Ralph Bristow has over 30 years’ experience merging art, horticulture and ecology in his garden designs.
After a postponed summer opening in January due to the impact of the Longwood fire on the wider region, acclaimed garden designer and artist Ralph Bristow will open the gates to the Barwitian Garden in Barwite, north-east Victoria, on the weekend of March 7 and 8.
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Although the garden itself was not affected, the scale of the fire and its impact on local communities, emergency response and access to the area made it unsafe and inappropriate to proceed at the time.
With conditions now stabilised and roads reopened, the March opening offers a quiet invitation for visitors to return to the region and support local towns and businesses as recovery continues.
“Returning visitors help bring energy back into the region,” Ralph said.
“Simply being here, eating and staying, makes a difference.”
Located on Taungurung Country, just outside Mansfield, the Barwitian Garden is widely regarded as one of the most evocative examples of naturalistic planting design in Australia.
This rescheduled opening invites visitors to experience the garden at a moment of seasonal transition, when the exuberance of high summer lingers and perennial plantings hold their form, colour and movement.
“In the warmer months, the garden feels alive in every sense — the energy, the sound, the textures,” Ralph said.
“It’s a wild orchestra of plants, insects and birds all responding to each other.
“The whole landscape hums.”
A living canvas on the Broken River, the Barwitian Garden unfolds across a former paddock beside the river, where Ralph and his partner, artist Nicky Sanders, live in a straw bale home overlooking a seasonal waterfall.
Over the past seven years, Ralph has transformed the property into a semi-wild landscape of around 20,000 plants, featuring layers of perennials, shrubs, trees, grasses, succulents and cacti.
Sweeping, curved garden beds echo the forms of the surrounding hills and river, blurring the line between cultivated garden and natural landscape.
The result is both habitat and artwork — a place designed for immersion, observation and seasonal change.
Ralph Bristow’s Barwitian Garden will be open to the public for one weekend in March.
“I paint with paint or plants; the process is the same for me,” Ralph said.
“It’s about feeling, rhythm and response. The garden is constantly changing, like music.”
Shaped by place, climate and resilience, Barite’s mineral-rich clay loam soil, seasonal extremes and rural setting have strongly influenced the garden’s development, as well as informing Ralph’s plant choices and design approach.
With temperatures ranging from -5°C in winter to over 40°C in summer, plant selection prioritises adaptability and resilience.
Recent additions include an experimental dry garden, where drought-tolerant species are tested in shallow layers of crushed rock.
Among the trees and perennials, species from across the world mingle with natives and local flora, creating a textural, painterly landscape that supports pollinators, birds and wildlife.
“It’s a garden that feeds my soul,” Ralph said.
“But it’s also a thriving ecosystem, a place where beauty and biodiversity coexist.”
With over 30 years’ experience, Ralph is known for merging art, horticulture and ecology in his garden designs.
His work spans public and private projects across Australia and internationally, including a major planting at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah, and a new five-acre project in Egypt, overlooking ancient pyramid complexes.
While Ralph’s work resonates with the international ‘new perennial’ movement, his approach is distinctly Australian, informed by the rhythms of the land and the inspiration of the alpine landscapes that surround him.
The Barwitian Garden is located at 35 Fern St, Barwite. It will be open Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8 from 10am to 4.30pm.
Antique Perennials Nursery will be selling a variety of plants, many featured in Ralph’s garden
There will also be a coffee cart selling hot and cold drinks and snacks. Tickets cost $10 for adults $10, and $6 for students. Under 18s and students with an Open Gardens Victoria annual student pass can enter for free.
