They say art imitates life. But for Mooroopna artist Deb Lynch, her reality has become art — in particular, her garden.
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Tucked away in a Mooroopna court, Mrs Lynch and her husband Bruce have cultivated a sustainable space reminiscent of their past six-hectare block, but with a modern twist.
Comprising native plants, contrasted with succulents scattered between Indigenous flora, Mrs Lynch has made the garden into her own piece of art complete with locally-sourced and home-made ornaments.
“I’m sort of always going, ‘do I paint or do I garden?’
“I love being outside so if the weather’s good you can find me outside,” Mrs Lynch said with a laugh.
Building their home three years ago, Mrs Lynch said the concept of moving into town was quite daunting.
“I was just so used to having all the open spaces and lots of greenery around, we’d planted thousands of trees where we were,” she said.
“When we moved into town, and we decided we were going to build, it took a long lot of planning and I just said to my husband, ‘I don’t want to look at Colorbond fences’. So before we even started building we planted along our fence lines.
“Now basically we've got a really good screen, when you walk all the way around our block you pretty well just see greenery, you don't really see very much fence at all.“
Hidden in a suburban court, the Lynchs’ home stands out purely for its unique, sleek design; one that took much consideration and planning.
With north-facing windows, concrete floors and specifically-designed high ceilings and ventilators, the Mooroopna home was built to be sustainable in terms of energy efficiency and cost.
“The whole principle behind it was to build a house that used a minimum amount of energy, so a power bill is around $150 for the whole year,” she said.
“When you really get down to the nitty gritty, when you want to build something sustainable, a lot of work has to go into it, a lot of thought.
“We did do a lot of research going into it, but when building there's things that people need to really spend a lot of time on and plan how they build their houses, because they can save so much money just by doing a few simple different things.”
The garden proves to be an extension of the home, carefully thought out and made to survive the toughest of climates, a feat especially rewarding when the Lynchs take extended trips and don’t need to worry about the garden’s maintenance.
The property is covered in purposely selected native plants, with dianellas, Silver Princess eucalyptus trees along with many other local Indigenous species, diversified by the addition of blue candles and groups of succulents.
The endemic plants were a choice made partially on looks, but mostly in terms of hardiness. The other main factor of the garden is the local fauna.
“The other thing that I really wanted to focus on too was a garden that would attract birds, because I love birds and we have quite a few resident honeyeaters and wattle birds, and lots of native birds that come in,” Mrs Lynch said.
“We have water dishes in the garden so that the birds can come and have a drink, especially when it's really hot. They need that.
“Nearly everything here is native, and a lot of the plants are also local to the area.”
The local fauna paired with the greenery of the garden is a subject Mrs Lynch has taken to, particularly in her art.
A creative soul through and through, Mrs Lynch has been producing art for as long as she can remember, “dabbling and doing little bits and pieces” along the way.
Mrs Lynch’s acrylic creations range from portraiture to her passion for landscapes, now focusing on botanical art and taking inspiration from her own forest of Australian blooms.
“I’ve had a few exhibitions but I’m just doing what I’m enjoying now that I’m retired,” she said.
“I’m not pressured into doing what I have to do, I’m just doing what I want to do now —which is a really nice time in your life.”