Just a stone's throw from the busy-ness of Barry Drive in the heart of Canberra, is a peaceful, rambling country garden that has taken 25 years to perfect.
Christine Ryan and her husband Glenn Sheldrick both love gardening and around every lush corner of their Turner home is something new to see and admire. Roses, succulents, stands of snapdragons, ponds, irises, vegetable patches and, when the time, is right, dahlias and daffodils, to name a few.
Our gardens, this year, perhaps more than any other, have been an important place to retreat and forget, especially during the coronavirus lockdowns.
Christine knows well that sense of flow or of being in the zone in the garden.
"I could spend all day out here and not worry about the time or even eating. It'll get to three o'clock in the afternoon and think, 'I better have something to eat before I keel over'," she said, with a laugh.
Christine and her late husband bought the Turner home 25 years ago when its garden looked very different.
"There was nothing, absolutely nothing. A few big trees and that was it," she said.
Originally from Sutton and a country girl at heart, Christine set to removing the trees and creating a traditional country garden, a lot of hard work going into creating that exuberant, abundant, rambling feel.
"I love just being able to see what you can do," she said.
And gardening has brought her other things as well.
Following the death of her first husband, Christine met Glenn through The Horticultural Society of Canberra and the couple married five years ago.
Gardening is their shared passion, and so, too, exhibiting. Christine has been showing her flowers for more than 20 years; Glenn for more than 40 years. Christine also loves floral artistry.
"It's lovely to be able to show if off to people," she said.
The Horticultural Society of Canberra, formed in 1929, holds four shows a year.
This weekend, it is the Spring Exhibition and Rose Show, all that abundant growth from the ongoing rain being presented to the public.
The show will be in Lancaster Hall, Wesley Centre, 20-22 National Circuit in Forrest. It is open to the public on Saturday from 11am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 3.15pm.
