Chatting with a work mate last week, I shared that since the lock down had lifted and we could go further than 5k from our front door, I’d been to the Heronswood Digger’s Garden at Dromana and was looking forward to going to an Open Garden in the Yarra Valley on the weekend. He looked at me like I had two heads and said he couldn’t think of anything more boring. I looked at him aghast and then remembered that his idea of a good time is walking around a manicured lawn whacking a little white ball and hoping it goes into a hole instead of landing in the bush. Needless to say, we won’t be hanging out on the weekends anytime soon.

I follow Open Gardens Victoria on social media but haven’t actually been to any of their Open Gardens until now. As soon as the Roadmap out of lockdown had a viable end date in site, I headed to their website and booked to see whatever I could on that weekend. They had several gardens to choose from but Ridgefield got my vote. Up in wine country (added bonus) in Coldstream in the Yarra Valley, I was there with my partner at opening time (10am).

The garden did not disappoint with 1.2hectares of gorgeous landscaping and views in every direction. I suggested to my partner that if he loved me he’d buy me something similar. Having grown up in Toowoomba in Queensland, the Garden City with an annual Carnival of Flowers and prize winning gardens galore, I thought it would take a bit to impress me. Well, I was impressed. Bloody marvellous.

Ridgefield is a private garden so you can’t just rock up to check it out. You’ll have to keep on eye on the Open Gardens Victoria ‘What’s On’ page to see when it opens again.

We chatted to garden owner Paulette who told us about the Yellow rose called Mother and Daughter that was planted as a dedication to her sister and niece who died of Cancer. Paulette just happened to have a bright yellow dress that matched the colour of the rose. It was a beautiful touching story and shows the significance and depth of meaning a flower can have. Paulette has a host of stories behind where different parts of the gardens evolved from (Roses bought to decorate a wedding that was hosted in the yard and then planted out) but there were many people vying for her attention so we meandered out of the garden and mosied on to meet friends at a winery for lunch.