Marilyn’s garden comes alive in Childers

Returning to Australia from California 20 years ago and settling in Childers, Marilyn Daly has created a small thriving jungle in her own backyard.

Establishing a garden was among the first jobs Marilyn’s tackled thanks to cuttings that were gifted from locals.

“The whole back row was these dirty, kooky palms and so we took them out,” she said.

“I started a garden club and so everybody was bringing me plants and I started planting.”

Marilyn had no shortage of knowledge having worked at the botanic gardens in California where she specialises in Australian native plants.

“I was in charge of the tours, giving tours through the gardens and introducing Australian plant material,” Marilyn said.

“I had a nursery and I had 18-foot fences around the nursery where I planted climbing rose bushes for security.”

The plants that now adorn her magnificent garden have been planted by Marilyn to represent her love for the colour foliage provides all year round, which is why it is a prominent feature throughout.

“I like the foliage of plants, you have to wait a whole year for a lot of plants to flower,” Marilyn said.

“You can enjoy the foliage and there's some beautiful plants with amazing lines and colours.”

Marilyn said some of her plants needed to be placed in pots to thrive throughout the garden, with the battling of heavy rains leading to innovation in the outdoor space.

“We used to get flooded in here so I'd have nine inches of water under my house, and I was finding that a lot of plants weren't doing well,” she said.

“I started raising up the beds and a lot of the plants in the garden are in big terracotta pots for that reason.”

The best time to enjoy a garden is in the morning Marilyn said, when there is still dew on the leaves and sun shimmering through the trees.

“I get up when the sun gets up,” Marilyn said.

“The birds come, I have a bandicoot that visits, a whole family of possums and I've got some water dragons in the garden here.”

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