TWELVE months ago, Glennis and Peter Rodeck stood in their flood-ravaged garden filled with despair at the sight before them.

Up to 14 feet of water had washed through their Canning St property - and this was after two weeks of cleaning up from the first Boxing Day floods just prior.

Now, after hundreds more hours of cleaning, re-planting and weeding, the pair have brought new life into their expansive garden.

They are adding the final touches to open it publicly for the Open Garden Scheme in March.

"We had to take away 43 tonnes of debris," Mrs Rodeck said.

"Straight after the floods happened we had to polish the leaves individually to get rid of the layer of silt on them so the plants wouldn't die."

The water washed away plants in the bottom half of the garden and crept a few feet up their sandstone 'cliff'.

The billabong at the bottom of their cliff - which in the 1920s was the town's old swimming hole - was also filled with the muddy water.

Mrs Rodeck has spent up to six hours each day in the garden, a lot of which had been in 'Max's yard', a large block the pair purchased three years ago.

This week the pair turned their attention to getting rid of the dangerous bunya nuts in their pine trees in preparation for the open garden display, 51 of which were taken from the one tree alone.

Many additions have been made since their last open garden two years ago, including a beautiful tile mosaic and Japanese garden feature.

Open garden

WHEN: March 31-April 1

COST: $7 per person, under 18s free

Clint Kenny's The Laurels will also open the same weekend