Gardens are many things to many people. Viewing this photo I suppose some would conclude that ‘garden’ is not the right word for what they see. Perhaps their cultivated European or Asiatic bones would long to provide order to this unsightly chaos, slashing these rampant grasses almost to the roots. I further suppose that these same people would be surprised to learn that this garden is also home to a dozen exquisite varieties of the Rose; around forty species of Grevillea, Australia’s wonderful spider flower; eight or more callistemons, the flamboyant - usually red flowering - bottlebrush, ranging from shrubs to small trees; seasonal splashes of Narcissus: bright yellow daffodils and jonquils; many varieties of the Iris, this year not as stunning as usual due to a dry spring; and all sorts of other plants ranging from orchids to rhubarb. These specimens rejoice in their backdrop stands of relatively mature Eucalypts along with a borrowed distant view of the sea.

Oh, and there is indeed an order strictly imposed even on this garden. In the image above, you see that the outer circumference is given over to the local wild indigenes -trees, shrubs and grasses; then a middle ring, where the heron sometimes walks and kangaroos browse (about ten meters across, although here foreshortened by the camera lens) and an inner perimeter that includes bird baths and all manner of exotic flowers and plants in the garden beds that adjoin the house.