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Jenni Woodruff is a quiet woman with an unerring artistic eye, as you can see in these photos of her small Melbourne back garden. Winner of the 2012 Australian House and Garden ‘Garden of the Year’ competition, she combines a skilled use of colour with excellent plant knowledge from her Certificate III in Horticulture from Melbourne’s NMIT.
Dominant themes of green, purple, pink and soft blue pop up in plant choices, the panels of painted timber fence and the tiny, exquisite mosaics on stepping stones and pots that are dotted through the garden. You can see they match Jenni’s style very well!
This is a good lesson in how filling a small garden can make it feel bigger than leaving large areas of it open and empty. Walking through the little paths that twine through the garden, you come upon lots of engaging detail and the changes of direction make sure you view the garden from a dozen different angles. By the time you’ve walked around and stopped and looked at everything, you could swear this garden is 5 times its size.
Jenni creates layers of vertical interest with a wide range of drought-tolerant plants, suited to Melbourne’s mediterranean to temperate climate. Low-growers include dahlia, sages, liriope and succulents. A middle storey of shrubs adds roses, choysia, camellia, Acacia cognata cultivars, citrus and wall-cladding star jasmine, and there are taller canopy plants like olive, Magnolia ‘Little Gem’ and Agonis ‘Burgundy’.
And the pots! I’ve never seen anywhere such perfect groupings of colour, shapes and plantings.
Click on any photo to see a larger image slideshow. You can also click the photos in the slideshow (top right corner) to see a full-size version.
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Jenni, your garden is delightful. Heartiest congratulations.
I love a garden where there is something of beauty or interest wherever your eyes wander to. I can imagine you, forever happily thinking up new and exciting ways to fill a space. Life is never dull for garden lovers. Helen.
This is the kind of garden tour I love! When an “ordinary” homeowner transforms her space through vision, dedication, hard work, and love….much more inspiring to me than any large estate or professionally designed garden. Love your garden, Jenni!
Thanks every body for your lovely comments about my garden and a very big thanks to Catherine Stewart for a wonderful article. I will be opening my garden in the Open Gardens Australia scheme when the next book comes out. It will probably be in Autumn and it will be named “Pixbell Terrace”. I am not sure of the date yet. Thanks Jenni Woodruff
Loved Jenni’s garden, just shows what you can do with a small garden if
you have knowledge of plants and a flair for design.
I think Jenni’s garden has incorporated the best of colour and design features visibly enhanced by clever plant selections by colour and texture.
Having looked at these photos, this small garden is in stark contrast to some of the current television/magazine-inspired trends to the use of bold, vivid colours which do not always work in small environments and often do not display the choice of plants according to their correct environment, for example, orange/red Bromeliads in Azure blue pots in a tropical environment!
Congratulations on your very special win Jenni, and I do hope you are ,or intending to be, a member of Open Gardens Australia (as I currently am) to promote your own special gardening flair!
Our NSW gardeners will surely be inspired by your plant selections and talented displays!