Philip Stray always wanted a farm, but his wife Penny preferred to live close to the city. A marvellous compromise was reached four years ago when they purchased Summerhill Farm, a three hectare (71/2 acre) property only 19km from the centre of Melbourne. At that time the farm was fairly run down and crying out for some love and attention. Still, there was a certain charm about it, which Penny describes as a French country feel. Today, the Strays enjoy the best of both worlds. They love their rural lifestyle and can’t imagine being without a garden, but if they ever feel the urge to have a caffelatte or sniff the smog, the city is only minutes away.
Planted areas
The first garden area to be developed surrounds the cottage. Fences were built to form the courtyard (originally a gravel car park) and Penny began to plant perennial borders in different colour combinations including blue, cream and apricot; yellow and mauve; and pink, white and silver. Bearded iris feature in these borders, along with daisy, lambs’ ears, nigella, penstemon, salvia, valerian, verbena and the apricot yellow David Austin rose ‘Sweet Juliet’. Penny is a textile designer, and she sees a bare stretch of soil as a bare canvas ready to fill with colour. Variegated pittosporums (Pittosporum eugenioides ‘Variegatum’) on either side of the cottage door have been clipped to resemble peacocks. The beautiful Polyantha rose Carabella (Rosa ‘Carabella’) climbs over an arch framing the entrance to this part of the garden.
A large vegetable and herb garden is completely meshed to prevent birds and animals from helping themselves to the produce. Poultry and pig manure is used to ‘power’ the vegie garden, after first being composted for a month or two and regularly turned with a bobcat. The Strays have also planted a small, formal orange grove. Philip has transformed the area around the lake and jetty with a program of indigenous planting.
Livestock
A cockatoo named ‘Raindrop’ is a favourite pet, having been in Penny’s family for about 30 years. The Strays breed saddleback pigs, and are currently fattening their third litter. They also raise poultry including Faveroll and Welsummer chickens, Cayuga ducks and rare white Chinese geese.