A two and a half hour bus trip on Sunday with a local horticultural group took me almost 200 kilometres away, to the Strathbogie Ranges in northern Victoria, to visit three very different but beautiful gardens.
Two of them were on working farms, the first was the creation of one woman over the fifty years she has lived there, and the other developed by a couple from an empty paddock during the last thirteen. Both of these were large, informal but carefully planned and each where places one would feel immediately comfortable and at home. They were filled with easily recognisable plants and trees in clever combinations, and while one featured a number of Australian native species, the other had mainly deciduous European trees, mature rhodendrons, cornus, viburnam species and other ornamentals as well as iris, aquilegia and too many other perennials to itemise.
The third garden, Sunnymeade was in another league all together, more like something one would find gracing the pages of a glossy English garden book than in country Victoria. Craig Irving is the man who designed the garden and built all the stone structures that add to its character. Check out the link for more information, it was certainly worth the visit and his garden is open again in early November if you should be in the area.
These are some my photos:
Not sure what this one is - a small shrubby Eucalypt of some sort I think...
This is a prostrate dwarf Banksia, the flowers looked like a crop of furry mushrooms or hairy dwarfs!
This is Banksia ericifolia
Seedpods of Telopea (Waratah)
Trunks of Prunus serrula ( Tibetan Cherry)
Clematis species
Eucalyptus caesia
Cornus florida ( Flowering Dogwood)
One of the amazing stone stuctures at Sunnymeade.
3 comments:
Love seeing the different plants grown down under....beautiful photos!
What variety, colours ,shapes and textures. That arch is beautiful.
Oh how neat!!! Very pretty. Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
*karendianne.
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