Just minutes from the bustling heart of inner-city Adelaide, on beautiful Kaurna Country, a hidden world has emerged that is unlike any other ‘city within a city’. Jayne Varnish has been tending this garden for close to thirty years. Today it is a colorful refuge, one bursting with abundant botanical gems and loving remembrances. Varnish’s garden is not merely a beautiful collection of plants. It reflects her desire to grow sustainable environments amid an increasing push toward urban sprawl.
Varnish has carefully designed her garden to support a diversity of wildlife. It functions as a creative sanctuary for her as well as the native creatures. She introduces numerous species of plants to contribute to the engaging environment. Emu bush, lamb’s ear, and blue fescue surround her property to bring lush texture and a burst of color.
A Thoughtfully Crafted Landscape
The arrangement of Varnish’s garden certainly embodies her freeform style. She explains her approach as designing “sinuous routes and forms around trees,” letting the terrain organically ripple. This organic design lures visitors to meander and discover the thousands of textures and colors that are found around every turn within this garden.
Varnish chose to subtly backdrop her work with strategically sited screening plants. This creates a strong vertical element throughout the site to contrast the colorful, patterned mass of the diverse plantings below. These holistic decisions cultivate a vibrant and rich habitat, enhancing their surroundings with aesthetic beauty and ecological life.
“I’ve always loved gardens of all kinds; it doesn’t matter the style as long as there’s lots of texture — a mix of strappy, fluffy, and wavy things fluttering around.” – Jayne Varnish
Beyond aesthetic considerations, Varnish has worked pragmatic elements into her garden. She’s constructed shallow water points at different elevations, intentionally crafted to appeal to a diverse array of bird species.
Attracting Wildlife
The inclusion of water—which Varnish notes as an important aspect in any garden—serves myriad purposes here. She hung it in her cottage garden, where she installed handmade mosaic dishes and bird baths. Now, they’re bustling towns for local avifauna including magpies, rosellas, and little yellow honeyeaters.
“There’s water everywhere too; we’ve got handmade mosaic dishes around and bird baths. We have lots of birds that come in — magpies, rosellas, a family of little yellow honeyeaters.” – Jayne Varnish
This dedication to nurturing a dynamic ecosystem goes well beyond our feathered friends. Downed limbs from bordering trees are used to create reptile habitats, making it clear that the garden is committed to encouraging all kinds of wildlife. It’s the combination of these thoughtful features that creates a vibrant environment where nature thrives.
Practical Gardening Solutions
Varnish brings this pragmatic approach to the way she uses her compact easy-to-navigate urban garden space. Raised beds make great places to grow high-maintenance vegetables that need a steady supply of nutrients and moisture. These beds make it easier for her to proactively maintain high quality soil. This is particularly important in an environment where tree roots are often in constant competition with one another.
“I’ve resorted to putting things in pots there because tree roots take all the moisture.” – Jayne Varnish
A deciduous tree offers shade in the summer while allowing winter sunshine to warm nearby seating areas, striking a balance between comfort and utility. She plants Billbergia nutans (Rainbow plant) along the sides of her walkways. Its arching leaves and spectacular pink flower bracts make for a beautiful display, and it dramatically improves the garden’s overall aesthetic.
Restoring lost green space Varnish’s dedication to making green spaces reflects her deep worries about development in cities. With historic homes surrounding her being demolished and/or subdivided, she knows it is her responsibility to preserve as much open space for the public good as possible.
“I have this deep feeling that we must have more green spaces in dense urban areas. All the old houses around me are being subdivided and I feel like I need to garden for the whole suburb.” – Jayne Varnish
