The July garden visit was to Louise Fultterton and John Roche’s lovely 2 acre garden at Alstonville.  Thank you for sharing your garden with us all.

Louise and John  moved from Adelaide to the Alstonville Plateau escarpment back in 1990. Both keen gardeners, the couple were overwhelmed by the high rainfall and fecundity after the arid landscapes of South Australia. Not sure what was a weed or too vigorous a plant, they proceeded to work on their two acre plot and made all the usual mistakes of newcomers.

A bit like the British sitcom, “The Good Life”, John likes to be self sufficient. In went mangoes, avocados, lychee, papaya, citrus etc. Plants described as growing to one metre, soon grew to four metres, blocking their views to the coast. The steep slopes to the north became a rainforest oasis. In came the scrub turkeys, carpet pythons and land mullets.

After 32 years, they now have a handle on what is lower maintenance and can whip the lawns into shape in under an hour. Louise’s pride is her courtyard and tropical shade garden along the back verandah and her potted bougainvillea on the patio overlooking Ballina. Her ceramic sculptures are featured throughout the garden. And John has a keen interest in ‘no dig’ vegetable gardening and his new Ryobi chipper/mulcher.