amazing details in the plants.<\/p><\/blockquote> 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\u2019s the creative process he adores. \u201cWhen I\u2019m creating, it\u2019s about being in the moment. I like putting plants against each other: there\u2019s the colour, the foliage, the light, the air.\u201d He likes to think of his garden as a multiverse where everything, from the soil to the sky, is connected.<\/p> He cites Piet Oudolf,<\/a> Fergus Garrett<\/a>, James Hitchmough<\/a>, Cassian Schmidt<\/a> and Roberto Burle Marx as influences, along with local garden designers Michael McCoy and Jo Ferguson<\/a>. But Ralph speaks his own plant language. \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019re in the garden you\u2019re completely immersed and floating. As you move through it, you can\u2019t help but be drawn close to the amazing details and qualities in the plants themselves.\u201d<\/p> Agapanthus<\/a>, echinaceas, agastaches, crocosmias<\/a>, heleniums, kniphofias<\/a>, veronicas and sanguisorbas<\/a> are just a few of Ralph\u2019s favourite flowering plants. A master colourist, he harmonises hues with finesse \u2013 from electric blues, vibrant yellows, hot reds and oranges to amethyst purples<\/a>, soft pinks<\/a>, 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.<\/p> Grass alleyways allow for relaxed exploration, offering up wide and varied views of the borders and surrounding grasslands.<\/p><\/blockquote> Flowers are set against feathery grasses, such as Miscanthus oligostachyus<\/em> \u2018Eileen Quinn\u2019, Pennisetum orientale<\/em> \u2018Tall Tails\u2019 and Panicum virgatum<\/em> \u2018Blue Steel\u2019, sculptural Yucca filamentosa<\/em> \u2018Bright Edge\u2019 and striking Xanthorrhoea<\/em> \u2018Supergrass\u2019, which Ralph has dotted around the borders. \u201cAs the garden matures, its huge 2m-tall flower spikes will become sentinel giants,\u201d 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.<\/p> When I\u2019m creating, it\u2019s about being in the moment. I like putting plants against each other: there\u2019s the colour, the foliage, the light, the air. <\/p><\/blockquote> \u201cThe garden is still very young. The trees and woody plants have yet to grow to full height. When they do, we\u2019ll start getting little microclimates to experiment with and exploit.\u201d As the garden evolves, so does Ralph\u2019s response to it. It\u2019s a constant toing and froing, a life-long conversation and adventure.<\/p> A garden, unlike a painting, is never finished. And yet, like a great work of art, the Barwitian Garden is \u2013 in the words of Gertrude Jekyll \u2013 \u2018a treasure of well-set jewels\u2019.<\/p> 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). 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In brief<\/h3>