Naomi Benney has turned a blank canvas on sandy soil at Meredith into a bustling garden built around a house with 16 sides.
Pictures: Reg Ryan
Most gardeners are used to having a front and back yard to work with but Meredith’s Naomi Benney’s green thumbs are virtually unrestricted.
Building her garden around a unique 16-sided house means there are no rules, Naomi muses.
She had plenty of land to work with as well, although there a crumbling rock wall with some natives presents a small barrier.
But it was a rounded structure, built up from what was previously a condemned mud house, that gave her garden its direction and purpose.
“It means there is no front door or back door – you just use whichever door is closest,” Naomi smiles.
The 16-sided house gradually developed with thick timber poles to support the roof, a huge rock fireplace anchoring the living space and bedrooms created around another curved section.
“There are no straight lines, there’s no front or back, it just is,” Naomi explains.
“And that’s the approach I took into the garden was well. It grew organically, in more ways than one.”
Continue reading in the latest GC Magazine – out now.
