WHEN asked to share the secret to growing an award-winning garden, Bronwen Tyler points to the name of her Mount Hutton property, Mulchalot.
Bronwen does not mulch in half measures on her 7000-square-metre suburban "oasis", which won best garden over 2000 square metres at the 2022 Newcastle Garden Awards.
"We buy it [mulch] by the truckload and put it on really thickly," Bronwen says.
"When I'm mulching, I always listen to a talking book and I just go all day. Mulch keeps the moisture in and the weeds out and it looks and smells great, particularly if it's eucalyptus. Plus, it breaks down to beautiful soil."
It's hard to believe that Mulchalot's expansive, park-like grounds were a bare paddock with drainage problems in 1995 when bought by Bronwen and husband Geoff to accommodate Bronwen's horse, a dressage arena and a new family home. In a small valley, the land backed onto bushland.
As the four-bedroom, two-storey Hardiplank and Colorbond house designed by Chris Cady took shape, so, too, did the initial stages of the garden, which has been designed largely by Helen Whalan, a name synonymous with horticulture in the Hunter.
"Helen advised us from the beginning," Bronwen says.
"We started with just a cottage garden around an original turpentine tree and then began to create in sections, breaking down the clay soil with gypsum and building it up with quality soil so anything we put in would have a good start.
"Helen was open to our ideas and has become a very good friend."
Colour and form are features of both the house - painted gold with a striking, curved roof perfect for solar panels - and its environment, which continues to evolve. Mature trees abound. Fiddlewoods and ivory curl trees provide shade and privacy on the boundaries; peppercorns greet visitors at the gate; and a London plane tree commands a central position on lawn kept in check by Bronwen's Kubota ride-on. Deciduous, it screens the house from strong westerly sun.
In November, for the garden awards judging, the purple jacaranda and Illawarra flame tree were an eye-catching couple in full bloom. Unfortunately, some prized golden robinias recently succumbed to borers. Flowering perennials fill beds beneath and between the trees and Bronwen struggles to narrow down a favourite.
"Geraniums are amazing plants. I start them in a pot and when they get too big, into the garden they go. They grow anywhere and fill a space with colour," she says.
"Canna lilies are also a great filler but you have to thin them out or they'll strangle themselves and you won't get a good show."
Salvia, clivia and agapanthus get special mentions.
Hedges pruned by Geoff, including dwarf Bougainvillea and Photinia Red Robin, add structure to the garden, and a vegetable patch has broccoli, butternut pumpkin, cauliflower, kale and a citrus tree trifecta: lemon, mandarin and a particularly bountiful navel orange.
Indoors, nature is never far away. In the living room, with its bold red wall, terracotta floor tiles and soaring ceiling, a fernery steals the view through louvred windows on the southern side. Opposite, there is a passing parade of feathered friends, partial to the landscaped pool.
"We've got a bower bird and lots of rosellas, lorikeets and white-headed pigeons," Bronwen says.
"Black cockatoos come through and we recently watched a Willy Wagtail make a nest and lay eggs in a potted olive tree.
"Mornings and evenings are a delight sitting out under the northern eaves ... the garden brings nature to your door."
About 15 years ago, when Bronwen retired from horse riding due to a back injury and reluctantly sold Oscar Bravo, on whom she competed in dressage at national level, she had more space and time to dedicate to the garden. She also joined Newcastle University Choir and took up painting.
Bronwen's dot art adorns a bird feeder and bird box built by Geoff, as well as a sculpture - made from old hammock pieces - that stands amid kangaroo paws in the pool area.
Her next outdoor canvas? The 22,000-litre water tank.
Watercolours by this energetic, versatile gardener are part of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Art Society's 90th anniversary exhibition and sale at Charlestown Square. The show opened on Thursday and runs until March 1.
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