Presented by Australia's leading horticultural experts, this is a great tribute to stallholder Southern Fleurieu Flora.

Victor Harbor Farmers Market is extremely honored to have Gill and John Muller’s garden featured on ABC's prestigious "Gardening Australia" TV program.

SERIES 30 | Episode 31

Sophie visits the small garden, but jam-packed garden, of an inveterate native plant collector in the coastal town of Port Eliot.

Gill Muller and husband John bought their house seven years ago after living in the Adelaide Hills, gardening under the canopy of eucalypts and dealing with root competition.  Fortunately, they found a cheap place out the back of Port Eliot, which gave Gill a ‘clean slate’ to set up a garden, and the progress over this time is astonishing. Gill was bitten by the Australian native plant bug at a young age and has been a keen collector and gardener ever since.

Eremophilas planted into the bitumen footpath greet the visitor, and forms a suitable entry to this magnificent garden, which spills from the backyard to the front, and onto the footpath.  As Gill says, she is “very much a collector, but I’ve tried to place plants in the “rooms” concept.” Gill loves Australian plants from dryland or arid regions. Her front yard is dedicated to dryland species as it’s full sun with good drainage. She loves Eremophilas, but also the small Mallee Eucalypts, like the Round-leaved Mallee (Eucalyptus minniritchi).  Many are planted in raised beds and also in pots.

Gill says of her space “People can’t believe the growth in my garden. ‘What do you feed it?’ I don’t fertilise anything other than my vegies. I use pebble mulch, a by-product of sand mining in the local area.” Like the bitumen on the footpath, the pebble mulch provides radiant heat and keeps the humidity down, and this can be seen by the booming Eremophillas throughout the garden, including the fascinating Eremophilla flaccida.

Growing plants in pots is Gill’s speciality and she moved 600 potted plants to the new house when they moved. It took four days! She loves planting combinations in pots, and advises that “many natives thrive in pots, as longs as they have great drainage”. There’s a spot in her front yard dedicated to a group of potted Lechenaultia species, in blue, red and yellow including the spectacular Lechenaultia biloba ‘Ruffles’ paired with a Star Guinea Flower (Hibbertia stellaris) and the Morning Flag Lily (Orthrosanthus multiflorus). “Growing in pots means I can move a plant around until I find where it will be happy.” One plant that is incredibly happy in its potted home is a twenty-year-old Sticky Wattle (Acacia howittii ‘Prostrate’) with it’s beautiful, almost bonsai, weeping habit.

There are some stunning plants in this relatively small garden, including the rare and endangered Tumut Grevillea (Grevillea wilkinsonii), the spectacular four-year-old Heath-leafed Banksia (Banksia ericifolia) and the Scarlet Honey Myrtle (Melaleuca fulgens) putting on a stunning floral display.  The diversity of flowers and foliage within this space is remarkable, and have been grouped into “rooms” by Gill as part of the gardens design.

Gill also has some ‘special’ plants in the garden, those that have taken many years to locate. One such plant is the Creamy Candles (Stackhousia monogyna), a delicate plant local to Gills area. In a garden like Gills, it is hard to pick favourite plants, but over time she has become more and more attracted to the Grevilleas, especially grafted standard grevilleas, including the Grevillea ‘Wendy Sunshine’ and Grevillea ‘Lollypops’ (Grevillea cv.).  A Thomasia (Thomasia triphylla) is another beauty in the garden, as is the Kennedia microphylla and the heavily scented Boronia ‘Purple Jared (Boronia heterophylla x Boronia megastigma ‘Purple Jared’).

But it’s not all natives – Gill also has some sentimental plants handed down from her gardening parents and grandparents, including a Creeping Fuchsia (Fuchsia procumbens), Leopard Plant (Farfugium japonicum) and a gorgeous Wood Hyacinth (Ledebouria socialis) “which has been in the same pot for over forty years”.

TAKE HOME

So many plants are happy here in Gill’s garden. It shows what can be achieved in a short space of time, when your number one house-buying requirement is good soil! Growing plants in pots means that they are easy to move, from one house to another, and also around the garden until you find that perfect place.

Click here for the video interview with Gill!