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.
Having opened twice before in the autumn through Open Gardens Victoria, this third opening invites visitors to experience the garden in its high-summer phase — a time of exuberant colour, form, and movement when perennial plantings reach their peak.
Ralph said that in the summer, the garden felt alive in every sense from the energy, the sound and the texture.
“It’s a wild orchestra of plants, insects and birds all responding to each other. The whole landscape hums,” he said.
A living canvas on the Broken River
The Barwitian Garden unfolds across a former paddock beside the Broken 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.
Planted in sweeping, curved beds that echo the shapes of the surrounding hills and river, the garden blurs the boundaries between the cultivated and the natural.
It’s both habitat and artwork — a place of immersion and discovery that evolves dramatically with each season.
“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.”
Natural beauty, shaped by place
The garden’s clay loam, mineral-rich soil, seasonal extremes and rural setting have informed Ralph’s plant choices and design approach.
Temperatures at Barwite can swing from -5°C in winter to over 40°C in summer, pushing plants to adapt and thrive.
Recent expansions include an experimental dry garden, where drought-tolerant species are tested in shallow layers of crushed rock — a study in resilience and form.
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.”
A designer rooted in art and ecology
With over 30 years’ experience, Ralph Bristow is known for merging art, horticulture and ecology in his garden designs.
His work spans public and private projects across Australia and overseas, including a major planting at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah, on Darug Country, 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, Victoria, 3722.
It will be open on Saturday, January 10 and Sunday, January 11 from 10am to 4.30pm
Antique Perennials Nursery will be selling a wide variety of plants, many of which feature in Ralph’s garden on both days.
Tickets for adults are $10, and for students are $6. Tickets for under-18s and students with an Open Garden’s Victoria annual student pass are free.
Tickets are available at the gate or via trybooking.com/events/landing/1499194?
