Touring Bakehouse Studios lush garden recording space | Discovery | Gardening Australia

Millie heads to Melbourne’s iconic Bakehouse Studios to meet Quincy McLean and Helen Marcou, the creative music-industry duo behind this stunning recording space. After touring the rooms which have seen artists from Ed Sheeran to Elvis Costello, Millie hunts out what she came for—a plant-filled courtyard oasis. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
“That little bit of sanctuary is so crucial to the creative process”, says Helen. Quincy explains why providing this space is so important for him, “it’s an oasis! You’re in a stuffy rehearsal room for six hours at a time, but when you have your break the whole idea is you can clear your head, be relaxed and rejuvenated. Even the people who don’t notice plants, I think they subliminally appreciate it.”

Helen explains the eclectic collection of containers, plant stands, and of course, plants. “All of this stuff has come from Quincy’s gleaning from the side of the road, or things that were left behind here.” There are bromeliads from Quincy’s auntie’s garden, begonias donated by friends, and of course, heaps of agaves. Jo Franklin, the resident musician and horticulturalist explains the controversy over the over-use of agave, “Quincy loves them, but the thing about the agaves is that they became very popular, and then over-popular so people started throwing them out, so they are excellent fodder for side-of-the-road pickups.”
Jo Franklin is the musician and horticulturalist in charge of looking after the garden. She always loved the space, recording and rehearsing in it for the last 15 years, “you walk out the rehearsal room and into this deliciousness.” She has placed bluestones around the plants like “bumper bars” to protect them from the instruments, amps, and road cases being dragged through the space. Jo’s biggest concern is making sure that she is the only one watering, “with the diversity of these plants, what comes with that is very different water requirements. That’s just the fine-tuning and the tweaking.”

Jo reflects on the opportunistic nature of this urban oasis. “So much love goes into this, and some people see things differently, and that’s what Quincy and Helen have brought by starting this garden. You can see all the found objects and what they have turned into, the discarded which is now revered and at centre-stage, which is very cool.” Helen agrees, noting the cycles in trends for both plants and people, “we get plants that are out of fashion, because people get sick of them. But we have realised, that just like us, they will come back into fashion again.”

Featured Plants:
SPOTTED BEGONIA  – Begonia maculata 
BROMELIAD  - Guzmania cv. 
FOXTAIL AGAVE  – Agave attenuata 
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