Yesterday morning, despite rain, the temptation to drive to Castlemaine for the Castlemaine and District Festival of Gardens proved too strong. It’s been on since November 1 but we’ve been a little pre-occupied, trying to pull our own garden into shape. 

I love Castlemaine’s grand goldrush-era buildings and its great little cafes. It also has a cinema, a fascinating art gallery and museum, a regional poetry festival and every two years a brilliant arts festival. It’s my ideal country town.

In Summer, though, Castlemaine is even hotter and drier than it is here, with temperatures sometimes in excess of 40ºC. In Winter, when it falls to five below, gardens suffer from punishing frosts.

On a blisteringly hot day during our second Spring here, we toured three or four open gardens around Castlemaine. After driving down baked and dusty roads to find them, in a car without air-conditioning, each appeared as a cool, green, welcoming oasis. 

The stout-hearted gardeners of Castlemaine don’t let a little thing like a difficult climate stop them. They’ve elevated  water-wise gardening to an art form with imaginative plantings of succulents, cacti and natives. With copious applications of compost and mulch, they also manage to grow gorgeous roses.

We toured three gardens, two of which permitted photography. Here’s a selection from a garden that receives minimal watering from a dam, and from another that’s never watered unless it rains.

Gardeners love rain and none more so than the gardeners of Castlemaine. Their eyes shone brightly and their smiles broadened as they spoke of the 30mm and more they’ve had since Friday.