The Laurels

About a  month ago we decided to go for a country drive out to Warwick which is a few hours west of home.  We stopped in at Boonah on the way and discovered a Flying Fox colony right behind the tourist information centre where we had lunch.  As usual the noise was incredible but it was lovely to see a healthy colony in a position that for once doesn't seem to cause trouble with residents.

It was a perfect sunny day and not too hot for a gentle stroll around a garden.  This was one of the first Open Gardens I'd been to that was made by a professional gardener; who incidentally had featured in a book on Australian gardens that I'd read only a few weeks prior.  As to be expected, the garden was gorgeous and had a little of something for everyone and some thoughtful elements in terms of design, sustainability and practicality.

Old shed converted to a chook house

Herb forage for the chooks

A sheep that won't eat all your prized ornamentals

Fluffy bottomed trio of lawn manicurists

The woodland walk

Homemade garden ornaments

Stunning fountain at the formal front entrance

Ahhhh symmetry and stachys - what more could you want?

This hedge formation elongates a narrows space and directs the eye while also dividing the space into rooms in their own right

Giving sedum the boot

Walkway to the garage and backyard

Wall garden made from a pallet

Outdoor area - there are wisteria planted to grow over the pergola which is made from recycled timber as are most of the structures in the garden

Guarding the entrance to the backyard

Even the fountain is homemade

Treehouse and mini deck chairs in the front garden

Roaming around Roma St

A double baby shower on the weekend provided the perfect opportunity to check out the gardens at Roma St Parklands despite the heat.  The Parklands opened in 2001 and were developed from an old railway yard on a 16 hectare site.  They also provided a great location for a photos before our wedding reception at the cafe in the parklands.  Aside from the Spectacle Garden which is now called Colin Campbell Place the plantings are subtropical with a great display of variegated foliage with stripes, spots and purples.

Wandering through the subtropical rainforest planting, these palms provided a shady canopy for the underplanting.  I've never been a huge fan of palms but I think this is mostly due to their use as a sole feature plant or so often seeing them uninspiringly strung along a driveway.  (It may also have something to do with their fruit being enjoyed by noisy fruit bats outside my bedroom window for many of my childhood years). Leaving my prejudice behind, the use of palms in the Parklands seemed so natural and made more of a feature of the underplanting, providing a cool dappled light rather than stealing the show.

 

These prayer plants were arranged in a curved line between two slopes, resembling a stream.  A welcome sight in the heat and lack of rain.

 

A carpet of native violets

Swan river daisy

Two beautiful native garden fillers 

The glow of this grass caught my eye.  In the midday sun it gleamed like a long exposure photo of a sparkler.

The ginger was enjoying the heat and looking luscious.

Mass plantings of echinacea around the Parklands were islands of colour in the landscape.

Some great examples of hedging.  

Eventually, I hope to have neatly clipped examples like these as my front fence.

These fellows were hogging the limelight.  This one was quite the poser.

I seem to be stalked by the little trains wherever I go - shopping centres, Sydney Botanic Gardens, the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers and now Roma St Parklands.  Suddenly they appear behind me, ringing their bell while they trundle around.  Taking a shortcut via a narrow pathway to escape them is to no avail for when I finally relax, thinking I am no longer in their sites, they appear once more from around a corner 

- ding-da-ding!

This dichondra 'silver falls' works well as a tower with the flowers underneath acting like spray off rocks at the bottom of a waterfall.

A striking substitute for a water feature when every drop is precious.

 

This plaque is in memory of Colin Campbell, in honour of whom a section of the Parklands has now been named .  He was a great inspiration to gardeners of all ages and dedicated his life to it.  

May he rest in peace.

One of my favourite places in the garden is the topiary section.  Although the elephant was trying to regrow its trunk, the giraffe and kangaroo were in fine form and as cute as ever.  I have grand plan of one day having a giant topiary chicken in my garden.

This sculpture fits perfectly into the garden, acting as a three dimensional plant holder, and capturing the curves of the garden in a vertical axis.