Red Hill Peony Estate

Red Hill Peony Estate is growing nicely

Jillian Holmes-Smith is lucky, and she knows it. Her family has been in Red Hill for seven generations, and it is this connection to the rich Red Hill soil and the produce it supports that makes her the woman she is today. Partly anyway.

Let’s begin at her Red Hill Peony Estate in Arthurs Seat Rd. Originally grown for more than 2000 years in China, the peony is a flowering plant in the genus Paeonia — and Jill loves them. When you stroll down her long driveway past her sister’s truffle farm to the left and the acres of free farming land that have been passed on to her by her father, Ray Holmes, you are taken back to a time when living on the land might have been brutally wonderful. Simpler but harsh at the same time. Set back is her and her husband Philip’s wonderful home and her prized Red Hill Peony Estate, where 7000 peony plants – and hundreds of lilies and dahlias – can be found behind a stunning 200-year-old gate from Egypt. It’s like you’ve been transported through a time portal where ancient premium Peninsula land melds with modern-day sensitivities under the umbrella of unobtrusively good taste.

Jill explains that her peonies are now four to seven years old, and most are producing 15-25 blooms. She now sells her herbaceous peonies potted to make sure they are viable plants, and although they love sun they also need 30 hours of frost to ensure that they flower. It will always be hard work growing peonies at Red Hill, as each plant is hand-iced by Jill and Philip four times during the winter months. “We no longer get the number of frosts that my ancestors experienced.”

The land that grows these gorgeous flowers is magnificent. Jill’s great-great-grandparents Robert and Eliza Sheehan purchased the Red Hill property from James McKeown in 1886 — although Jill’s father Ray reminds us all that the original inhabitants of the land were the Boon Wurrung people, in his wonderful historical record of the family’s history entitled Red Hill Ancestors. James had planted a large grove of European trees around his home from seedlings provided by the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, and many of them still stand today.

The Sheehans came from Victoria’s Western District in search of a cooler climate after leaving their farm in Murtoa to their eldest son and began clearing the land until they invited their daughter, Olive Holmes, and her large family to join them. They milled the timber, planted vegetables and fruit trees, and had cattle grazing. Now, 136 years later, we see Jill tending to the land once again. “The remaining 80 acres (32ha) the family has is still being farmed today — albeit very differently. The adjacent land formally known as Endeavour Gully is now owned by the National Trust and makes up the largest continuous treed area on the whole of the Mornington Peninsula.”

As you drive through Red Hill you’ll come across road signs like Sheehans Rd, Holmes Rd and Sheehan’s Corner. Now you know why. Jill’s Red Hill Peony Estate is open to the public for visits in late-October-November and is well worth a wander to be historically and aesthetically inspired. Or you can visit her beautiful American-style barn, built by Ray and Phil in 2019, to pick up some peonies or purchase some of Jill’s fabulous art — yes, she can do that too! This Peninsula hands-on creative obtained a Master of Arts at Illinois University in the US in 1990 and so has been painting for years.

Everything Jill puts her mind to has a deeply satisfying artistic quality, whether it’s her peonies or painting or creating a beautiful space for Mornington Peninsula residents and visitors alike to unwind and connect with the generational earth beneath them.

Log on to www.redhillpeonyestate.com.au to find Red Hill Peony Estate’s 2022 dates for the June ‘hands-on’ peony workshops and the peony-filled spring open days.