I'm an aficionado of grasses, I championed them thirty years ago at my nursery in Sydney and have been a fan of them ever since and as with the last post I wrote on lilies I buy new ones and experiment every time I see one I don't have. Some grasses have been wonderful surprises
There's something very comforting with the familiarity one receives from a garden - especially a garden that you've lived with for some time, it's a part of you. In my own garden I see things flowering at the same time each year and it reassures me that all is on track and good - at
For once I'm having a quiet afternoon in the studio by myself, attending to all the emails I've started and never finished and doing the same thing with invoices - because if they're not sent nobody is ever going to pay them
It's a wild messy time of year and I love it! The paths are strewn with fallen leaves, the weeds are growing like there's no tomorrow and the garden surprises me every week with a new appearance - often unscheduled and unexpected. The days have been unseasonably warm with only a few coolish nights and the fireplace
It seems like nothing is growing - and then all of a sudden it happens. I like to think of the plants in my garden as a room full of people at a lecture; the speaker asks if there are any questions and most of the attendants stare blankly into space, then one tentative hand
The time is almost here to say goodbye to the old Agave at my entry gate. Agave are monocarpic which means they flower once and then die - now the buds have opened and the yellow blooms almost spent this will be it. The leaves which were once so spectacular are swiftly withering, yellowing and
In some winter gardens things are bleak, but in my own garden - and in the gardens we design, this is rarely the case. There are countless plants that have been virtually lost from our Australian gardens, like the japonica as they used to be known. These fool proof shrubs were one seen in gardens everywhere
At last the summer heat is behind us, and after the recent rain the garden couldn't have a broader smile. There's a fat Camellia sasanqua `Yuletide' outside the studio by the driveway and I walk past it many times each day and it's not only it's clear red colour and golden stamens that make please me it's the
This morning feels like a holiday. Late getting out of bed (6am is late for me) and after feeding dogs, chickens and horses a slow walk around the garden to check out what's happening. The grass is long - too long, but Cathy will get to that later this morning or tomorrow. The garden is
Yesterday the temperature soured to around 44 degrees here. Late afternoon when we headed off in the car to meet friends for dinner the car temperature gauge said 48, which was extraordinarily unpleasant. The heat was no surprise the weather bureau had warned us it was coming and I had the garden watered which as
Yesterday was a long hot day, we had just swum in the pool - and there was a slim chance there would be some well deserved rain, I was standing on the verandah cooking sausages on the bbq with Robbie my brother in law and I looked down to the nursery and took the first image, and
On the sandstone terrace outside my back door is a terracotta pot with a broken handle which was given to me by a friend when she was moving house. There was an Epiphyllum growing in it when I got it - not very beautiful, with blemishes all over it, I left it in the pot just
I like to use unusual plant combinations in our gardens. Plants from opposite sides of the world hold hands with one another. The only rule is basically they have to look well together and live in similar habitats - but even then it doesn't count for much if he plants are hardy and tolerant. At home
Selling a house is always traumatic. A few months ago a friend sold the home they had lived in for many years. Before the opportunity had passed I thought I should ask Brigid to photograph it. As it turns out the new owners love the garden so much they have called me to help them out. So