• The Nugget
  • Posts
  • A local garden curator and a new trail

A local garden curator and a new trail

Welcome to The Nugget, a 24k gold newsletter about Castlemaine's people and events

Author

The Nugget
November 15, 2024

★ MEET A LOCAL GARDEN CURATOR ★

Ryan Garrett, Garden Curator at Buda Historic Home and Garden.

Ryan Garrett was working at The Diggers Club in the Mornington Peninsula when a colleague pointed out a job opening at Buda Castlemaine.

"He said, 'It's like they've written a job description specifically for you," Ryan says.

He had been looking for ways to get home ever since moving away seven years earlier. But one needs a job.

"To curate an intact, historic garden like the one at Buda, there isn't a lot of work like that."

Ryan is a Castlemaine kid. He graduated from Castlemaine Secondary College, his family lives here and he came full circle, moving back after landing the role of Garden Curator at Buda last year.

"Gardening is a pretty broad church. Growing cricket pitches for the MCG is the dream for some. My dream is working in an arts and crafts style garden like Buda."

Buda was established by Ernest Leviny, a silversmith and watch maker from Hungary who decided to try his luck in bustling Castlemaine during the goldrush. He set up a successful business in 1853 and later bought Buda, which he named after Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

The Leviny family lived at Buda for 118 years, when the last surviving daughter, Hilda, died in 1981. She sold the historic home, which is surrounded by 1.2 hectares of garden, to the Castlemaine Art Gallery.

The garden and grounds at Buda are one of the most significant, large nineteenth or early twentieth century suburban gardens surviving in Victoria.

The garden's bulbs have endured for well over 100 years. In spring, jonquils, daffodils, beautiful species tulips, flowering trees and bushes all put on a stunning show.

"It's almost like a different garden every week in the height of spring. There are different colours, different species come and go."

Ryan will be speaking from the Garden Stage at Buda's Traditional Arts Fair on Sunday, sharing lessons from the Buda garden that can help people succeed in their home gardens.

Poor soils combined with a harsh climate of extremes and a lack of summer rain makes for tricky gardening around these parts.

"Any topsoil we had is now underneath what we brought up to mine. That combination does make it very, very difficult."

Climate change is adding humidity to the mix, which has caused fungal infections in some of the Buda plants. The grape vines, for example, used to wrap the house but lack the vigor to do so in today’s climate.

Ernest Leviny left a treasure trove of notes listing a vast number of plants he wanted to add to the garden, giving Ryan lots of options as he works to maintain the garden in the Leviny style.  

Ryan says the gardening scene was pretty exciting in Ernest's day.

"I love the fever they had for the act of gardening and collecting plants; finding and growing new plants. New plants were being found in South Africa, Australia, California, South America,” Ryan says.

“In modern Australian gardening there is a harsh line between the native garden and the exotic garden. For Ernest, it was all exotic. He had no problem putting natives and non-natives together.”

It was all part of the knowledgeable gardener's passionate experiment and the results have endured for generations. If you haven’t seen the Buda garden, now is the time.

  • Buda’s Traditional Arts Fair is on Sun, Nov 17, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

  • There will be free demonstrations, a make-and-take table and lots of incredible market stalls selling crafts and food

❀ GOOD NEWS ❀

Work will kick off next week to build the missing link in the Campbells Creek Walking and Cycling Trail, connecting it to the start of existing trail into Castlemaine.

The project involves building 596m of off-road trail, including a gravel path, two bridges over the creek and short sections of boardwalk.

It’s been a long time coming. The construction is scheduled to be done by March, in time for Autumn bike rides.

The Friends of Campbells Creek Landcare Group will continue to work with council to minimise environmental impacts, and support plantings once the track is complete.

♡˖ NOVEMBER EVENTS ˖♡

♡˖ DECEMBER EVENTS ˖♡

December is simply a manic month and a girl’s gotta plan. Let’s look ahead into the future fill out that diary.

See the events happening in and around Castlemaine in December here.

Have I missed something? That won’t do. Email me at [email protected] to have your event included.