Hillwood Estate, Washington D.C.On a cool misty November day, we drove into the Hillwood Estate and Garden car park and were soon registered at the Visitor Centre. The Estate is not a massive tract of land, but it is filled with many treasures, both in the house and in the garden. Outbuildings also house many treasures.
War Gardens – a reviewThis book and its theme are timely and poignant. We won’t stop waging wars. Some parts of the globe have long histories of it with competition for resources, land, water, trade and souls. Dwindling water supplies suggest more will come. We also won’t stop gardening – for food, shelter, beauty, solace – and this book is revealing on why. What gardening does for us – something that seems worth pondering and talking-up, as peace-fostering.
I love a sunburnt country…but wish it would rain some more – a sequelIn February 2018, I was bemoaning the loss of some long-established plants in my predominantly native garden in the Hunter Valley.
The Gardens of the MonaroGardens in the Monaro area of southern NSW need to be resilient and tolerant of droughts, frosts and snow. Here is the story of three gardens. Continue reading
Vallarta Botanical Garden, MexicoCurrently, Mexico is recognized as the fifth-richest country in plant and animal species, but expanding human population and legal and illegal logging are taking their toll.
Australian wildflowers featureAustralian wildflowers were the focus of a national competition, designed to promote awareness of their use in floristry.
A show for the bucket listIs the Hampton Court Flower Show on your bucket list? If not, here’s at least five reasons why it should be.
The Gardener opens in Australian cinemasThe Gardener, a documentary which reflects on the meaning of gardening and its impact on our lives, opened in selected Australian cinemas from October 11.
Instant city garden oasisGarden designer Robert Boyle’s client had dreams of a very private city garden, only to discover the adjoining property, which they had just purchased to create their back-garden oasis, would be overlooked and dominated by a large development on a neighbour’s property.
Naples Botanical GardenHorticulture can be an undisciplined craft—the lack of set rules sometimes gives rise to brilliance, sometimes not. Those with unbridled enthusiasm for plants tend to chafe under the restraint of design while designers often complain that gardeners are messing things up. Fortunately, horticulture and design partnered to make the Naples Botanical Garden garden a true joy.
Child’s play garden designIn order to create exciting gardens for young children, you need to put yourself in their shoes. It’s a sad fact of life that most of us lose, bit by bit, connection with the direct sensory world of our childhood.
Seasons GardenLet us introduce ourselves – we are Brigitte Moseley and David White and we own the garden ‘Seasons’ at 5 St Georges Rd, Leura, which will be open in this year’s Leura Gardens Festival. Continue reading
Rydal daffodilsThe small village of Rydal nearly 1000 metres above sea level has the ideal climate for growing daffodils and like its namesake in England where William Wordsworth lived for a time and wrote about daffodils, Rydal New South Wales can present a host of golden daffodils.