Bordering On Magic

Sarah Ryan is a maestro of border planting, creating a wonderland of layered, flowering perennials and ornamental grasses.

- Helen Young ​​​​​​​

Sarah Ryan has always loved growing things. As a child she had a bedroom full of indoor plants and both her grandmothers were keen gardeners. But she is quietly amazed at the amount of interest in her country garden, Hillandale. Covering 2.4ha of a 69ha property at Yetholme (midway between Lithgow and Bathurst, 2.5 hours west of Sydney), the garden is a popular destination for visitors from all over the world and has been featured in several garden books. After a recent story in esteemed British magazine Gardens Illustrated, Hillandale’s fame is now international.

“It’s the perennial border that has people talking,” Sarah says. “I designed it so you walk through the middle. You experience it through immersion – and that’s very different to the usual herbaceous border you just look at from the sides.” The 8m wide, 120m-long perennial border is also unusual in that it runs up and down a gentle slope. Sarah chose the location because it enjoys a warm and sunny north-eastern aspect, something that counts when you live in an area that can experience more than 50 hard frosts and several snowfalls each year. What she didn’t realise at the time was the magical effect of the plants being backlit by the morning sun in one direction and the afternoon sun in the other. “I got lucky,” she says modestly. “I think the lighting is probably the secret to its success.”