By Tyler Wright
A Belgrave resident is preparing to have two garden designs showcased in Melbourne’s upcoming International Flower and Garden Show.
Rebecca Mitchell decided to enter her designs into the competition after visiting the show with her friend last year.
“I looked at the website and I was day dreaming, it said ‘get involved;’ I thought maybe I could be a volunteer, and then of course I came to the competition section,” Rebecca said.
Despite not yet owning her own business, Rebecca had permaculture design certificates behind her and decided to take the plunge; creating a design to submit into the border garden design and balcony design categories, inspired by her time living in apartment spaces and her love of growing food.
“It was combining all those things; a lovely space to sit, a little space, you could be by yourself cocooned away with a book, and then if you wanted to have people over, you could fold out this table, pull out a chair and have someone round for a cup of tea or cocktail or dinner,” Rebecca said.
“Privacy as well is one thing…being an apartment you don’t always get the best view and you sometimes look straight into neighbours or traffic, so a lot of people perhaps don’t use their balconies because of this.”
“I’d really love it if greening balconies could come with these housing development programs.”
On Christmas Eve, Rebecca found out her design for a balcony garden had been accepted, followed by the news some weeks later her border garden had also been accepted.
“It was a bit of a shock, and then I thought ‘okay, that’s okay. I can do this, why not?” she said.
“So now I’ve got to build two gardens and I’ve got no money and I’ve got not no business… that’s how it started, in a complete and utter panic of how on earth I was going to do it.”
With her designs accepted into the show, Rebecca took the opportunity to create her own business, Little Footprint Studios.
“That’s what inspired me to think about the mums group, because that’s also been a really massive help and support for me and for so many mums, especially through Covid, when most of us who are stay at home mums are literally home alone and don’t get to see or speak to anyone,” she said.
After the show, Rebecca hopes to donate her gardens to members of the community; particularly to a local mum in need or to the Mums of the Hills hub as a way of giving back.
The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show will run from Wednesday 29 March to Sunday 2 April at the Royal Exhibition and Carlton Gardens.
