Colonial Gardens
Episode: #2 17/03/07
Presenter: Dean Boone
The biggest challenge we face as gardeners today is to learn how to be water wise, what the right plants to use are and how can we still have a dynamic, interesting and beautiful garden to enjoy around our homes. We need to look forward and embrace our Australian climate, but in fact, we can also look back and learn a lot from the past.
Dean is at Camden Park House, one of the colonial homesteads of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, who famously brought the merino to Australia and single handedly started the wool industry. This private garden, which is still in the family, is a great record of the plants that were favoured, and most importantly survived, for almost 200 years.
What Dean finds so fascinating about this garden is that the plant material in it actually reflects the trends of today. Colonial gardeners did not have irrigation and the luxury of vast amounts of time to spend in the garden. They were also coming to terms with a whole new way of thinking and learning to cope in harsher soils and a harsher climate.
You may be surprised to know that natives were actually favoured and sort after by our colonial settlers, like the Bottle Tree (Adansonia Gibbosa). They realised and appreciated the Bottle Tree’s ability to survive and endure drought conditions. Something we are only just realising ourselves.
The Camden Park House Gardens also contains many exotics, but not of the English kind one could expect. There are great examples of succulents, drought hardy plants, like wisteria, and tough feature trees like the Chilean Wine Palm. They simply did not have the luxury of lots of water at the nearest tap.
The other major characteristic of this garden is the presence, or lack of, lawn. It was kept to a minimum, and found only immediately around the house, with most of the garden being made up of gravel paths and deep garden beds.
Massive drifts of plants like Fire Lily (Clivia miniata) can still be seen today, and mass planting of the under-story was an easy way to reduce maintenance and create a visual effect, is any of this sounding familiar?
The drought has made us seriously think about how we garden and what we plant, and Dean is sure it is bringing about a real and sincere appreciation of plants like these for use in our own gardens. The great thing is a place like Camden Park gardens shows you can have a beautiful garden, it is just a matter of choice.
Make sure you read the latest edition of the Garden Gurus newspaper for more great gardening ideas; it is available from your local garden centre.
Camden Park House is open to the public on the second last weekend of September every year. Money Raised goes towards restoring and maintaining the property.
Presenter: Dean Boone
The biggest challenge we face as gardeners today is to learn how to be water wise, what the right plants to use are and how can we still have a dynamic, interesting and beautiful garden to enjoy around our homes. We need to look forward and embrace our Australian climate, but in fact, we can also look back and learn a lot from the past.
Dean is at Camden Park House, one of the colonial homesteads of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, who famously brought the merino to Australia and single handedly started the wool industry. This private garden, which is still in the family, is a great record of the plants that were favoured, and most importantly survived, for almost 200 years.
What Dean finds so fascinating about this garden is that the plant material in it actually reflects the trends of today. Colonial gardeners did not have irrigation and the luxury of vast amounts of time to spend in the garden. They were also coming to terms with a whole new way of thinking and learning to cope in harsher soils and a harsher climate.
You may be surprised to know that natives were actually favoured and sort after by our colonial settlers, like the Bottle Tree (Adansonia Gibbosa). They realised and appreciated the Bottle Tree’s ability to survive and endure drought conditions. Something we are only just realising ourselves.
The Camden Park House Gardens also contains many exotics, but not of the English kind one could expect. There are great examples of succulents, drought hardy plants, like wisteria, and tough feature trees like the Chilean Wine Palm. They simply did not have the luxury of lots of water at the nearest tap.
The other major characteristic of this garden is the presence, or lack of, lawn. It was kept to a minimum, and found only immediately around the house, with most of the garden being made up of gravel paths and deep garden beds.
Massive drifts of plants like Fire Lily (Clivia miniata) can still be seen today, and mass planting of the under-story was an easy way to reduce maintenance and create a visual effect, is any of this sounding familiar?
The drought has made us seriously think about how we garden and what we plant, and Dean is sure it is bringing about a real and sincere appreciation of plants like these for use in our own gardens. The great thing is a place like Camden Park gardens shows you can have a beautiful garden, it is just a matter of choice.
Make sure you read the latest edition of the Garden Gurus newspaper for more great gardening ideas; it is available from your local garden centre.
Camden Park House is open to the public on the second last weekend of September every year. Money Raised goes towards restoring and maintaining the property.
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