Four of the most spectacular gardens in this year's Leura Garden Festival are the responsibility of just one pair of green thumbs.
Jessica Lawn is the passionate gardener who maintains four adjoining properties in Gladstone Road - Ewanrigg, Fairways, St Anne's and Glenshiel.
Her one-woman business, Arborvitae, also maintains Euruga in Blaxland Rd, Wentworth Falls, which is a pre-festival open garden.
For Ms Lawn, it's more a labour of love than anything else.
"I feel incredibly proud and honoured to play a part in the Leura Gardens Festival and to share the history, beauty and magic that these gardens provide to the Blue Mountains and wider communities," she said.
Ms Lawn grew up on the northern beaches of Sydney but moved to the Mountains about 20 years ago. She had started work in hospitality - her mum owned a pub in Chippendale - then studied horticulture at Ryde TAFE.
She began as an assistant gardener at Everglades. before going out on her own when her daughter was born, some 16 years ago.
For Lawn, gardening is about "stewardship. The heritage is so important as is maintaining that heritage for future generations."
She feels her role as a gardener is "not to beautify it but to preserve it".
Lawn has been a quiet observer in her four Leura gardens during previous festivals.
"I walk around and listen to comments. People are crying. Gardens can really touch people's spirits."
As well as her gardening, she's a qualified arborist and is planning to start a map of significant and heritage trees in the Mountains. The campaign to catalogue the trees is being run by the Upper Mountains Arborists Association (umaa.org.au).
"It's to protect our heritage, our urban forest."
She's also hoping to encourage council to see to its significant tree register, which was last updated in 1998.
"That's my passion - to conserve our urban landscape for the future."
It's not easy maintaining four diverse and very extensive gardens, with ponds and paths and lawns, not to mention hundreds of trees, shrubs, climbers and bulbs.
"I feel a little bit overwhelmed sometimes because it's just me - I'm solo. It's hard work but the work pays off in my heart," she said.
This year's Leura Gardens Festival features 10 gardens, open 9.30am-4.30pm over two long weekends: Saturday, October 5, to Monday, October 7, and Friday, October 11, to Sunday, October 13. All-gardens ticket is $30 or $8 per individual garden.
There is also music, an art show and the ever-popular plant stall. See leuragardenfestival.com.au.
