Perennial dedication

How the Boyce generosity grew on this reluctant gardener

An image of Boyce Gardens estate manager Daryl Mears.

Boyce Gardens estate manager Daryl Mears. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

Boyce Gardens estate manager Daryl Mears. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

Daryl Mears has had enough of gardening. It’s a fair admission for a man who has spent more than four decades caring for a garden, but Mears is much more than just a gardener.

He has devoted his life to preserving and protecting one of Australia’s finest gardens and along with it, the legacy of the Darling Downs couple who created the horticultural prize more than 90 years ago.

Mears was a teenager in 1975 when he went to work as a labourer for Leslie and Margaret Boyce, who had established a private garden on their property at Mount Lofty on the edge of the Toowoomba Range.

“Oh wow! It was a posh house; rich people and a magnificent garden,” the softly spoken Mears said.

“I was only 15 when I started working there and I had no intention of doing gardening.”

“I wanted to go into the building game, but it was hard to get an apprenticeship at that time.”

The “posh house” and “magnificent” gardens cover six hectares of land on the Toowoomba escarpment.

An image of The "magnificent" Boyce Gardens property.

The "magnificent" Boyce Gardens property. Image: Bev Lacey/APN Australian Regional Media

The "magnificent" Boyce Gardens property. Image: Bev Lacey/APN Australian Regional Media

Shortly after they became engaged in 1929, Harriot Rose Margaret Hall, of Silver Spur in Southern Queensland, and Leslie Atherton Gerard Boyce, a promising business executive at the Toowoomba Foundry, bought the land on what was then the north-eastern outskirts of the city.

They didn’t have much to work with, but they had a vision for a garden that would become a place of horticultural education.

There was spur of eucalyptus woodland on its northern border, a scrap of natural rainforest and a run-down dairy farm.

An image of a Viola in full bloom at Boyce Gardens.

A Viola in full bloom at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

A Viola in full bloom at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

An image of an Elkorn Fern on the Grey gum tree at Boyce Gardens.

An Elkorn Fern on the Grey gum tree at Boyce Gardens.

An Elkorn Fern on the Grey gum tree at Boyce Gardens.

An image of a Cymbidium orchid at Boyce Gardens. I

A Cymbidium orchid at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

A Cymbidium orchid at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

An image of a path leading through Boyce Gardens.

A path leading through Boyce Gardens. Image: Bev Lacey/APN Australian Regional Media

A path leading through Boyce Gardens. Image: Bev Lacey/APN Australian Regional Media

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An image of a Viola in full bloom at Boyce Gardens.

A Viola in full bloom at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

A Viola in full bloom at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

An image of an Elkorn Fern on the Grey gum tree at Boyce Gardens.

An Elkorn Fern on the Grey gum tree at Boyce Gardens.

An Elkorn Fern on the Grey gum tree at Boyce Gardens.

An image of a Cymbidium orchid at Boyce Gardens. I

A Cymbidium orchid at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

A Cymbidium orchid at Boyce Gardens. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

An image of a path leading through Boyce Gardens.

A path leading through Boyce Gardens. Image: Bev Lacey/APN Australian Regional Media

A path leading through Boyce Gardens. Image: Bev Lacey/APN Australian Regional Media

They would spend decades on their labour of love, travelling the world to gain inspiration for the design, and ultimately creating a place of great beauty, that was Heritage Listed in 2001.

The young, reluctant gardener caught the Boyces’ enthusiasm for the project.

“My first job was pushing an old Southern Cross lawnmower around the place, and that was well before ride-on mowers too,” Mears said.

“And I clearly remember Dr Boyce teaching me how to use a scythe to cut down weeds.

“He showed me how to sharpen the scythe and how to use it – a bit harder than a whipper snipper. We’re spoilt these days.”

As his interest in gardening grew, so too did his relationship with his childless employers.

“I grew very attached to them,” Mears said.

“Mrs Boyce was a very quiet, reserved type of person.

“This was her garden – she designed it, developed it and planted it. I’ve always treated it as her garden.

“She was a very knowledgeable gardener and she was the one who taught me a lot of my gardening knowledge.”

Daryl Mears and Leslie Boyce check on the progress of a South American Silk Floss Tree, grown from a seed obtained on an overseas trip in 1983. Image The University of Queensland Fryer Library (UQFL605, box 2, folder 1)

While still a teenager, Mears took over as head gardener and moved onto the property.

“I lived in a one-bedroom cottage next to the main entrance of the gardens, it was only a little cottage, about 24 feet by 25 feet,” he said.

“The Boyces were like parents to me. I was very close to them, especially Dr Boyce.”

Like the Boyces, Mears’s life is entwined with the garden. 

“Mrs Boyce arranged all the flowers for our wedding, and we got married in the garden here.

“They were incredibly generous people.

“That was the good thing about both of them, they were pretty well known and respected citizens in Toowoomba. But it didn’t matter whether you were a ‘Joe-blow’ or whoever, they treated you exactly the same as they would treat the Vice-Chancellor or the Queen.”

Mears was soon promoted to assistant curator and, by 1987, became the estate manager, a job he said was made easy by the Boyce’s meticulous record keeping.

“They were both very methodical. They kept a lot of records of what’s been planted and what’s done well and what hasn’t,” he said.

“They introduced a lot of things to the garden, to Toowoomba actually.

“Through their travels, they got to know about South African proteas and grew them here.

“And the same with daffodils… it was said you couldn’t grow daffodils in Toowoomba, well the Boyce’s set about proving that wrong.

“And you can’t imagine the Carnival of Flowers without daffodils now.”

An image of Daryl Mears and Leslie Boyce checking on the progress of a South American Silk Floss Tree, grown from a seed obtained on an overseas trip in 1983.

Daryl Mears and Leslie Boyce check on the progress of a South American Silk Floss Tree, grown from a seed obtained on an overseas trip in 1983. Image The University of Queensland Fryer Library (UQFL605, box 2, folder 1)

Daryl Mears and Leslie Boyce check on the progress of a South American Silk Floss Tree, grown from a seed obtained on an overseas trip in 1983. Image The University of Queensland Fryer Library (UQFL605, box 2, folder 1)

An image of Daryl Mears sitting by a window inside the Boyce Gardens house

Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

The couple also left instructions for the future.

“We have a calendar they wrote that guides us in what we do each month; what to plant, what needs fertilising and what needs pruning,” Mears said.

“They wanted this to be a place of education and a demonstration garden, to show people what will grow here and what won’t.”

In May 1969, the Boyces gifted the estate to The University of Queensland for the enjoyment and education of the people of Australia.

An image of Leslie and Margaret Boyce in the 1950s.

Leslie and Margaret Boyce in the 1950s. Image: The University of Queensland Fryer Library

Leslie and Margaret Boyce in the 1950s. Image: The University of Queensland Fryer Library

The couple’s generosity also extended to their staff.

“When Mrs Boyce died, Dr Boyce offered the main residence to my wife and myself because he knew we were wanting to start a family, but I knocked him back because I didn’t want him to move out of his own house,” Mears said. 

“Then, unbeknown to me, he arranged before his death to have a house built for us down the side of the property.”

Now in his 60s, Mears is contemplating what is ahead.

“I’ve committed my whole life to this property,” Mears said.

“I’ve been here 46 years this December – I don’t really know why I stayed so long.

“It’s probably because I made a promise to the Boyces that I would maintain and develop the property to how they wished it would be.”

“It’s probably time to do something else now, but there are some things I want to get done here before I leave. That way, I will feel as though I’ve done what I promised the Boyces I’d do.”

An image of Daryl Mears outside the gates of Boyce Gardens, which was gifted to The University of Queensland in 1969.

Daryl Mears outside the gates of Boyce Gardens, which was gifted to The University of Queensland in 1969. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

Daryl Mears outside the gates of Boyce Gardens, which was gifted to The University of Queensland in 1969. Image: © Butterfly Kisses Creations

His to-do list includes upgrades planned to commence late this year on a car park on Range Street, pathways through the gardens, an outlook over the rainforest, and work on a reflection pool.

“There is a plan for the place now and I think it’s going to be in good hands. It will be preserved and thrive,” Mears said.

And what does the future hold for the reluctant gardener?

“I haven’t given much thought to what I’ll do after I retire, but it won’t be gardening,” he laughs.

“I’ve done enough mowing and I’ve done enough weeding.

“I’ll miss the gardens, but I’ll be a regular visitor.

“The garden shouldn’t be about me. This is the Boyces’ Garden: they developed it, they lived here and left it for the community.”

The UQ-managed Boyce Gardens are open to the public every day from 9am until 4pm, all year round.


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