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	<title>Michael Cooke Garden Design</title>
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	<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/</link>
	<description>Garden Design Central Coast and Sydney</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 02:10:50 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Garden in a Rainforest</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/garden-in-a-rainforest</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Aug 2024 06:55:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Completed Gardens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disobedient Gardens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Garden Projects]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bohemian Traders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Box Building and Landscaping]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=2187</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>I love designing gardens &#8211; and it’s not just about the gardens and plants, it’s the connections that are made with the owners in the process that make it special. People intrigue me, and to design their garden well we have to know who we are designing for &#8211; because essentially it’s not my garden,...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/garden-in-a-rainforest">Garden in a Rainforest</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2164" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7356.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7356.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7356-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7356-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7356-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p><strong><em>I love designing gardens &#8211; and it’s not just about the gardens and plants, it’s the connections that are made with the owners in the process that make it special.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>People intrigue me, and to design their garden well we have to know who we are designing for &#8211; because essentially it’s not my garden, it’s theirs.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>Every garden we design is our response to it’s owners, their family, and the way they dream of living within it.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>There’s also the architecture to consider and the garden is also a part of the larger environment and its community &#8211; and there are almost always constraints.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>There’s nothing cookie cutter about our designs and this is what keeps us engaged.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>Every project we work on is unique and has its story.</em></strong></p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2167" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7574.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7574.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7574-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7574-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7574-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>Emily and David Berlach live at the end of a long tree lined driveway on the edge of a rainforest, together they are the directors of <a href="https://bohemiantraders.com">Bohemian Traders</a> &#8211; a size inclusive Australian Fashion house. Their home and gardens are symbiotic with their lives and who they are. This is the sort of home you would want to grow old in, it ages like fine wine and their three children have the space to grow and run free.</p>
<p>When we first met, I was drawn to the house and garden &#8211; it felt like I knew it. We wandered and talked through their garden which was crammed with plants of all kinds but I felt there was too much going on &#8211; an interesting, yet (to me) confusing mix of styles that lacked cohesion which we would have to lift and rephrase to tell the story it deserved.</p>
<p>When new owners ‘inherit’ a previous owner’s garden often there can be trepidation in making changes, but when I walked through their home they were well on the way to making the interior truly theirs and the confidence showed. It appeared effortlessly cool and our aim was to give them a similar assured feel of `belonging’ outside in the garden, using materials with character that mellow and improve with age rather than things shiny, new and bright.</p>
<p>There were functional aspects that had to be addressed too such as parking, access to the guest cottage as it is also used as a backdrop to some of their fashion shoots, some privacy planting to a distant home on the other side of a large pond and what to do with unused land above the house.</p>
<p>They really needed a larger, and really beautiful entertaining space close to their living area and kitchen and I imagined a light framed pergola attached to the building in the way Cathy and I had seen in France that would be vine clad to offer summer shade and I had little idea how to actually do this and <a href="https://www.boxbl.com.au">Box Building and Landscaping</a> interpreted and implemented our design with finesse and have maintained the garden to this day.</p>
<div id="attachment_2169" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2169" class="size-full wp-image-2169" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7562.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7562.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7562-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7562-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7562-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2169" class="wp-caption-text"><em>The black steel pergola which attaches to the home is clad in ornamental grape vines which drop their leaves to allow winter sun to enter the living room. Details such as Anduze urns, weathered table </em><i>and handmade Italian light lend warmth.</i></p></div>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2168" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7431.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7431.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7431-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7431-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7431-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_2170" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2170" class="size-full wp-image-2170" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7566.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="562" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7566.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7566-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7566-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2170" class="wp-caption-text"><em>An outdoor fireplace becomes a focal point David barbecues in the old fashioned way &#8211; over coals and there is nothing that beats the smell of woodsmoke</em></p></div>
<div id="attachment_2171" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2171" class="size-full wp-image-2171" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7628.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7628.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7628-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7628-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2171" class="wp-caption-text"><em>Japanese box plants are trimmed into mounds of varying sizes and a gravel path path leads to the guest house where rosemary has been planted at the base of a stone wall</em></p></div>
<div id="attachment_2172" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2172" class="size-full wp-image-2172" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7607.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7607.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7607-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7607-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7607-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2172" class="wp-caption-text"><em>An old bougainvillea on the guest house was reduced in size undercut to accentuate its age</em></p></div>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2174" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7381.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" /></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2176" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7477.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7477.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7477-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7477-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<div id="attachment_2178" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2178" class="size-full wp-image-2178" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7367.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7367.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7367-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7367-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2178" class="wp-caption-text">Low stone walls add depth in a garden</p></div>
<div id="attachment_2179" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2179" class="size-full wp-image-2179" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7386.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7386.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7386-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7386-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2179" class="wp-caption-text"><em>Gravel has been used for occasional parking beneath a Chinese elm</em></p></div>
<p>The upper portion of the land was as a rough grassed paddock, and this was where fallen trees and garden waste was kept out of sight but it was from this high vantage point that the hill on the opposite side of the valley could be seen, and when some of the vegetation was removed we would see down to the home. A level space was created to play pétanque with just enough stone paving for a table and chairs and later an access path was laid above a collection of new and existing citrus trees.</p>
<div id="attachment_2165" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2165" class="size-full wp-image-2165" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7390.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7390.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7390-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7390-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7390-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2165" class="wp-caption-text">A pétanque pitch in the garden above the house was intended as a destination for family and guests</p></div>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2180" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7505.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7505.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7505-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7505-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7505-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2184" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7423-1.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7423-1.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7423-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7423-1-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DSCF7423-1-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>There are plans for home additions, but all gardens, especially large ones take time, money and commitment, and I know that Emily and David are enjoying their journey.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/garden-in-a-rainforest">Garden in a Rainforest</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Business almost as usual</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/business-almost-as-usual</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2020 05:34:09 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1789</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>With Corona Virus on our doorstep we are looking for new ways to operate our business. We have some really exciting projects on the go and we&#8217;ll continue working on them with me working from my home studio in the garden with Kaiya and Ben operating remotely where possible. None of us know what to expect,...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/business-almost-as-usual">Business almost as usual</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>With Corona Virus on our doorstep we are looking for new ways to operate our business. We have some really exciting projects on the go and we&#8217;ll continue working on them with me working from my home studio in the garden with Kaiya and Ben operating remotely where possible. None of us know what to expect, we have family staying in our home for an indefinite time as they are unable to return overseas. Our son Nathan is a manager at a beachside resort which was forced to close last week for an undetermined time and is now helping a friend close to home at their horse stud as it&#8217;s an essential service. We&#8217;re all being pushed in unfamiliar ways and we have to make the best of what we have and stay safe &#8211; we are all in this together.</p>
<div id="attachment_1796" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1796" class="size-full wp-image-1796" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/studio-view.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1000" /><p id="caption-attachment-1796" class="wp-caption-text">Working from the garden studio</p></div>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1798" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/studio-2.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1000" /></p>
<p>We&#8217;ve spent a lot of time together outside these past few weeks and we&#8217;ve really enjoyed working on the vegetable garden that has been lying fallow for way too long. Ten bags of chicken manure were dug in and left for a few days and we were lucky when overnight rain helped wash it in. Earlier this week I came up to the kitchen where Cathy and Ali were having coffee with the news that the first tiny seedlings had appeared and we&#8217;ll continue to check them every day to observe their progress. Our collective eyes are all on the baby brush tail possum that has made a warm home in the tool shed roof &#8211; we warn him/her daily to stay away from the veg or else&#8230;</p>
<div id="attachment_1794" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1794" class="size-full wp-image-1794" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/veg-garden.gif" alt="" width="750" height="562" /><p id="caption-attachment-1794" class="wp-caption-text">Freshly planted seed beds in the vegetable garden</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Luckily we are making the most of our splendid isolation &#8211; on fine evenings we&#8217;ve been lighting the outdoor fire for <em>apperitivo, </em>enjoying shared meals, wine and stories. We&#8217;re basking in the camaraderie, in a job well done. Our backs and arms are weary from clipping, raking and carrying barrows full of clippings from the garden out to the bonfire in the paddock that we will put a match to in the next few weeks &#8211; and it feels wonderful.</p>
<div id="attachment_1801" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1801" class="size-full wp-image-1801" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/outdoor-fire.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1000" /><p id="caption-attachment-1801" class="wp-caption-text">Outdoor fire</p></div>
<p>I know a lot of people are working from home, staring out the windows at their gardens and if you need help please let us know. We can talk on the phone, FaceTime, send texts and emails. We&#8217;ve even designed gardens in other countries in this way, and with technology the way it is it&#8217;s not all that hard. Think of it as an exciting project.</p>
<p>This pandemic has made us all think differently, it&#8217;s made us appreciate what we have and to look to our homes as sanctuaries for our families. Our gardens have restorative powers, and it&#8217;s exactly when I returned home from rehabilitation after my own accident almost eight years ago.</p>
<p>When times are tough sink your hands into the soil and feel the heal.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/business-almost-as-usual">Business almost as usual</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Grasses new and old</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/grasses-new-and-old</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:54:09 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian native grasses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austrostipa ramosissima]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austrostipa verticillata]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ornamental grasses]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1774</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;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&#8217;t have. Some grasses have been wonderful surprises...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/grasses-new-and-old">Grasses new and old</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1782" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1782" class="size-full wp-image-1782" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Austrostipa-ramosissima.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1000" /><p id="caption-attachment-1782" class="wp-caption-text">Austrostipa elegantissima</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1785" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1785" class="size-full wp-image-1785" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Austrostipa-ramosissima-1.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1127" /><p id="caption-attachment-1785" class="wp-caption-text">Austrostipa ramosissima</p></div>
<p>I&#8217;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&#8217;t have. Some grasses have been wonderful surprises and others dismal failures and this is why I trial them before incorporating them into my designs. I have a theory that if a plant grows without any love and attention it could quite possibly be an ugly thug, and a garden by its definition requires a degree of nurturing, and along this thought track a garden plants need to be nursed along to a degree or the plants are quite possibly weedy. Grasses especially fall into this category; if they perform best in reasonably well mulched and cared for soil and need the occasional a splash of water to look at their best they wont become a bushland pest where the growing conditions are often dry and inhospitable. I grow a lot of plants in my garden and every now and then because of lack of space I rip things out of the garden and start afresh but I like to think it&#8217;s a bit of a Noah&#8217;s ark too &#8211; a place where plants once popular, and now no longer fashionable can find a home and be resurrected in new planting schemes &#8211; and so it is with two Australian native grasses being Austrostipa ramosissima and Austrostipa verticillata. Both of these I grew thirty years ago, got sick of and they&#8217;ve come full circle and I&#8217;m captivated by their featheriness and ease of cultivation. I&#8217;ve paired the former with tall growing dahlias and the latter by the swimming pool where I can watch them bend and sway to the whim of the winds.</p>
<p>Grasses are fast growing and very easily grown but without any maintenance they can look a bit average within a few years so I slice them down totally &#8211; and I mean right to ground level every few years and this keeps them looking fresh.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Two grasses that I&#8217;ve trialed a for a few years now are Sporobolus airioides and Pennisetum Red Buttons. The Sporobolus is coming into its own mid summer and Red Buttons is the first to flower in early spring.</p>
<div id="attachment_1781" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1781" class="size-full wp-image-1781" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Sporobolus-airoides.gif" alt="" width="750" height="499" /><p id="caption-attachment-1781" class="wp-caption-text">Sporobolus airiodes</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1783" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1783" class="size-full wp-image-1783" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Pennisetum-Red-Buttons.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1127" /><p id="caption-attachment-1783" class="wp-caption-text">Pennisetum Red-Buttons</p></div>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/grasses-new-and-old">Grasses new and old</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Familiarity</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/familiarity</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Dec 2019 04:32:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lilium African Queen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lilium Nightflyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lilium White Fox]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1759</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s something very comforting with the familiarity one receives from a garden &#8211; especially a garden that you&#8217;ve lived with for some time, it&#8217;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 &#8211; at...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/familiarity">Familiarity</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s something very comforting with the familiarity one receives from a garden &#8211; especially a garden that you&#8217;ve lived with for some time, it&#8217;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 &#8211; at least with my small part of the world. I see the same plants bursting into growth and flower regardless of the gloom or economic or climate change, I also se them defoliate and others collapse, slump and die down when it gets cold. We live with the vaguaries of the weather, some years it&#8217;s dry others it&#8217;s wet and sometimes it&#8217;s the average. The way I see it there is no such thing as normal, I can&#8217;t change it so I take it a day, a week, and a season at a time.</p>
<p>Lilies have always besotted me &#8211; yes they&#8217;re a bit of work but I enjoy the seasonal task of tying in the fast lengthening stems to stakes and canes as their blooms are irresistible. I tend to leave the corms in the soil from year to year but I&#8217;ve learnt over progressive years that lilies don&#8217;t like too much shade so as the garden grows and my trees grow creating more shade the lilies are best lifted and relocated to full sun locations which gives me the opportunity to experiment with colour combinations in plant `marriages&#8217;. I have rather a lot of lilies about the place but every year I scan the catalogues for new introductions and this year as with last year and the year before I added to my collection. Not all are successful for more than a few seasons and I can say that my lily addiction is a learning curve &#8211; that I will use the ones that delight me by performing well in the gardens we design, and that others benefit from my failures. I&#8217;m hoping that with ensuring years L. African Queen becomes a firm favourite because I&#8217;m loving its demure ripe mango coloured trumpets and the combination of this fruity coloured bloom with a dwarf crepe myrtle that I saved from a demolition site some years ago.</p>
<div id="attachment_1758" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1758" class="size-full wp-image-1758" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Lilium-African-Queen.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1128" /><p id="caption-attachment-1758" class="wp-caption-text">Lilium African Queen</p></div>
<p>There&#8217;s another that I&#8217;ve had growing for maybe ten years and I know that it&#8217;s growth is in decline because of the shade and competition from an overhead liquidambar but so far I&#8217;ve been lazy and with a little luck I will find a fresh patch of soil at the very end of summer when the corms hit dormancy and finally relocate them. This liy is named `White Fox&#8217; and I have really enjoyed its fragrance and the present combination of Peter Lundberg bronze sculpture and the curiously coloured <em>Strobilanthes gossypinus &#8216;Persian Shield&#8217; or </em>pewter plant.</p>
<div id="attachment_1757" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1757" class="size-full wp-image-1757" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Lilium-White-Fox.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1128" /><p id="caption-attachment-1757" class="wp-caption-text">Lilium White Fox</p></div>
<p>There are a sprinkling of deep red L. `Nightflyer&#8217; are beginning to display their extraordinary colour and in the orchard Lilium `Leslie Woodriff&#8217; are swelling in size daily and should be open by Christmas Day.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1768" style="width: 1298px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1768" class="size-full wp-image-1768" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244.jpeg" alt="" width="1288" height="1936" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244.jpeg 1288w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244-768x1154.jpeg 768w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244-681x1024.jpeg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244-700x1052.jpeg 700w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0244-1100x1653.jpeg 1100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1288px) 100vw, 1288px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1768" class="wp-caption-text">Lilium Nightflyer<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1771" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010.jpeg" alt="" width="1288" height="1936" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010.jpeg 1288w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010-768x1154.jpeg 768w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010-681x1024.jpeg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010-700x1052.jpeg 700w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_0010-1100x1653.jpeg 1100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1288px) 100vw, 1288px" /></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s early summer yet the bushfires have been especially frightening this year with much of our district charred and blackened, but thankfully, so far at least we have escaped without damage and with this we are blessed. Today I have some time away from my design work to write a rare post and in case I run out of time this year I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best for a prosperous New Year.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/familiarity">Familiarity</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Quiet time</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/quiet-time</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 May 2019 06:04:41 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1739</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>For once I&#8217;m having a quiet afternoon in the studio by myself, attending to all the emails I&#8217;ve started and never finished and doing the same thing with invoices &#8211; because if they&#8217;re not sent nobody is ever going to pay them&#8230; We&#8217;ve been flat out working on some interesting, yet challenging projects and sometimes...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/quiet-time">Quiet time</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For once I&#8217;m having a quiet afternoon in the studio by myself, attending to all the emails I&#8217;ve started and never finished and doing the same thing with invoices &#8211; because if they&#8217;re not sent nobody is ever going to pay them&#8230;</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve been flat out working on some interesting, yet challenging projects and sometimes it&#8217;s important to step back and smell the roses &#8211; to spend a little time appreciating what we have. Down in the lower part of the orchard where the golden afternoon sun brings out the inner glow of the pomegranate trees there&#8217;s a patch of purple flowering <em>Salvia purpurea </em>that I usually would never look at but today it&#8217;s looking rather splendid, pairing up with <em>Salvia Velour White</em> set against the dormant branch structure of an old weeping mulberry. An unsung beauty.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s Cathy&#8217;s birthday today and soon it will be time to pop a champagne cork for a little celebration and I&#8217;m taking an early mark and signing out early.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1738" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1738" class="size-full wp-image-1738" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Sp.gif" alt="" width="750" height="1127" /><p id="caption-attachment-1738" class="wp-caption-text">Salvia purpurea</p></div>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/quiet-time">Quiet time</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Autumn leaves, flowers, scents and berries</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/autumn-leaves-flowers-scents-and-berries</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2019 23:55:40 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Disobedient Gardens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1725</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s a wild messy time of year and I love it! The paths are strewn with fallen leaves, the weeds are growing like there&#8217;s no tomorrow and the garden surprises me every week with a new appearance &#8211; often unscheduled and unexpected. The days have been unseasonably warm with only a few coolish nights and...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/autumn-leaves-flowers-scents-and-berries">Autumn leaves, flowers, scents and berries</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s a wild messy time of year and I love it!</p>
<p>The paths are strewn with fallen leaves, the weeds are growing like there&#8217;s no tomorrow and the garden surprises me every week with a new appearance &#8211; often unscheduled and unexpected.</p>
<p>The days have been unseasonably warm with only a few coolish nights and the fireplace inside remains unlit but the garden is showing signs of impending cold. We lit the bonfire a few weekends ago, quickly burning the remains of last summer&#8217;s pruning. A little colour has appeared on the trees but it&#8217;s the aloes, salvias and grasses that are the real heroes &#8211; well so far at least. There are sweet subtle scents wafting up from the orchard where the old loquat tree is in flower and the berries on the hawthorn are glossy and bright.</p>
<p>Soon it will be time for the annual clean up with the <a href="https://cornerstonelandscaping.com.au">Cornerstone Landscaping</a> crew and the garden can be put to bed for the winter, but until then I&#8217;ll embrace the season&#8230;</p>
<div id="attachment_1722" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1722" class="size-full wp-image-1722" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-First-Gold.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-First-Gold.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-First-Gold-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-First-Gold-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-First-Gold-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1722" class="wp-caption-text">Aloe First Gold, Eragrostis spectabilis and Sedum Autumn Joy</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1721" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1721" class="size-full wp-image-1721" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-Copper-Showers.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-Copper-Showers.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-Copper-Showers-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-Copper-Showers-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Aloe-Copper-Showers-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1721" class="wp-caption-text">Stipa elegantissima, Aloe Copper Showers and Yucca recurvifolia</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1723" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1723" class="size-full wp-image-1723" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Leonotis.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Leonotis.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Leonotis-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Leonotis-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Leonotis-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1723" class="wp-caption-text">Leonotis ocymifolia &#8211; or it could be L. nepetifolia and artichoke seed heads</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1724" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1724" class="size-full wp-image-1724" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Salvia-.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Salvia-.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Salvia--200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Salvia--681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Salvia--700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1724" class="wp-caption-text">Salvia semiatrata </p></div>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/autumn-leaves-flowers-scents-and-berries">Autumn leaves, flowers, scents and berries</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Summer on my mind</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-on-my-mind</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Oct 2018 05:23:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Gardening adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sculpture and Art]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1686</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s cold, wet and windy, we&#8217;ve been waiting for rain for so long and I&#8217;m not complaining which has given me the opportunity to get writing. I&#8217;ve been out walking around the garden this morning making slight adjustments to plantings. I get about questioning myself if this or that plant combination is the best I...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-on-my-mind">Summer on my mind</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s cold, wet and windy, we&#8217;ve been waiting for rain for so long and I&#8217;m not complaining which has given me the opportunity to get writing. I&#8217;ve been out walking around the garden this morning making slight adjustments to plantings. I get about questioning myself if this or that plant combination is the best I can do?</p>
<p>Are the shapes, colours and forms and each part of the partnership singing &#8211; do they compliment or contrast sufficiently. I can see what it looks like now but this is about stretching my knowledge and memory as to how it will look in one month, two or three and in each season. I aim for longevity in a garden and if it&#8217;s not growing in increasing beauty every year it&#8217;s not good enough. It&#8217;s complicated, yet I find it a delicious distraction and it&#8217;s this which I do almost every day of my life &#8211; I look at the garden I&#8217;m working on, get to understand what each garden owner is hoping to achieve, assess their microclimate, architecture, budget and a half a zillion other factors to achieve the best result and it&#8217;s one of the reasons why to me work isn&#8217;t a chore.</p>
<p>In the studio we are producing some seriously beautiful designs and &#8211; many have been influenced directly and indirectly to our recent holiday in France. Cathy and I spent the best part of summer based in the beautiful home of friends that live just outside the walls of this ancient village where Picasso once lived. To become familiar with a place to have to live like locals and we absorb ourselves in everyday life. When we create a garden it&#8217;s not just about plants it&#8217;s about creating atmosphere, and in France this is tangible.</p>
<p>For many years I&#8217;ve wanted to go to the Galerie Maeght sculpture park at St Paul de Vence but have never quite got there &#8211; and this time I succeeded and I&#8217;m so pleased I did. To walk in a garden where it feels as if Joan Miro is with you is an uplifting experience!</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll wait patiently for someone to give me a call with a request to create a garden that features sculpture and I&#8217;ll show them what Ive learnt.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1696" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-sculpture.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-sculpture.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-sculpture-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-sculpture-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-sculpture-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1697" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="750" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden-550x550.jpg 550w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden-500x500.jpg 500w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Miro-walled-garden-700x700.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1695" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/maeght-Miro-wall.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/maeght-Miro-wall.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/maeght-Miro-wall-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/maeght-Miro-wall-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/maeght-Miro-wall-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1700" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="750" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall-550x550.jpg 550w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall-500x500.jpg 500w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/white-paint-on-top-od-wall-700x700.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>We stopped by the home of an old friend that lives in Opio to have a glass of champagne and lend a hand with her garden.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1712" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Terrace-view.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Terrace-view.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Terrace-view-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Terrace-view-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Terrace-view-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1699" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sylviannes-pool.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sylviannes-pool.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sylviannes-pool-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sylviannes-pool-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sylviannes-pool-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>and we took a few days at Chateau Nerf du Pape to gather wine supplies and had a great lunch outside a cafe in the shade of ancient pollarded plane trees and discovered some wonderful wines in the co-op next door, and it&#8217;s these memories of tastes, sights and smells that I&#8217;ll be bringing with me as we work through our designs this Australian summer.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1693" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gigondas-chandelier.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gigondas-chandelier.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gigondas-chandelier-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gigondas-chandelier-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gigondas-chandelier-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />     <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1698" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Plane-trees-in-Gigondas.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Plane-trees-in-Gigondas.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Plane-trees-in-Gigondas-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Plane-trees-in-Gigondas-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Plane-trees-in-Gigondas-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-on-my-mind">Summer on my mind</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Inside Out Magazine</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/inside-out-magazine</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jul 2018 07:20:05 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Garden Projects]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1683</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Sorry I&#8217;ve been tardy, neglecting my blog and Facebook page but hopefully I&#8217;ll get some time to rectify this soon. To get kick started I&#8217;ve attached a link to an article by Louise McDaid that featured one of our Terrigal gardens in Inside Out Magazine in May. We love this garden which was constructed and...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/inside-out-magazine">Inside Out Magazine</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="2d2hs" data-offset-key="54dmq-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="54dmq-0-0"><span data-offset-key="54dmq-0-0">Sorry I&#8217;ve been tardy, neglecting my blog and Facebook page but hopefully I&#8217;ll get some time to rectify this soon. To get kick started I&#8217;ve attached a link to an article by Louise McDaid that featured one of our Terrigal gardens in Inside Out Magazine in May. We love this garden which was constructed and is maintained by Cornerstone Landscaping and the amazing images were taken my friend Brigid Arnott who took all the images in our book Disobedient Gardens.</span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arf9s-0-0"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1682" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC7757.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC7757.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC7757-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC7757-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></div>
<div data-offset-key="arf9s-0-0"><a href="https://www.insideout.com.au/renovations/outdoors-pool/how-to-transform-an-alreadyestablished-garden-into-a-functional-family-space/news-story/388860788173875bf8dae8adf6a4dcb6" target="_blank"  class="qbutton  large" style="font-style: normal; ">View Article</a></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9j71b-0-0"><a href="https://www.insideout.com.au/renovations/outdoors-pool/how-to-transform-an-alreadyestablished-garden-into-a-functional-family-space/news-story/388860788173875bf8dae8adf6a4dcb6"><span data-offset-key="9j71b-0-0">https://www.insideout.com.au/renovations/outdoors-pool/how-to-transform-an-alreadyestablished-garden-into-a-functional-family-space/news-story/388860788173875bf8dae8adf6a4dcb6</span></a></div>
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<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/inside-out-magazine">Inside Out Magazine</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Gardening Australia Feature</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/gardening-australia</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Feb 2018 04:21:40 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1666</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Costa Georgiadis and the Gardening Australia Crew visited our garden recently for Episode 4 of Series 29. We took a tour (along with the dogs) and talked plant combinations and the knowledge gained from 30 years of gardening on our 2.5 hectare plot.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/gardening-australia">Gardening Australia Feature</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Costa Georgiadis and the Gardening Australia Crew visited our garden recently for Episode 4 of Series 29. We took a tour (along with the dogs) and talked plant combinations and the knowledge gained from 30 years of gardening on our 2.5 hectare plot.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/gardening-australia">Gardening Australia Feature</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>A New Year begins</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/new-year-begins</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Jan 2018 02:39:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Garden Projects]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work in progress]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1505</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>2017 was a big year for Michael Cooke Garden Design. We&#8217;ve completed some really rewarding designs and the landscape contractors we work with have been implementing them beautifully. Time flies, and Mark finished up working with me after seven years and Ben swiftly moved in to fill his shoes. After studying and working in London,...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/new-year-begins">A New Year begins</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>2017 was a big year for Michael Cooke Garden Design. We&#8217;ve completed some really rewarding designs and the landscape contractors we work with have been implementing them beautifully. Time flies, and Mark finished up working with me after seven years and Ben swiftly moved in to fill his shoes. After studying and working in London, and more recently Dubai, Ben brings with him new enthusiasm and perspectives with some very clever computer skills, and as a result, Ben, Kaiya and I will begin presenting some our garden designs in new ways in the New Year.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re very lucky to have the opportunity to work with extraordinary architects, builders, artists and tradesmen in locations  which are sometimes breathtaking whilst others are more homely and we enjoy working on them all. From the country to the coast &#8211; local and interstate we get to meet people from all walks of life.  To be able to improve the quality of someone&#8217;s day by giving them a beautiful garden is what we love doing the most.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m so proud of the work the contractors and their teams produce &#8211; without them our work is just ink on paper so I&#8217;ve put together a small collection of some of this year&#8217;s projects with before and after images. Usually I don&#8217;t show the gardens we design before they have had a few years to grow and look at their best, but I thought it may be interesting to watch their journey.</p>
<p>After a well deserved Christmas break we recommence work Tuesday next week on some really exciting projects to kick off the year.</p>
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<p><strong>The first set of images are of one part of a project at Curl Curl by Matthew Woodward Architecture which was constructed by JTCD and Verduous Gardens. I&#8217;m besotted by the breeze blocks, off-form concrete and second hand bricks used in this project and the way they enhance the cottage. A mature frangipani was transplanted from one part of the site to another transforming the courtyard.</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1534" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1534" class="size-full wp-image-1534" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/woody-early-shot-1.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="503" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/woody-early-shot-1.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/woody-early-shot-1-300x201.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/woody-early-shot-1-700x469.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1534" class="wp-caption-text">Curl Curl Home &#8211; before</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1525" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1525" class="size-full wp-image-1525" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Under-consruction.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="550" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Under-consruction.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Under-consruction-300x220.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Under-consruction-700x513.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1525" class="wp-caption-text">Rear courtyard under-construction</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1531" style="width: 458px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1531" class=" wp-image-1531" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/steps-and-breeze-block.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="597" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/steps-and-breeze-block.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/steps-and-breeze-block-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/steps-and-breeze-block-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/steps-and-breeze-block-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1531" class="wp-caption-text">Second hand bricks used on steps with breeze-block feature wall</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1532" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1532" class="wp-image-1532 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Woodward-night-shot.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Woodward-night-shot.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Woodward-night-shot-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Woodward-night-shot-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1532" class="wp-caption-text">Curl Curl Garden by Night with fire pit in the foreground</p></div>
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<p><strong>This next garden at Wamberal is to be a staged project, and as access will be tricky the owners opted to get the back garden built before they began building. The garden will grow alongside a renovation by White Dickson Architects. The garden was constructed by Box Building and Landscaping, levels were tricky and the stone and rendered walls negotiate it well.</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1522" style="width: 487px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1522" class=" wp-image-1522" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/wades-wamberal-garden-before-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="477" height="317" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/wades-wamberal-garden-before-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/wades-wamberal-garden-before-blog-size-300x199.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/wades-wamberal-garden-before-blog-size-700x465.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1522" class="wp-caption-text">Wamberal Garden before</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1523" style="width: 743px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1523" class="wp-image-1523 " src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Wades-Wamberal-Garden-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="733" height="548" /><p id="caption-attachment-1523" class="wp-caption-text">Wamberal Garden after &#8211; planting is very fresh but the walls and steps sensational</p></div>
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<p><strong>On this second Wamberal project we decided that the approach to the front door was all wrong, sometimes we have to look at things with fresh eyes and in new ways, so we demolished part of the existing entry court wall and created a new series of steps and paths to lead visitors to the front door. We saw that the house had a retro vibe and we enhanced this with plants to accentuate the mood. This project was executed by Cornerstone Landscaping &#8211; I can&#8217;t wait for the plants to grow and either can the owners. I&#8217;m loving the off-form steps and stone walls which positively glow at night with the garden lighting by Gardens at Night.</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1520" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1520" class="size-full wp-image-1520" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-before-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-before-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-before-blog-size-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-before-blog-size-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-before-blog-size-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1520" class="wp-caption-text">Wamberal 2. before</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1521" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1521" class="size-full wp-image-1521" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-steps-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-steps-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-steps-blog-size-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-steps-blog-size-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hamilton-steps-blog-size-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1521" class="wp-caption-text">Wamberal 2 with custom step detail</p></div>
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<p><strong>The third set of images is a unique home by architect Peter Stutchbury &#8211; a home in the country at Paynes Crossing for clients I&#8217;ve known since they shopped in my nursery in Sydney. The rammed earth courtyard which is central to the home was where the owners elected to begin their garden and Stuart from Eyb Gardens began by constructing the exposed aggregate interconnecting path and then laid a combination of second hand common bricks and recycled clay pavers to our design. A labour of love, this will be a landscape that develops over the years.</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1571" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1571" class="wp-image-1571 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_patrick-driveway-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_patrick-driveway-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_patrick-driveway-blog-size-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_patrick-driveway-blog-size-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1571" class="wp-caption-text">The sinuous line the driveway took as it snaked it way to the house site was one of our design leads.</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1572" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1572" class="wp-image-1572 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cinematic-qualities-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cinematic-qualities-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cinematic-qualities-blog-size-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cinematic-qualities-blog-size-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1572" class="wp-caption-text">Windows with cinematic qualities&#8230;</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1575" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1575" class="wp-image-1575 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Patrick-before-1.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="494" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Patrick-before-1.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Patrick-before-1-300x198.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Patrick-before-1-700x461.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1575" class="wp-caption-text">The courtyard (before) is an integral and central part of the home</p></div>
<div id="attachment_1570" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1570" class="wp-image-1570 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/old-brick-and-curvbed-path-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/old-brick-and-curvbed-path-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/old-brick-and-curvbed-path-blog-size-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/old-brick-and-curvbed-path-blog-size-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/old-brick-and-curvbed-path-blog-size-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1570" class="wp-caption-text">Texture and pattern create interest to the eye and bare feet</p></div>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1569 aligncenter" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/paving-detail-blog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/paving-detail-blog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/paving-detail-blog-size-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/paving-detail-blog-size-700x525.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
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<p><strong>The fifth project is on an acreage at Duffys Forest, the house was reconfigured by Fineline, then it was gutted and refurbished and we moved fence lines, changed the garden, added a custom swimming pool fence and reconfigured entries and access. As with almost all our work, we like to establish long-term relationships with the garden owners and we will soon be embarking on a new design for an existing dam on this property. Steve from Shakkei Landscaping has done all the work on this one&#8230;</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1567" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1567" class="wp-image-1567 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-before.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-before.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-before-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-before-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1567" class="wp-caption-text">The front of the house before work began</p></div>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-1566 size-full aligncenter" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-brick.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-brick.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-brick-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-brick-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-brick-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>Secondhand brick was used extensively for the new driveway</p>
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<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1565 aligncenter" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-for-blog.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-for-blog.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-for-blog-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-for-blog-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-drive-for-blog-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
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<div id="attachment_1564" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1564" class="wp-image-1564 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-pool.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-pool.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-pool-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-pool-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lawson-pool-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1564" class="wp-caption-text">New swimming pool with our custom fencing detail.</p></div>
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<p><strong>The 6th and final `before and after garden&#8217; in this post is at Pittwater and one where we have re-organised existing plants, made roof gardens, created new areas and added lots of new plants. Mature palms have been an important part of this project where an instant effect was what was required. This landscape was constructed &#8211; as was the home itself by JGroup Projects. Koichi Takada Architects</strong></p>
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<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1604 aligncenter" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-before.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="487" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-before.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-before-300x195.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-before-400x260.jpg 400w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-before-700x455.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<div id="attachment_1609" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1609" class="wp-image-1609 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-cactus-pot.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-cactus-pot.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-cactus-pot-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-cactus-pot-600x800.jpg 600w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-cactus-pot-700x933.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1609" class="wp-caption-text">Mature Cereus peruvianus was potted near the entry</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1606" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1606" class="wp-image-1606 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-outside-in.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="507" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-outside-in.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-outside-in-300x203.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-outside-in-700x473.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1606" class="wp-caption-text">An old crepe myrtle was carefully lifted into position to provide some privacy to the outside living area                          Image &#8211; JGroup Projects website</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1605" style="width: 1340px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1605" class="wp-image-1605 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out.png" alt="" width="1330" height="873" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out.png 1330w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out-300x197.png 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out-768x504.png 768w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out-1024x672.png 1024w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out-700x459.png 700w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jake-insife-out-1100x722.png 1100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1330px) 100vw, 1330px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1605" class="wp-caption-text">A sensational view &#8211; but we opted for this mature crepe myrtle to give a degree of privacy to the outside living area</p></div>
<p>Image &#8211; JGroup Projects website</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/new-year-begins">A New Year begins</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Summer Flurry</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-flurry</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Jan 2018 03:14:05 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1554</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It seems like nothing is growing &#8211; 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...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-flurry">Summer Flurry</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It seems like nothing is growing &#8211; 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 goes up and then another and before you know if there are people busting to speak.</p>
<p>This is my garden, nothing happens and then one little plant puts up it&#8217;s hand, it&#8217;s game on and they&#8217;re off.</p>
<p>As you know I love a bit of wildness in the garden. I appreciate order but I want to know that the garden is alive and has a mind of its own.</p>
<p>The trick is to know what to let go and what to rein in&#8230;but if you&#8217;re like me and you think it&#8217;s just too hot two control the disorderly you can also let it go until cooler autumn days</p>
<p>It&#8217;s stinking hot today &#8211; too hot to do anything outside. Ive already been to Bunnings early for supplies, whipper snipped the edges and watered the needy. Now I&#8217;m in the studio where I&#8217;m cool, so I&#8217;m just going to splash out with some images from my garden because I have the time to do so&#8230;</p>
<div id="attachment_1550" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1550" class="wp-image-1550 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Miscanthus-Caberet.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Miscanthus-Caberet.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Miscanthus-Caberet-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Miscanthus-Caberet-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Miscanthus-Caberet-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1550" class="wp-caption-text">Salvia leucanthe, Miscanthus Cabaret (variegated leafed grass), Dracaena draco and Miscanthus nepalensis</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1559" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1559" class="wp-image-1559 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Grasses-and-elms-1.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Grasses-and-elms-1.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Grasses-and-elms-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Grasses-and-elms-1-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Grasses-and-elms-1-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1559" class="wp-caption-text">From front to back                                                                                                 Miscanthus Adagio, Rosa Autumnalis, Xanthorrhoea glauca, Foeniculum vulgare Purpureum, Japanese box swirls, horizontal elms and Magnolia grandiflora</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1622" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1622" class="wp-image-1622 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cereus-and-Miscanthus-cabaret.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cereus-and-Miscanthus-cabaret.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cereus-and-Miscanthus-cabaret-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cereus-and-Miscanthus-cabaret-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cereus-and-Miscanthus-cabaret-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1622" class="wp-caption-text">Miscanthus Cabaret with Cereus peruvianus</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1623" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1623" class="wp-image-1623 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/crepe-and-wild-stuff.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/crepe-and-wild-stuff.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/crepe-and-wild-stuff-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/crepe-and-wild-stuff-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/crepe-and-wild-stuff-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1623" class="wp-caption-text">A dwarf crepe myrtle I have no name for with Cereus peruvianus, tall Agave weberi in flower and a lot of other wild flowery things&#8230;</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1625" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1625" class="wp-image-1625 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Miscanthus-transmorrisonensis.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Miscanthus-transmorrisonensis.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Miscanthus-transmorrisonensis-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Miscanthus-transmorrisonensis-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Miscanthus-transmorrisonensis-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1625" class="wp-caption-text">Miscanthus nepalensis, Protasparagus meyerii, Kalanchoe orgyalis and Agave vilmoriniana</p></div>
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<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-flurry">Summer Flurry</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Sculpture</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/sculpture</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Jan 2018 00:15:29 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Sculpture and Art]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1512</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s so hot today so I&#8217;m hanging out in the studio in the air conditioning where making adjustments to posts that I&#8217;ve had in my drafts box for ever I&#8217;ve been lucky to establish relationships last year with two new  colleagues that enrich my life artistically. I&#8217;ve long been an advocate of sculpture &#8211; and...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/sculpture">Sculpture</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s so hot today so I&#8217;m hanging out in the studio in the air conditioning where making adjustments to posts that I&#8217;ve had in my drafts box for ever</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been lucky to establish relationships last year with two new  colleagues that enrich my life artistically. I&#8217;ve long been an advocate of sculpture &#8211; and even more so if it will enliven my gardens.</p>
<p>The lovely Denese Oates brought to life an idea that I&#8217;ve had ticking away in my head for a few years in a courtyard garden at Mosman. This narrow space is an important area as the living room and kitchen look directly onto the boundary wall and the strip is too desolate to plant successfully. The owner has a wonderful collection of paintings and Denese and Diane were an ideal match. In concept I imagined a vine growing about the wall &#8211; and rather than dictate how to, this original concept idea became the departure point from which Denese began and it has been a wonderful ride.</p>
<p>I took a short 10 second video to show you the scale of this work &#8211; click the link below to sneak a peek, and imagine how it looks at night when illuminated by the overhead LED lights!</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/249962224" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/249962224">Denese Oates Wall Sculpture</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user78578977">Michael Cooke</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
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<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1516" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-and-tableblog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-and-tableblog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-and-tableblog-size-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-and-tableblog-size-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-and-tableblog-size-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1517" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-detailblog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-detailblog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-detailblog-size-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Denese-wall-sculpture-detailblog-size-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1515" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1515" class="wp-image-1515 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Concept-Sketchblog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="413" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Concept-Sketchblog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Concept-Sketchblog-size-300x165.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Concept-Sketchblog-size-700x385.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1515" class="wp-caption-text">our original design sketch</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Late last year our friends Gemma and Armando introduced me to Peter Lundberg &#8211; an accomplished sculptor that has won Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi &#8211; twice. Peter creates monumental public works in concrete and bronze and whilst Peter is overseas for a while I have a collection of his smaller bronze pieces here in my own garden where they can gently weather outside and I can enjoy them whilst I dream of  the gardens to home them permanently. The sculptures come in a range of finishes, the one picture has a golden hue to it which looks great when shown against a backdrop of green foliage</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1528" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Peter-Lundbergblog-size.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Peter-Lundbergblog-size.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Peter-Lundbergblog-size-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Peter-Lundbergblog-size-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Peter-Lundbergblog-size-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/sculpture">Sculpture</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Roadside Agave</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/roadside-agave</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Jan 2018 23:14:47 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1552</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>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 &#8211; 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...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/roadside-agave">Roadside Agave</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>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 &#8211; 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 shrinking as they give all they have to it&#8217;s future offspring.</p>
<p>An Agave weberi stem laden with similar blooms fell onto the lawn yesterday afternoon when Cathy was mowing the lawn and I had to sever it at the base, and later this week week when it&#8217;s not so hot I will dig what&#8217;s left of the plant out of the garden with Adrian. I have a splendid collection of healthy young plants which have sprung from the base so I&#8217;m not too distressed &#8211; and if I were I could do absolutely nothing to prevent this from happening.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1549" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/by-the-roadside.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/by-the-roadside.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/by-the-roadside-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/by-the-roadside-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/by-the-roadside-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1551" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Agave-ovatifolia.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Agave-ovatifolia.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Agave-ovatifolia-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Agave-ovatifolia-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/roadside-agave">Roadside Agave</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Summer Break</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-break</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Dec 2017 00:56:38 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Disobedient Gardens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorised]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1543</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It’s been a while since I’ve had a moment to stop, chill and really relax like I now am, and I’m loving the luxury of sloth. &#160; I usually wake up around 4am and go to the gym before I begin with my first appointment or I begin my working day in the studio. This...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-break">Summer Break</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1545" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hawthrone-Orchard-2.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1123" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hawthrone-Orchard-2.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hawthrone-Orchard-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hawthrone-Orchard-2-684x1024.jpg 684w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hawthrone-Orchard-2-700x1048.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>It’s been a while since I’ve had a moment to stop, chill and really relax like I now am, and I’m loving the luxury of sloth.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I usually wake up around 4am and go to the gym before I begin with my first appointment or I begin my working day in the studio. This morning I went to the gym early but I woke at first light rather than in the dark, and when I got home I turned on the sprinkler in the nursery, made an espresso and went back to bed to swipe my way through my daily Instagram feed, and then I slipped gently back to sleep. This summer I’m behaving as I would if we were away on holidays – but at my own home, and it’s not too bad at all. When I got out of bed somewhere close to 10am the biggest decision was what herb to use on the eggs and pan-fried left over Christmas ham.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I’ve taken to walking about the garden in contemplation, asking myself things such as `shall I move the lilies to a sunnier place next year’ and `I really should plant more grasses – but where would I put them? My mobile phone has been particularly quiet as it failed to re-boot from an update, and I’ll get it looked at before work begins on the 9<sup>th</sup> January.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What wine will I open tonight?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I may wash the car, spray the weeds on the drive – but then again I could jump in the swimming pool and contemplate these tasks again tomorrow…</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/summer-break">Summer Break</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Article last week in Domain Prestige &#8211; The Style</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/article-last-week-domain-prestige-style</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Nov 2017 05:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1495</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#160; &#160; &#160;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/article-last-week-domain-prestige-style">Article last week in Domain Prestige &#8211; The Style</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1494 size-full" src="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Domain.jpg" alt="Domain" width="750" height="923" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Domain.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Domain-244x300.jpg 244w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Domain-700x861.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/article-last-week-domain-prestige-style">Article last week in Domain Prestige &#8211; The Style</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>The garden in October 2017</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/the-garden-in-october-2017</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Oct 2017 21:06:55 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorised]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1484</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>At times I&#8217;ve had an urge to write that was so strong I couldn&#8217;t hold back &#8211; just now is not one of those times. So I&#8217;ve been a bit quiet on the blog, preferring the immediate reward of Instagram where I can post an image and get a response back from a hundred followers within a...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/the-garden-in-october-2017">The garden in October 2017</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At times I&#8217;ve had an urge to write that was so strong I couldn&#8217;t hold back &#8211; just now is not one of those times. So I&#8217;ve been a bit quiet on the blog, preferring the immediate reward of Instagram where I can post an image and get a response back from a hundred followers within a day or so.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re ridiculously busy designing gardens in the studio, which is another reason why my urge to write has been quelled, and it&#8217;s spring so the telephone never stops ringing!</p>
<p>We have Cathy&#8217;s sister and my brother in law from South Africa arriving in  a few weeks and our good friends from France as well, and Cathy and I have been gardening, getting things ready for lazy afternoons, and new faux wicker chairs on the deck under the camphor laurel are tempting us to sit on them for long lazy lunches, games or petanque&#8217; and glasses of rose&#8217;. Without rain the paddocks are parched and when you walk over them you hear the brittle leaf blades and stolons snapping. Trees freshly planted throughout winter need buckets of water carried out to them or they&#8217;ll soon perish and this is what we do &#8211; we show them the love now and they&#8217;ll reward us in years to come with welcome shade.</p>
<p>The familiarity of my garden is comforting and I like the repetition of seasonal jobs. Each year the lilies appear from the bare earth and this week I staked the, tied a stem to each cane and sat one of my treasured antique terracotta pots on top. Each week I will revisit the lilies and if they have grown sufficiently I&#8217;ll add another twist-tie.</p>
<div id="attachment_1491" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1491" class="size-full wp-image-1491" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cercis-and-lilies.jpg" alt="Cercis Forest pansy and newly staked lilium" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cercis-and-lilies.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cercis-and-lilies-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cercis-and-lilies-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cercis-and-lilies-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1491" class="wp-caption-text">Cercis Forest pansy and newly staked lilium</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Zucchini have been planted in the vegetable garden and rocket seeds for summer salads &#8211; I just hope the possums don&#8217;t eat them before I do.</p>
<p>Hippeastrum are one of those old fashioned plants that appear in old gardens and these are just another plant I find hard to resist when I find one I don&#8217;t have. Usually I&#8217;m fanatical about nomenclature and want the correct latin name on every plant I have but with hippies I know a few, others are known as Gail&#8217;s hippie because that&#8217;s who gave me the bulbs and then there&#8217;s the cream and red stroppy one that reminds me of a big girl wearing a dress that&#8217;s too tight and bright on race day&#8230;take a look you can guess what one I mean.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1483" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1483" class="wp-image-1483 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum.jpg" alt="parrot amaryllis" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1483" class="wp-caption-text">parrot amaryllis &#8211; Hippeastrum psittacinum</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1482" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1482" class="wp-image-1482 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-papilio.jpg" alt="Hippeastrum-papilio" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-papilio.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-papilio-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-papilio-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-papilio-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1482" class="wp-caption-text">Hippeastrum papilio</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1480" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-2.jpg" alt="Hippeastrum-2" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-2.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-2-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-2-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1481" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-4.jpg" alt="Hippeastrum-4" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-4.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-4-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hippeastrum-4-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/the-garden-in-october-2017">The garden in October 2017</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Japanese Quince</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/japanese-quince</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Aug 2017 05:40:18 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1477</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>In some winter gardens things are bleak, but in my own garden &#8211; 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...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/japanese-quince">Japanese Quince</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In some winter gardens things are bleak, but in my own garden &#8211; 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 and now they are rare.</p>
<p>They brighten the garden and the house when their branches are cut and popped in a vase, and they last for weeks.</p>
<p>In large gardens I mass them on banks of sloping earth and under trees &#8211; and rarely do anything to them besides remove a wayward stem. In smaller gardens they can be pruned back hard after flowering to keep them small, and if this is done they also produce very straight stems loved by florists.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1471" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1471" class="wp-image-1471 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-speciosa.jpg" alt="Chaenomeles-speciosa" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-speciosa.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-speciosa-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-speciosa-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-speciosa-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1471" class="wp-caption-text">Chaenomeles speciosa</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1470" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1470" class="wp-image-1470 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-nivalis.jpg" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-nivalis.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-nivalis-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-nivalis-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-nivalis-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1470" class="wp-caption-text">Chaenomeles nivalis</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1469" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1469" class="wp-image-1469 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-Apple-Blossom.jpg" alt="Chaenomeles-Apple-Blossom" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-Apple-Blossom.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-Apple-Blossom-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-Apple-Blossom-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Chaenomeles-Apple-Blossom-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1469" class="wp-caption-text">Chaenomeles Apple Blossom</p></div>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/japanese-quince">Japanese Quince</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Cooler days = time to get out in the garden</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/cooler-days-time-get-garden</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 May 2017 05:45:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My Garden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1457</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>At last the summer heat is behind us, and after the recent rain the garden couldn&#8217;t have a broader smile. There&#8217;s a fat Camellia sasanqua `Yuletide&#8217; outside the studio by the driveway and I walk past it many times each day and it&#8217;s not only it&#8217;s clear red colour and golden stamens that make please me it&#8217;s the...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/cooler-days-time-get-garden">Cooler days = time to get out in the garden</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At last the summer heat is behind us, and after the recent rain the garden couldn&#8217;t have a broader smile. There&#8217;s a fat <em>Camellia sasanqua `Yuletide&#8217;</em> outside the studio by the driveway and I walk past it many times each day and it&#8217;s not only it&#8217;s clear red colour and golden stamens that make please me it&#8217;s the fragrance. The scent of Camellia sasanqua is underrated; there&#8217;s special kind of earthiness that cuts through the sweetness making it absolutely unique, and I admire the deep green evergreen foliage.</p>
<p>The cooler days are perfect for pottering about and I&#8217;m moving plants to new positions in the garden where I hope they will look and do better next season. As the garden matures there&#8217;s less sun &#8211; and things that once thrived like the Lilium `Black Beauty&#8217; outside the bedroom window aren&#8217;t performing and I need to find somewhere now sunnier. I have been shovelling barrows of muck from the chook cage to mulch precious plants that need a boost and this gives me a satisfaction that&#8217;s out of proportion with the process itself.</p>
<p>Salvias too are hitting their straps, and almost every one is in bloom which delights the bees and also small birds like the Eastern Spinebills which feed on the flower nectar. It always surprise me when the jonquils begin to open, and later this afternoon I will pick a bunch that will fill the house with their heady sweet smell.</p>
<p>This is the season when the ornamental grasses really shine and last winter I ordered boxes full of unfamiliar varieties to trial. I never recommend plants in our designs that I don&#8217;t know first hand so I&#8217;m always on the lookout for plants I haven&#8217;t grown before and last winter one of the plants I purchased was <em>Miscanthus nepalensis </em>and I think that this one will have merit. I have grown it in an area which is less that hospitable and considering this I&#8217;m happy with it&#8217;s golden tassels, and in a few more years it may find a way into our designs.</p>
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<div id="attachment_1454" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1454" class="wp-image-1454 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Yuletide.jpg" alt="Yuletide" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Yuletide.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Yuletide-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Yuletide-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Yuletide-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1454" class="wp-caption-text">Camellia sasanqua `Yuletide&#8217;</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1456" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1456" class="wp-image-1456 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Salvia-Anthony-Parker.jpg" alt="Salvia-Anthony-Parker" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Salvia-Anthony-Parker.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Salvia-Anthony-Parker-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Salvia-Anthony-Parker-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Salvia-Anthony-Parker-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1456" class="wp-caption-text">Salvia `Anthony Parker&#8217;</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1455" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1455" class="wp-image-1455 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Miscanthus-nepalensis.jpg" alt="Miscanthus-nepalensis" width="750" height="1127" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Miscanthus-nepalensis.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Miscanthus-nepalensis-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Miscanthus-nepalensis-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Miscanthus-nepalensis-700x1052.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1455" class="wp-caption-text">Miscanthus nepalensis</p></div>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/cooler-days-time-get-garden">Cooler days = time to get out in the garden</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Disobedient Gardens talk at Glenmore House</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/disobedient-gardens-talk-glenmore-house</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Apr 2017 20:34:56 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Disobedient Gardens]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1434</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#160; Two years ago I finally got to visit the garden at Glenmore House on one of their spring open days, and I did so with my Dad. I have known Mickey Robertson the owner of Glenmore via Instagram for a few years and admire what she has created. Both of us had a book published last year with Murdoch Books...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/disobedient-gardens-talk-glenmore-house">Disobedient Gardens talk at Glenmore House</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1439" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1439" class="wp-image-1439 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Wirra-Willa_07.jpg" alt="Wirra-Willa_07" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Wirra-Willa_07.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Wirra-Willa_07-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Wirra-Willa_07-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1439" class="wp-caption-text">Wirra Willa from Disobedient Gardens</p></div>
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<p>Two years ago I finally got to visit the garden at Glenmore House on one of their spring open days, and I did so with my Dad. I have known Mickey Robertson the owner of Glenmore via Instagram for a few years and admire what she has created. Both of us had a book published last year with Murdoch Books &#8211; and this May I will be heading out to Glenmore House to present an illustrated talk using some of the many extraordinary images Brigid Arnott took of the gardens featured in my book Disobedient Gardens.</p>
<p>Mickey hosts some wonderful seasonal, garden related events (follow her blog for details) and I&#8217;m also looking forward to speaking in the dairy and the long-table garden-inspired, seasonal lunch in the loggia, and I hope you will join us.</p>
<p>Click on <a href="https://mickeyrobertson.worldsecuresystems.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=281044">https://mickeyrobertson.worldsecuresystems.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=281044 </a> and contact Mickey.</p>
<div id="attachment_1443" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1443" class="wp-image-1443 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Hawthrone-Orchard-1.jpg" alt="Hawthrone-Orchard-1" width="750" height="1129" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Hawthrone-Orchard-1.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Hawthrone-Orchard-1-199x300.jpg 199w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Hawthrone-Orchard-1-680x1024.jpg 680w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Hawthrone-Orchard-1-700x1054.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1443" class="wp-caption-text">Hawthorne &#8211; my original Disobedient garden</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1444" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1444" class="wp-image-1444 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Parkmount-61.jpg" alt="Parkmount-61" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Parkmount-61.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Parkmount-61-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Parkmount-61-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1444" class="wp-caption-text">Park Mount from Disobedient gardens</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1445" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1445" class="wp-image-1445 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Valleyfield-28.jpg" alt="Valleyfield-28" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Valleyfield-28.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Valleyfield-28-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Valleyfield-28-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1445" class="wp-caption-text">Valleyfield from Disobedient Gardens</p></div>
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<div id="attachment_1449" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1449" class="wp-image-1449 size-full" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Mickey.jpg" alt="Mickey" width="750" height="524" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Mickey.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Mickey-300x210.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Mickey-700x489.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1449" class="wp-caption-text">Mickey Robertson at Glenmore House</p></div>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/disobedient-gardens-talk-glenmore-house">Disobedient Gardens talk at Glenmore House</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Bones</title>
		<link>https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/bones</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Cooke]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Mar 2017 05:02:10 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Sculpture and Art]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/?p=1418</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Whilst working with some new clients last year I finally met the talented Denese Oates, a sculptor whose work I&#8217;ve admired since I first saw 'Cocoon'one of her sculptures in the garden at Valleyfield&#8217; &#8211; where I have been involved for many years, which as it so happens is also the subject of the first chapter...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/bones">Bones</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Whilst working with some new clients last year I finally met the talented Denese Oates, a sculptor whose work I&#8217;ve admired since I first saw <code>'Cocoon'one of her sculptures in the garden at V</code>alleyfield&#8217; &#8211; where I have been involved for many years, which as it so happens is also the subject of the first chapter in my latest book &#8216;Disobedient Gardens&#8217;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1420" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Valleyfield-28.jpg" alt="Valleyfield-28" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Valleyfield-28.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Valleyfield-28-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Valleyfield-28-700x466.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
<p>When I met Denese at her Northern Suburbs home I had to explore both the garden and the studio where she was busy on a number of new works. I was intrigued to see a pile of cast `bones&#8217; awaiting fabrication. This past week these 100 bones, now copper coated were installed at the Coal Loader in Waverton as part of the North Sydney Art Prize 2017. If you have time to visit, the exhibition is open 10am &#8211; 5pm daily from 11th &#8211; 26th March 2017 at The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability, 2 Balls Head Drive, Waverton.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1417" src="http://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/8_Denese-Oates-Pass-to-the-Present-IMG_9886.jpg" alt="8_Denese-Oates-Pass-to-the-Present-IMG_9886" width="750" height="1125" srcset="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/8_Denese-Oates-Pass-to-the-Present-IMG_9886.jpg 750w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/8_Denese-Oates-Pass-to-the-Present-IMG_9886-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/8_Denese-Oates-Pass-to-the-Present-IMG_9886-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/8_Denese-Oates-Pass-to-the-Present-IMG_9886-700x1050.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au/bones">Bones</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.michaelcooke.com.au">Michael Cooke Garden Design</a>.</p>
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