SOMERS landscape designer Ellen Freeman has won two awards at this year’s Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show with Eclipse, her entry in the Challenger Achievable Gardens section.
Eclipse won a gold medal and the specialist award, Best Use of Plant Life. One side of Freeman’s creation comprises silver and blue toned plants while the other side has purple, red, and black plants. The two sides are separated by a white limestone path and circle. Textures also add contrast between the two halves of the garden, with more matte plants on the lighter half and shiny leaves opposite. Plants chosen by Freeman include grasses, succulents, native and exotic shrubs and trees.
Raised in north-central Victoria before moving to the Mornington Peninsula in 2014, Freeman credits her farm upbringing with teaching her two key things: that soil health is the basis for good plant growth and that climate cannot be changed. This means that selected plants must be adapted to soil type and climate. Her Eclipse garden includes a range of tough plants suited to harsh environments.
Created on a west facing site, plants were chosen to deal with full sun in a well-drained, slightly sandy soil, and be able to thrive with little to no supplementary watering. Freeman said her juxtaposition of light and dark elements, textures, and colors was aimed at inspiring others to push boundaries in garden designs.
Eclipse Garden stands as a testament to her vision: strange yet inviting, surprising yet beautiful—a living tribute to innovation in gardening. “It has been a great learning experience, allowing me to go through the process from concept design and project coordination to construction of the show garden,” Freeman said after her win. “No public event gives students a better introduction to working in the horticultural industry. “I wanted to make a garden that was strange, but still liveable and beautiful to be in and, above all else, a garden that would surprise people.
