The Johnsons recently sold the Garden Vineyard in Graydens Road and will 'retire' to Mornington and, perhaps surprisingly, no garden.

When they bought the property in 1996, it was sparse farmland with 0.4 hectare of pinot noir grapevines. Seven years later, after tonnes of horse and chicken manure and hard yakka, the paddocks had been transformed into what Don Burke of Burke's Backyard fame described as one of the 10 best gardens in Australia and it featured on the BBC television series Around the World in 80 Gardens.

The property will be open to the public as part of Australia's Open Garden Scheme whose spokeswoman described the garden as "breathtakingly beautiful". "A few years ago most of the plantings in the walled garden were replaced with an array of predominantly Mediterranean-style plants to create a strikingly handsome dry garden."

Thirsty perennials and lawn have given way to a grove of white crepe myrtles, clipped cistus, lavender, hebes and pittosporums edged with relaxed ground covers, such as prostrate rosemary and thymes, spilling over granitic sand.

The grey borders under a grove of young lemon-scented gums show a similar Mediterranean influence and were inspired by the elegant garden of Nicole de Vesian in the south of France.

Westringia and French lavender have been clipped into spheres, complemented by wormwood and other grey foliage plantings at the base of a lilly-pilly hedge (see picture).

■ The Garden Vineyard, 174 Graydens Road, Moorooduc, opens 10am-4.30pm on Saturday-Sunday, April 10-11. Entry: $8 adults, free for under-18s. Also wine tastings, visitors welcome to bring a picnic, and plants on sale. Part-proceeds will go to the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, and Peninsula Hospice Service volunteers will offer food and drinks.