Welcome to the garden

Sally Rummery

Two women from incredibly different backgrounds show me around their gardens as they share what began their love and passion for the natural world.

Melianthus or Honey Bush is native to South Africa and creates an interesting contrast in Fiona’s garden with its jagged habit (Photo by Sally Rummery)

Fiona Ogilvie

Fiona has been writing about gardening for over 30 years, with a regular column appearing in The Land for the past 25 of those years.

Born in England, Fiona says that she used her interest in gardening to travel the world by giving garden tours in different countries. Meeting her husband, Bill, in Sydney, she later moved out into rural Australia with him and designed and built her own garden.

Living on 70 acres east of Bathurst, Fiona feels the space is perfect for her and Bill. She says that she has all the freedom she needs to develop her garden while Bill is able to manage the rest as a retirement farm.

Penny Rummery

Penny finished high school in 2019 with a plan to take two gap years to travel and work before undertaking a degree in science and fine arts at UNSW.

Growing up she says that gardening was more of a chore. Working on her parent’s property north of Bendemeer during the time of the breaking of the drought however, showed her the strength and intelligence of plants.

She thinks that while gardening itself may continue to be a hobby in her life, plant breeding may be a large interest in her future.