Swan Hill, Victoria — Est. 1981
Peta-Lyn was born here. John arrived in the 1960s. Between them, they've spent a lifetime learning what this country can grow.
Our Story
Peta-Lyn Nosatti grew up in Swan Hill. Her father ran a dairy farm on a flat, cleared block just out of town — the kind of land that tells you exactly what it is: open Mallee country, big sky, hard summers, cold winters.
In 1981, Peta-Lyn and her husband John took on that old farm block and started planting. Not with grand plans — just with the quiet intention of making something grow. They started with barely a dozen trees.
Forty-five years on, that block is a 3-acre oasis. It didn't come easily. The soil had significant salinity challenges — a problem that affects many gardens across the Swan Hill region — and they've spent decades learning how to work with it and around it. Today it stands as proof of what's possible in the Mallee, when you understand the land and choose the right plants.
That's the knowledge Peta-Lyn and John bring to Rhimahden every single day.
"That's not something you can learn from a catalogue. It's something you learn from forty-five years of growing in this country."
— Peta-Lyn & John Nosatti
Our Garden
Most nursery owners know plants. Peta-Lyn and John live with them — in the same soil, under the same sun, through the same seasons as their customers.
Their garden just outside Swan Hill is not a showpiece. It's a working, evolving piece of Mallee country that they've coaxed, challenged, and learned from over more than four decades. It includes specimens that prove what will thrive here, and the lessons of experiments that taught them what won't.
Saline soil is a real challenge across much of the Swan Hill region. The Nosattis have battled it — and largely overcome it — on their own property for decades. When they recommend a plant for difficult soils, they're speaking from their own backyard.
The Nursery
Rhimahden has been part of Swan Hill for over 20 years. It grew from a simple idea: that people in this region deserve a nursery that actually understands where they live. The Mallee is not like the rest of Victoria — and the plants that thrive here reflect that.
The People
Two lifetimes of Swan Hill gardening, behind every recommendation we make.
Photo of Peta-Lyn
Peta-Lyn was born and raised in Swan Hill — on the very block that is now their family garden. Her father's old dairy farm is where she learned what this land asks of those who try to grow things on it. That understanding runs through everything she does at the nursery.
Photo of John
John first came to Swan Hill in the 1960s and has called the Mallee home ever since. Alongside Peta-Lyn, he has spent over four decades transforming the old dairy farm block into the thriving garden it is today — and that experience is at the heart of everything Rhimahden recommends.
Why Locals Choose Rhimahden
We know this climate — the heat, the frost, the salt, the dry. Every plant we stock is chosen with Swan Hill conditions in mind.
Peta-Lyn has called Swan Hill home her whole life. John since the 1960s. That's a lifetime of watching what grows here — and what doesn't.
We've dealt with salinity on our own property for decades and we can help you deal with it on yours.
We source from local growers and the best nurseries in Victoria — plants that are properly acclimatised, not trucked in from interstate.
We've been part of the Swan Hill community for over 20 years. We're not a chain — we're your local nursery, and we'd love to help.
Can't see what you're after? Just ask. We'll do our utmost to track it down for you.
Open 7 Days
Whether you're planning a whole new garden or just after one plant that will actually survive the summer — we're here to help.