Rustic garden of colour to float your boat

Jenny and Rick Gills know the meaning of turning trash to treasure, transforming their garden front to back with a mixture of natives, succulents and upcycled pieces.

The journey started four years ago for the gardening duo who said their secret to a thriving garden was to buy cheap and wing it.

“The hubby wanted to have just natives and I thought no, we need to plant some succulents in there!” Jenny said.

“She doesn’t like to see bare earth, mulch or anything,” Rick said.

“If there’s a piece of earth, that’s somewhere to put a plant.”

The green thumbs said it all started when they went to a fair and made some initial purchases.

“I bought a few succulents to make a succulent arrangement and from there I just kept making them, eventually they snuck into my garden,” Jenny said.

“I love it when things start flowering, I love my succulent gardens the most and it is a bit addictive finding new ones to collect.

“The cacti and succulents go hand in hand, but I prefer the succulents now, the cacti are too prickly.

After building the shed Rick said the garden out the front was the first to be developed, which is full of natives, leading into a cottagecore style garden.

“Because of the dry weather we chose to plant natives,” Rick said.

“I like the birds and wildlife natives attract.”

Making your way into the backyard, the first item to catch your eye is a boat full of succulents.

Jenny said they try to upcycle pretty much anything and everything.

“She’s not a traditional gardener, she gardens like she cooks, a bit of this a bit of that,” Rick said.

“I think it's a good way to do it too, because years down the track when you think about how your garden started, you enjoyed the time you spent working on it.”

Last week's garden: Kayla's coastal garden home to edible delights