William Martin is an Australian garden designer, artist, and writer. His garden Wigandia in south westVictoria, at Noorat was twice voted Australia's best garden.
Approach
Martin is an outspoken advocate for a new approach to gardening in Australia. He eschews approaches to gardening in Australia that emphasised rigorous preparation of soil and selection of plants based on traditions. Climactic suitability was taken for granted as a necessary prerequisite for inclusion. For Australian magazine Your Garden, Martin wrote: "Choose the right plant types for your given growing conditions and area and the rest will fall into place". Elsewhere, Martin is described as "independent of mind, individual in style". He has argued that most Australian gardening is still in a "Northern Hemisphere style" and therefore does not truly reflect Australian identity. However, this does not by any means suggest a focus on endemic Australian plants.
Martin began work on Wigandia, named after the Wigandia caracasana, in 1989. Martin's perspective as an artist can be said to be in a constant state of flux. Early written work on Wigandia frequently highlight his objection to the "pampered woody European legacy" that has informed the Australian garden in the past. However, with the establishment of Wigandia as a working model of what can be achieved with minimal irrigation, Martin's attention has shown signs of shifting focus to the development of an understanding of his garden as art. Media attention may have 'focused' on the 'dry' aspect of this garden for its own purposes, considering the prolonged drought of Eastern Australia at the time. The four hectare property that encompassed Wigandia, has been said to have begun life as 'nothing but a horse paddock, heavily grazed and aching with weeds'. Martin has variously described his garden as 'a series of sketches, but a single canvas' and elsewhere, 'a single canvas with every area interlinked'. He has also attested to his interest in geographic references by stating that a primary concern was to 'ensure the garden harmonises with the surrounding landscape of Mount Noorat'. It could be argued this forms a key foundation in the colour selection at Wigandia where the paths and interspaces feature crushed red volcanic scoria sourced from southwest Victoria. In a gesture to cultural references, the frequent use of corrugated iron, a key feature of construction in rural Australia, is used in the garden as a barrier material for fencing and other installations. Martin has been described as an artist who "explores the complex relationships between landscape, environment, culture and society." To the extent that such a statement can be said to be anything other than general in nature, it applies to Martin in respect to his elevation of garden design to the realm of art ; a concept virtually unheard of in the Australian context and still in embryonic form internationally.
Interpretations
After a visit in 2014 the noted American designer James Golden observed the place of Martin's work inthe international lexicon of garden art when he wrote: "Few gardens I’ve ever visited so completely reflect the spirit of their place–and this place is extraordinary." In a major tribute to Martin's influence on garden design the noted Australian gardening writer Michael McCoy has stated, "Once you’ve seen Wigandia – as many did when it was all over the garden media a decade or so ago – you never quite garden the same again."
