Plotlines: Inside Victoria's private gardens Plotlines: Inside Victoria's private gardens By Megan Backhouse Normal text size The 24 gardens documented in The Garden State: Inside Victoria's Private Gardens lean towards the grand and the well established. These are the sort of landscapes that feature stately oaks, crab apple walks, lawns and topiary. The names of both 19th-century landscape gardener William Guilfoyle and 20th century designer Edna Walling frequently crop up. But there is also a selection of more contemporary spaces – often containing a wide suite of Australian plants – that have been designed to accommodate Victoria's increasingly hot and dry conditions. All except two of the gardens – Cranlana in Toorak and Bickleigh Vale in Mooroolbark – are outside Melbourne, and many are set in dramatic landscapes.