Instagallery

Welcome to my Instagram Gallery

Follow Michael Cooke on Instagram

michaelcookegardendesign

It’s always a delight revisiting gardens we’ve

It’s always a delight revisiting gardens we’ve designed that are loved, lived in and nurtured. It’s a perfect opportunity for me to observe, learn, add to and tweak, and with this garden it’s so good to see a family working in a garden together on a project they love. There is hardly a space left in my own garden, but I’m fortunate that in the gardens of others I can share what I have learnt over a lifetime of gardening and grow both new plants and knowledge.

For something a little different this morning I’

For something a little different this morning I’m at the dressage with Cathy. As we drove out the paddock gates the channel billed cuckoos were calling, sounding more like primates than birds and I wish I had recorded their eerie love song. Summer is here

I’m a creature of habit. I look forward to my ev

I’m a creature of habit. I look forward to my everyday routine, tending to the dogs, pony and chickens, and I can’t wait to get up, have my breakfast and sip that first espresso. The grasses in the garden at our front steps have grown so much they’ve almost covered the mulch. I’ve been tough on the purple perilla and bronze fennel this year and weeded most of them out leaving a select few as they had become too dominant, and I’m loving the two new grasses - Pennisetum Tall Tails and Stipa Ichu. Through the week I began clipping the box mounds by the driveway and today I’ll continue with my shears in the front garden. #ornamentalgrasses #grasses #stipaichu #pennisetumtalltails #gaurabellezawhite #springgarden #australiangarden

Our neighbour Jack has been overseas for a while a

Our neighbour Jack has been overseas for a while and from the kitchen I think I hear his tractor in the paddock below so I guess he’s now home. I rushed down with my camera to capture the field of golden coreopsis before they’re slashed (it is fire season so it has to be done) but I was distracted by the sweet nocturnal fragrance of the double white angel’s trumpet waving above the path at the bottom of the orchard. I know it’s poisonous if it’s eaten, but I have better things to eat - and it is seriously gorgeous #brugmansiacandidafloreplena #poisonousplants

I thought I’d sleep in but the birds woke me, th

I thought I’d sleep in but the birds woke me, the dogs and pony were hungry so I figured that I may as well get up, I can’t fight it, I will always be an early riser. The heat has dispensed spring, summer is here and the garden is leaping. Through the week I’ve staked the lilies, and just in time as there are now tight buds appearing. The swimming pool is sparkling clean and after espresso number two, I’m heading down to do some gentle weeding and wait for the morning sun to break through the morning mist. Happy days. #leonotisleonurushammerssmithwhite #cotinusflame #rosaautumnalis #salviasomaliensis #miscanthuscabaret #summergarden #swimmingpoolseasonhasbegun

Yesterday I began oiling the timber decks. There’s one outside the kitchen where I now sit sipping my second espresso writing, and another off the lounge room where we dine with friends outside. I never made the time last year, and the older I get the more I appreciate looking after the things I’m lucky to have. This morning I’ll be doing more of the same with a second coat and then painting the final deck by the swimming pool I’ll contemplate my first swim of the season - and if I do It’ll be very quick. #sunday #sundaymornings #gardendesignersdayoff

Even though it’s still cool most days the garden

Even though it’s still cool most days the garden is opening its arms to summer. If ever there was a scent that screams summer it’s this Magnolia virginiana and when I wheeled the garbage bins along the gravel driveway this afternoon I caught the exquisite fragrance before I saw its perfect white cups. #magnoliavirginiana #fragrantflowers #summerscents

My Sunday morning starts like this - almost every

My Sunday morning starts like this - almost every week, and the ritual of feeding the dogs on the verandah, then Harry over at the stables and taking my first stroll around the garden is comforting. Seeker the Scottish deerhound thinks he is oh so clever when he jumps out from his hiding place to scare me, as he does every week. I never got to last weeks hedging and won’t even attempt it today, but I will make the effort to rake the grass clippings from the lawn before enjoying lunch at the spectacular @stonewall_equestrian and I might even take some pics between the showjumping as the gardens are growing beautifully. #scottishdeerhound #scottishdeerhoundsofinstagram #spring

Each spring I look forward to walking past my bedr

Each spring I look forward to walking past my bedroom and catching the scent of the starry jasmine, (Jasminum multipartitum) it’s undeniably jasmine, yet the underlying clove scent captivates me for the six weeks or so it flowers. Evergreen, vigorous but not terrifyingly so. #jasminummultipartitum #fragrantflowers #fragrance #spring #springflowers #springflowersmakemehappy

It’s been six years since the paddocks have been

It’s been six years since the paddocks have been fed, and as we live in a district where poultry are grown one of the best things we can use on our poor sandy soil is fowl manure. In the early days we bought a load and spread it by hand from the pack of the ute, shovelling it in and then shovelling it back out, now a big hopper loaded with the stuff is driven around the paddocks. The smell on a hot day is deplorable, but it’s so worth it. Now we’re looking to the sky for rain to wash it all in.

With light rain and warm days this past week, gree

With light rain and warm days this past week, green has banished the soberness of winter and I’m contemplating some cloud pruning to tune my eye before I begin the more exacting demands of formal topiary. #spring #springgarden #springgardening #cloudpruning

One day there’s a wonderful story I’ll share o

One day there’s a wonderful story I’ll share of the Fathers of Pantanassa Monastery at Mangrove Mountain, but that will be later when their garden has had time to grow. Today we were there among the Greek Orthodox community, many that had travelled from interstate and abroad when the Patriach of the Eastern Orthodox Church and his entourage paid a special visit for their centenary.

It’s all happening down by the pond where the wi

It’s all happening down by the pond where the wild things grow. The golden bog iris flowers are prolific and the birds, frogs and insects are making the most of this perfect spring day. #irispseudacorus #spring #windyourclocksforward #springgarden

Thanks Nathan @greenblowertrucks for giving up yo

Thanks Nathan @greenblowertrucks for giving up your Saturday morning to mulch our garden. What used to take an entire season can be achieved in hours, now I can relax knowing the weeds will be kept under control and with a bit of luck I won’t have to water too much this summer. The cicadas are singing in the trees tonight so it was perfect timing. ##easyweeding #hardwoodmulch #mulch #mulching #australiangarden #springgardening

The garden is bursting with new growth after recen

The garden is bursting with new growth after recent rain and I take this detour past my bedroom to the studio a few times each day just to note the progress of the sweet peas. A few years ago I was walking around Debbie’s garden not far from here and she gave me a bunch of sweet pea flowers to take home and these scented our kitchen with their old fashioned fragrance. So this year I treated myself with packets of seeds from @lambleynursery and direct sowed them at the base of two iron tree guards I had made by a local farrier/blacksmith that had protected a series of saplings in the paddocks until they had sufficient size to look after themselves. I found some jute netting at Bunnings and encircled the frame and every few days I’ve guided the tendrils skyward up the netting and here come the first flowers - not enough to gather a bunch just yet but soon. It’s a week of firsts here Clucky-go-Lucky has laid her first eggs, the plum tree has fruit forming, the mulberries are ripening and the butternut pumpkin seeds are sprouting so it’s all happening. #sweetpea #spring #springgarden #australiangarden

The latest issue of Central Coast Life & Style has

The latest issue of Central Coast Life & Style has included me in our garden as one of their creatives in their spring feature. Thanks @lukeshadbolt @centralcoastlifeandstyle

For days helicopters have been dipping into local

For days helicopters have been dipping into local dams and water bombing a fire in an inaccessible gully nearby that apparently hasn’t been burnt for decades. It’s not posing any threat to homes or farms and this morning all is quiet and all I can her is the birds. The paddocks are looking a little crispy and the garden dry so it looks like winter has packed her bags and summer is on the way. The wisteria is so good I’m sharing it for a second week and I wish you could smell its sweet clove fragrance.

#hippeastrumpapilio isn’t the kind of perennial

#hippeastrumpapilio isn’t the kind of perennial you’d find in your local nursery, and if you see it make sure to take some home. Growing best in semi shade it will tolerate more sun, multiplying quickly it asks for nothing and flowers for a month or so each spring. #butterflyamaryllis #plantsforshade

For a fleeting moment last week the pool looked so

For a fleeting moment last week the pool looked so good I considered taking a swim - but I resisted the impulse, this morning it’s a little nippy and I lit the fire. Such is spring. The wisteria is sensational, and later in the day when the sun warms the flowers their fragrance will dance in the courtyard. I have fifty young box plants to plant out under a row of sapling crepe myrtle at the end of the paddock which I plan to grow on and trim into mounds and topiary shapes over the next few years that can be used in some of the gardens of my imagination, other than that I anticipate a day of rest. #wisteriashirokapitan #spring #springgarden

Spring has arrived on cue and I’m prepared. I’

Spring has arrived on cue and I’m prepared. I’m forever pottering about and this morning in my dressing gown I trimmed all the silver Teucrium in the mist and plucked at stray weeds preparing for a delivery of mulch from @greenblowertrucks to ‘gift wrap’ the garden, slowing down the weeds, adding nutrients and conserving moisture for the summer ahead.

I always wake early - even on Sundays, and as I si

I always wake early - even on Sundays, and as I sit in the kitchen flipping through the images I took yesterday, licking the last of the crema from an espresso cup I’m listening to the monotonous knocking croak of the frog which is living in the fountain next to the cellar. This beauty is #cliveahiraogreen and as soon as the sun rises I’ll head out to feed Harry and let him out if the stable and check out take a spin around the garden

We’ve been away for a sleep over and a few days

We’ve been away for a sleep over and a few days with friends not far up the coast at Blueys Beach and woke this morning back home to birdsong and the most perfect spring day.

It’s eerily warm outside this morning, but then

It’s eerily warm outside this morning, but then days like this sneak in at the end of winter every year so it shouldn’t surprise me in the least. The birds are out and about, green leaves are popping on the plane trees and liquidambar but fresh faced beauty of the magnolias is stealing the show as the garden is wakes up. After feeding Harry and Clucky-go-Lucky I wandered down to the orchard filling my dressing gown pockets with lemons so that Cathy can use them in a celebratory lunch we’re sharing today with friends. There’s been a few spots of rain so we’ll be eating inside - but it won’t stop us from taking a stroll so I have a little tidying up to do this morning after the wind yesterday…

There were plenty of @brigidarnottphotography imag

There were plenty of @brigidarnottphotography images to choose from but these are the last I will share. (with a link in bio to this blog post) It’s been a perfect winters day in the garden, with sun most of the day and a rain shower to get me back inside. I’ve weeded the nursery, my fingers are sore and the fire has been lit and the dogs are curled up on their beds. There is nothing like the pleasurable tiredness of a day in the garden and I’ll sleep well tonight.

There’s a whiff of spring in the air again this

There’s a whiff of spring in the air again this morning. The delicate scent of Camellia tsaii, magnolias and an old Akebia vine growing on the fence near the orchard were the first I noticed, and I’m hearing more birds again. #euphorbialambii is flowering behind the pond - and in the swimming pool garden, and the flowering bracts have the most extraordinary colour! Time for that second espresso and the hedger and gloves are waiting in the wheelbarrow…

Load More… Follow on Instagram