The Garden of St Erth features an extraordinary range of plants from around the world. Thousands of naturalised daffodils carpet the lawns in September, and through the summer months the herbaceous border features Digger's perennials and grasses. The garden culminates in an extravagant display in March for our Fruit and Flower festival. May marks the end of our gardening year with a blaze of autumn-coloured trees and late perennials.
Cocooned in the Wombat State Forest, the bush garden plays host to a variety of native birds, as well as being a place of restful contemplation. The natural spring of Koban's pool is a cool place to escape the summer heat.
The Garden of St Erth is also a garden of plenty, with fruit trees and food plants, espaliered heirloom fruit trees and a permaculture-style food forest.
The Digger's Club is committed to sustainable gardening and visitors will find inspirational ideas for gardening organically, becoming more self-sufficient and saving precious water while still enjoying nature's bounty. We are continually refining the garden, looking towards a greener future. As the previous owner, Tommy Garnett, once wrote, “No garden is ever finished, for gardens are apt to be transitory creations”. We hope you enjoy your visit to the Garden of St Erth.
Just 70 minutes from Melbourne and 40 minutes from Daylesford and Ballarat
Garden shop 03 5368 6514
Dining (open Fri-Sun 10-4) 03 5368 6520
Conducted tours for 20 or more.
In 1854 Matthew Rogers, a Cornish stonemason, left Sydney in pursuit of gold discovered near Mount Blackwood in Victoria. In the 1860s he built a sandstone cottage, naming it ‘St Erth' after his birthplace in Cornwall.
Rogers attached a wooden building to the western end of his stone cottage which served as a post office and store. Behind it was a boot factory that formed part of a bustling town of 13,000 people. His daughter Elizabeth and her husband Jim Terrill continued at the store, but as gold ran out, the wooden buildings of the town were moved to Trentham. For a time the house lay empty and the bush moved back in. Eventually it was bought by a group of Melbourne businessmen who called themselves the Simmons Reef Shire Council.
