Tour some of Victoria's best private gardens at the NGV's Virtual Garden Day

Truly great gardens don’t have owners – they have custodians. These gardens take on a life of their own as they grow and adapt to the changing seasons and decades.

After more than 170 years, Wombat Park, outside Daylesford, is a leafy wonderland of mature trees that has been nurtured by two families over several generations.

This is just one of the beautiful private gardens in Victoria which will be open to the public during the National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association’s Virtual Garden Day.

Usually, thousands queue to visit the gardens, but it was turned into a virtual event last year due to COVID-19. Guests can view the gardens multiple times from the comfort of home and learn about their design, history and plantings.

“People will find the gardens really inspiring because they are very different, ranging from contemporary new gardens to very historic gardens,” says the NGV Women’s Association president, Tania Brougham.

There will be a 45-minute tour of the gardens with their current custodians and talks by NGV curators about artworks connected to the region. Proceeds from the event (with partners Kay & Burton) help fund art acquisitions, grants and VCA scholarships.

Wombat Park’s gorgeous arts and crafts homestead (built by W. E. Stanbridge) is bordered by a heritage-listed tapestry hedge. There are towering elms planted a century ago, a rare Mexican pine nut, Spanish firs, chestnuts, olives and an avenue of cedars.

Mia Pithie has continued the work of her parents, Isabel and Alistair Mackenzie, with their long-standing gardener Stewart Henderson.

“It’s a wild garden, and that allows an amazing mixture of nature and nurture,” Pithie says. “There are wombats in the garden and koalas in the trees.”

A huge restoration over 20 years has revealed the old garden (1910), almost lost under blackberries and elm suckers, and revived the new garden (1916).

“In Wombat Park, there is a sense of discovery, a private adventure, a secret garden.

“Most gardens are about plants, but Wombat is mostly about the trees,” Pithie says.

She has made the difficult decision to sell Wombat Park, which she believes is a perfect family home. The property is listed through Kay & Burton agent Gowan Stubbings (auction on December 3).

“It’s a garden that transcends its owners – it’s certainly a garden that needs custodians rather than a series of owners because that little change in mindset works really well to care for a garden with its own identity.”

The other three gardens include a sustainable coastal family garden in Barwon Heads with indigenous and native plants; a garden west of Geelong with remnant eucalypts, European trees and a colourful contemporary garden; and a Grampians garden with endangered and indigenous plants.

Brougham says the garden film, made by SIRAP, can be viewed from December 8 to February 22.

The National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association Virtual Garden Day 2021 will stream from December 8. Tickets are $30 and on sale now through ngv.melbourne/ngvwa or 8662 1573.