A Moment in Time - Melbourne International Garden & Flower Show

Some gardens stop you in your tracks. Not because of their scale, or their spectacle, but because of what they are trying to say.

The garden that brought Landscape Queensland member Yards to the 2024 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show was one of those gardens. Designed by Irish landscape architect Peter Donegan, A Moment in Time told the story of a returned serviceman in early 1980s South East Australia. A cabin with a grass roof left uncut for months. A path winding to a Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircraft suspended 3.5 metres above the ground. A lawn deliberately let grow a little long. Every detail quietly purposeful, every element chosen to honour those who return from service unable to live life as they once did. The garden was built in support of the Defence Force Welfare Association.

For Ben French, founder of Yards and a landscape designer with more than 30 years of experience, it was exactly the kind of project he believes gardens exist to enable.

"Gardens are there to grow up in, to relax in, to escape to. They are the places where memories are made, from childhood adventures to quiet moments and family gatherings."

A Moment in Time asked something more of that belief. It asked whether a garden, built in nine days on a showground in Melbourne, could stop a stranger in their tracks and make them remember someone they loved. It could. And it did.
 

How a Brisbane Team Ended Up in Melbourne

The connection began not in Melbourne but in Cairns. During the October 2023 Australian Institute of Horticulture conference, Ben found himself in conversation with Donegan, who had been invited as guest speaker. Over five days, those conversations gradually shifted toward show gardens, and an invitation was extended.

It was a natural fit. Ben's career has been built around the belief that outdoor spaces do more than complement a home, they enrich the way people live. A garden built to honour returned servicemen, designed to make strangers feel something, was not a departure from that philosophy. It was an expression of it.

By March 2024, the Yards team of four had made the trip south to work alongside Victorian-based Semken Landscaping, Melbourne's most awarded show garden contractor, to bring Donegan's vision to life.

"We had never worked with the Semken team or designer Peter Donegan, add in a nine-day build time in an unfamiliar city, the nerves can kick in if you let them. But we knew we were in good hands."

 

The Build

The build commenced on a blank canvas. By the end of day one the plane was set, the cabin was taking shape, and the path framework was in place. Over nine days, working through temperatures nudging 38 degrees, the team brought every considered detail to life.

The cabin was styled with pieces authentic to the early 1980s. The grass on the roof had not been cut since late the previous year. The lawn on the ground had been left to grow for weeks before installation. Nothing was accidental. Everything was in service of the story.

Landscape Project Manager Amanda proposed enhancements along the way, including a rooftop water feature and a meticulously scaled replica letterbox crafted to 1:13 of the cabin. The Yards team finished ahead of schedule and were fortunate enough to spend time working on a second show garden by renowned Japanese designer Koji Nonomiya before the gates opened to the public.

"Were they big days? The biggest nine days we have probably ever worked back-to-back. But probably the best nine days back-to-back we have ever worked."

 

When the Gates Opened

More than 107,000 visitors passed through the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Many of them stopped at A Moment in Time.

The Defence Force Welfare Association were present throughout the show, ready to speak with those who sought them out. The Yards team, each personally invested in telling the story with care and respect, watched as the garden did what the best gardens do: it made people feel something.

"The garden captured a lot of attention and interaction from people who either served or have had loved ones serve. They observed, they remembered loved ones, there was feeling involved and many valuable conversations were raised throughout the show."

For a team more accustomed to the long, considered work of building and maintaining exceptional private gardens across Brisbane, hearing that response from strangers carried its own particular weight.

"Whilst receiving ongoing positive feedback from our clients is gratifying, experiencing firsthand compliments from strangers was equally rewarding for our team."

 

What It Meant

Ben French established Yards in Brisbane in 2005, building the business around a simple but deeply held belief that gardens nurture us, in ways both obvious and quietly profound. Yards has been a Landscape Queensland member since 2014, celebrating their ten-year member milestone with last year's member milestone plaques, and well on their way to fifteen. The Yards team have continued to make their mark with recognition at the Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards.

That longevity within the industry, and within the Landscape Queensland community, is reflected in everything being a part of a show experience represented. Not just the craft of building a complex show garden in nine days in an unfamiliar city, but the willingness to show up for something larger than a brief.

"It is supporting the industry that supports us. The camaraderie witnessed was unparalleled, with everyone lending a hand and enhancing our industry collectively."

The garden is long gone now, dismantled after the show closed. But A Moment in Time left something behind in the people who stood in it, remembered someone, and stayed a little longer than they planned to.

 

Yards is based in Brisbane and delivers premium garden and turf care services across Southeast Queensland. Led by Registered Horticulturist Ben French, the multi award-winning team specialises in creating and maintaining exceptional gardens and premium lawns.