(GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC)
Today I'm in the Southern Highlands of NSW
to visit the garden of an Aussie icon.
Scottish-born Jimmy Barnes has been a bedrock of the Aussie music scene
for close to 50 years.
From the heady days of Cold Chisel and 'Flame Trees',
the most famous song about an Australian plant,
to a barrow full of solo albums,
you could be forgiven for thinking he'd done it all.
(JIMMY SINGS) # We shared some history... #
That is, until 2020,
when Jimmy Barnes became a gardener.
Like most of us recently, Jimmy and Jane,
his partner in life and work for 40 years,
have been grounded.
Live music and the performing arts
were one of the first industries to be shut down.
This gave Jimmy and Jane the rare opportunity
to experience the four full seasons in this garden.
I love being down here, because you actually get four seasons.
A lot of places in and around Sydney,
it's, like...pretty close, similar all year round.
This way, it gets cold every night. You can sleep.
The autumn's beautiful down here. The spring's gorgeous.
Summer's hot, so you can swim in the river, you know?
And winter, it just rains every day, so it's a bit like Scotland for me.
The Highlands. I was gonna say!
Yeah, I left Scotland when I was pretty young,
but I do like to feel the seasons change.
And as devastating as COVID's been for a lot of people,
and, you know, we haven't seen a lot of family,
but we've really enjoyed just sitting still
and just, you know, learning to sit and be,
you know, with yourself.
Now, I've heard from reliable sources that you've got a passion for roses.
Yeah, I love 'em.
I think they're beautiful, yeah.
I think it's my favourite.
How did that come about?
Well, you know, I mean,
I always liked them.
And, you know, you get a great garden rose, it smells so beautiful.
You know? And...
And then, of course, once we got here and we had the garden,
and we had some established roses growing,
I just sort of started looking
and I started, you know, picking a few for Jane.
And then we added to it.
We started getting, you know, roses from friends.
I had a 60th birthday
and instead of presents, I said, "Bring me a rose."
So everybody sort of picked their favourite rose,
came and we planted it.
That way, it's sort of the gift that keeps on giving.
Yeah, exactly!
So I figured I couldn't come without contributing to the rose garden.
And this one is a special one, 'cause it's got
family significance for me.
Right.
This is my grandmother's favourite rose, the 'Double Delight'.
Beautiful.
And my mum loved it, my sister loved it.
And it has this beautiful red and yellow
almost swirl through it.
But wait till you smell it. Right.
The fragrance is next level.
The great smell of a garden rose. There's nothing better.
Yeah. Yeah. This one is... This one's a ripper.
Where are we gonna plant it, you reckon?
Well, there's a couple of gaps here.
And everywhere gets lots of sun here, so it's really good.
I think somewhere in the middle there.
Yeah, somewhere there could be good. Yeah.
But, oh, thanks, pal. This is a really great gift.
And I had to...
Because you can't give one. No. You can't give one. (LAUGHS)
And I could have gotten two different ones,
but I think you're gonna love this bouquet so much
it's nice to have two.
We'll put that one up in here.
And I'll plant them once you guys go.
Yeah, fantastic.
Oh, that's... What a great gift.
'Cause, you know, you give somebody a gift and, you know...
It's gone. Bottle of wine or something, it's gone.
This is something that'll be here forever.
And the next person who moves into this house, when I die,
will say, "Where'd that beautiful rose come from?"
And I like the thought that
now and then when you pick one, you might go,
"Oh, that's right! That bloke...
"Who was that bloke that gave me that?"
Some guy... That Greek fella!
(BOTH LAUGH)
I knew I was coming down, so I brought
my clippers just in case we needed them.
Carrying them round everywhere with me now!
The Barnes' garden has hives of honeybees,
a developing orchard and a luscious little veggie patch.
Wow, great veggie patch!
How important is it for you to grow and eat your own food?
Well, we planted our favourite things
'cause we don't grow everything that we eat,
but it's always nice to have,
you know, the freshness of the herbs
and come out and pick a bit of, you know, leaves, lettuce...
This patch is sort of the near field, you know?
We come in here, like... This is what we use more often.
Like, grab the herbs, you know? Grab some shallots or some wild greens.
So these are the near ones.
The little bits that are in season.
So, what are you selecting from the garden?
Well, I thought I'd get some oregano,
fresh oregano especially.
And we're doing a bit of lamb too, so maybe a rosemary
will go with that too.
Some parsley. I'll grab a few lettuce leaves for our salad maybe.
And a few flowers, Costa. Are you good with the edibles?
Edible flowers? Yeah, definitely.
I'm just starting to get used to the idea of eating flowers, by the way.
You know, it is a new thing.
Scottish people don't eat flowers, you know?
(BOTH LAUGH)
So new-age! I can't believe it!
You know, we've got... Are you barefoot as well?
No, no, no. That'll be next.
Food is at the heart of the garden and family life
for the Barnes clan.
We are a touring family.
Jane's been in the band for quite a few years now
but before that, she always toured with me anyway.
We were always on the road with the kids and all that.
So whenever we got the chance to be home,
cooking and being in our space brought joy to us, you know?
And relaxes us. We're not at work then.
What do you love most about this garden?
Obviously I like the rose garden,
but there's lots of parts that I like.
I mean, there's little places down the bottom here
where, you know, you walk through the trees
and it's like a secret garden.
You come out and you're just right on the bend of the river.
And that's where I quite often see, you know, echidnas
and things like that.
I love daphne.
Got about 50 bushes in.
But I love all the gums.
I just look at them and... They feel like they've got spirit.
While life for the Barneses is firing up,
the last couple of years with their family and garden
have changed their outlook.
It's really just such a gift.
And it brings you joy.
I've spent my life sort of...
..in crowds and in making racket and jumping around like a lunatic.
Just to sit and look in. It's allowed me to do that.
And you talk to the birds and the bees.
And they come and talk to me every day. It's good.
Who knew? (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)
Now, I couldn't come and visit you and talk gardening
without bringing a specific iconic gift.
Because I didn't know if you've got one of these. Do you?
A brachychiton?
(BOTH LAUGH)
I don't have a brachychiton, no!
Let me see...
"Illawarra flame tree."
I don't have one!
So I thought this one, you can have in a nice pot and keep it small.
But then I thought, "Well, you know,
"I can't just give you something small.
"We've gotta go big, because that was a big hit."
It was a big hit. It was a big song.
And so there's...
There's the album version and the single.
This is the single. (LAUGHS)
Ohh!
That's so nice. We'll call it Costa.
(LAUGHS) Costa the flame tree.
I'll come out and bring the guitar
and sing it one day underneath the tree and send it to you.
Yeah! When the tree comes up a bit more.
When there's some flames on it. OK. That's a deal.
That's a deal. First flames, I'll be down here.
That's beautiful.
First flames, you'll be down, we'll be singing together.
OK. I love...
And they'll blind the weary drivers as they're driving in.