Libby and Jim Litchfield have battled low rainfall, temperature extremes and rocky terrain to create a showpiece garden on the NSW high plains.
Story Kirsty McKenzie Photos Ken Brass
Libby Litchfield describes herself as “a gardener by default”. The sprawling parkland garden she has maintained and extended at the home she shares with her husband Jim on Hazeldean, near Cooma in the NSW Monaro high country, makes a mockery of this claim, but she insists it has taken 3 decades of trial and error. “Jim’s mother Barbara was the real gardener, especially growing vegetables,” Libby says. “My mother was a wonderful flower arranger, but only had a small city garden, so I really knew nothing when we took over from Jim’s parents in 1994. Early on, I was planting out a daphne and read that you should mulch around the roots. Jim came home, took one look and said, ‘Oh my God, not literally’. I’d pretty much planted the whole thing in mulch.”
Gardening at Hazeldean is always a challenge as the property sits at an elevation of 900m in a rain shadow caused by the Snowy Mountains and receives an annual rainfall of 550mm, with long dry periods in summer and frequent frosts in the harsh winters. The basalt soil is limey, so camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas are out of the question, but Libby’s favourite peonies thrive.
This story excerpt is from issue #162
Outback Magazine: Aug/Sep 2025
