OVERFLOWING with pots, hanging baskets, happy colours and bright flowers everywhere, Sylvia Tol’s cottage style garden is crammed to the brim with her favourite things.

“I love roses and irises; they grow anywhere,” she says.

“I do a lot of raising from seed, and I also like plants that self-seed, so when they start to multiply I can relocate them.”

Having moved from a quarter of a hectare in Newcastle to the modest-sized block in Karabar, keen gardener Sylvia says that one of the main challenges in planning this garden was the lack of space.

“I suppose that accounts for all the pots around the place,” she says. “I have already halved the double driveway to make more space, and I cut back the hen’s run a bit, but I ran out of garden beds.

“Now I just get more pots!”

Sylvia’s colourful cottage garden will be open to the public for the first time as part of Open Gardens Australia on the weekend of October 20-21.

The cheerful front garden has three different levels to create the illusion of space, including the nature strip planted with Sir Walter buffalo grass and the home’s pot-filled veranda, with a stunning crabapple in blossom taking centre stage.

The terraced back garden features a three-tiered fountain and a riot of roses, clematis, irises and poppies.

“It’s very cosy back here, and we’re protected by the conifers and the neighbours’ melaleuca,” she says. “The white banksia over the hen house keeps the chooks shaded, too.”

Sylvia says she enjoys planting things that her grandparents and her mother loved.

“Being a keen gardener runs in our family, so it’s wonderful to use plants that are special to me,” she says.

“I love coming out the back first thing in the morning, to see what’s happening, what’s coming out.

“The banksia over the pergola is starting to flower and it’s just beautiful when it’s out.”

The garden at 2 Ullamulla Crescent, will be open on Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21, 10am-4.30pm. Adults $7, children under 18 are free. Light refreshments available. Funds raised will go to Open Gardens Australia and Home in Queanbeyan. More information at www.opengarden.org.au.

Pretty wisteria and old-style elegance

Also open for the October 20-21 weekend is 194 Denley Drive, Wamboin, where a beautifully designed and flowing garden features ponds, pretty wisteria and gorgeous vistas through the property and down to a lovely dam, and 3 Tennyson Crescent, an elegant, old style garden with a sweeping circular driveway partially covered by a natural canopy created by a pine tree and a large Chinese elm.