In November our garden visit was to Alison and Peter Budock’s Lindendale Garden Lindendale.
Alison and Peter wrote:
When we moved to our 2-hectare block in 2010, there were just half a dozen decades-old trees in front of the house, acres of overgrown grassy paddocks and a wild expanse of weedy trees on the far side of the gully. We loved the park-like ambience of the large old trees near the house and had a long-standing aspiration to live in a rambling country garden so with that in mind, the garden slowly took shape and, almost 15 years later, is still very much underway.
In addition to the rambly bits, I wanted the garden to have formal designed elements so immediately in front of the house, we put in a teardrop driveway and planted a knot garden flanking the path to the front door. Comprising 200+ Japanese box plants trimmed as low hedges that weave in and out of each other, the two knot garden beds provide a nice sense of order and symmetry when we look out the windows. That is, until the hedges need clipping to bring them back into order, which is far more frequently than I would like! My love/hate knot garden relationship hasn’t deterred me from creating other box topiaries (mostly balls, a couple of cones and balls-on-sticks, and a few bird-like shapes) that are strategically dotted around the garden. The topiary journey continues, with the shadehouse overflowing with topiaries that will hopefully one day be sold to fellow topiary enthusiasts…
Fronting the road, we’ve planted a mixed assortment of shrubs and low trees, including crepe myrtles, camellias, brugmansias, ‘Jazzy’ tibouchinas, deciduous magnollias and a long expanse of Royal Cape plumbagos. Underplantings on the shaded side include medinillas, ligularia and cordylines. On the sunnier verge, below the plumbagos, an array of salvias, miscanthus and agave thrive on many months of summer neglect.
Underneath the old towering plane trees, jacaranda and poinciana there are winding grassy paths and beds filled with shade-loving bromeliads, medinillas, vireyas, ixoras, orchids and cliveas.
On the western side of the house we planted a double row of riberries which, from the house, draw the eye down to the gully. In front of the riberries is a semi-enclosed lawn, bordered by a hedge of Hiryu pink-flowering camellias and a loosely shaped bed with Japanese-style plantings, including a maple, two persimmons, and a self-seeded twisty-trunked silky oak underplanted with no-mow grass. The timber pavilion that overlooks this space is a very recent and much-loved addition to the garden. Behind the pavilion, a copse of five tropical birches (Betula nigra) creates a lovely woodland ambiance, with beautiful weeping branches, gold autumn foliage, pale papery bark, and a tracery of slender trunks in winter. This copse is mirrored by another birch copse closer to the house.
Downside from the pavilion is the rainforest regen corridor covering roughly 2 acres. The initial plantings are 13 years old and are providing much-needed habitat for birds, butterflies are other creatures that have moved into this space.
Moving back towards the house, and overlooked by the verandah, is a small orchard, a newly built veg garden, and a cottage garden bed planted with salvias, Digiplexis foxgloves, rudbeckias, annuals, box balls, and Tanika lomandras. Two obelisks with hot pink Alice du Pont mandevillas at each end of the bed provide vertical structure in an otherwise loose, slightly haphazard planting.
Future plans include clearing out the weeds that are taking over the fence boundaries, expanding the shadehouse, continuing the rainforest plantings, and curtailing my topiary propagation addiction. Or not!
Thank you Alison and Peter for sharing your lovely garden
