Garden 8
9 Carlton Avenue
Helen and Michael have been at 9 Carlton Avenue for about 8 years and the garden is a testament to their design flair and hard work as gardeners. The front garden spills its colour onto the footpath and invites the visitor in: salvias and camellias especially catch the eye and, upon stepping in, the visitor is assailed by a riot of colour f rom geraniums, roses, dianthus and many other burgeoning perennials.
Come down the driveway and follow the little path, its shady garden filled with cliveas, ferns and bromeliads, alongside the veranda to enter the back yard. But not just a back yard! It’s a wonderland of indigenous and exotic gems peopled by pollinators (native bees among them) and birds. Do come in…..
On the far left, along the fence, is the native garden where grevilleas, westringeas and melaleucas reign supreme. Here, if you follow the path down a little, you will find honeyeaters, including the large wattlebird, double-barred finches and firetails, among many others, cavorting happily and availing themselves of the feeding and water stations that dot the gardenscape.
In the top area where it’s a little more shaded, are orchids followed, as the shade gives way to sunshine, by daisies and other exotic perennials that spill onto the path. Look around! Straw daisies, shasters, irises and many other beauties too many to name, grow here. Continue down the path a little and you’ll come to a lovely “viewing platform” designed and built of recycled bricks, and complete with vintage garden benches restored by Michael himself. (Michael also built the big small-bird feeder in the grevillea garden, designed especially to allow the small birds to feed while keeping the bigger marauders at bay). Look past the viewing platform to several little nooks of garden surrounding a little pond and the henhouse. Take a seat to soak up the ambience, if you’re so inclined!
At the bottom of this garden you may not find fairies, but you will find a beautiful example of the purple Cootamundra wattle, which was left unpruned this year – and what a show it puts on, sadly finished by Ramble day, although the purple foliage is actually the main attraction (acacia baileyana purpurea); and if you look in the right hand corner, you’ll find Helen’s “stowaway” garden. This is where she plants things she’s not sure about, to see how they go, before giving them garden space. It’s an interesting collection and a good idea, in my opinion.
There has been some rejigging of plant positions since the last ramble, and much growth and development in the general sense. Helen says the garden has now grown into itself, that it’s now “as intended”. We might take bets* on the day as to whether the A Team do in fact leave it as is, or change, enlarge or further improve this gem of a garden.
* That is a joke:- there will be a raffle on Ramble day, but no betting!
Entry $5