Refreshments will be available at this garden on Saturday only: a pot of tea, or proper coffee, and a piece of old fashioned slice (GF option available) at a cost of $5. Dungog Garden Ramblers thank Liz and Steve very much for hosting the refreshments. You couldn’t ask for any more pleasant place to enjoy morning or afternoon tea.

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Liz Hughes and Steven Head have been at 31 Dowling Street for 13 years, and the garden is their creation. The front garden was completely overhauled to its present state, with the star jasmine arches a perfect picture in their season and the flowering plums with their dark foliage…

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Enter at the left side next to the garage to find yourself in a well-curated garden that offers a lovely mix of edible and ornamental with touches of artistic flair everywhere. We appreciate Liz and Steven hosting Ramble refreshments, and their garden is certainly a beautiful spot to enjoy morning or afternoon tea with plenty of places to sit to enjoy the garden ambience, including on the veranda, which offers a lovely view and the shade of the beautiful, weeping, Chinese elm.

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Steven and Liz have worked around the established bones of the garden they found when they arrived: the Chinese elm that provides the veranda with beautiful summer shade, the melaleuca “snow in summer” and crepe myrtle. An enormous old bougainvillea down in the corner, a grand strelitzia, some of which was moved into the driveway, and the Cecile Brunner rose at the garage were also here when Steven and Liz arrived, and still have their places in the present design.

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Liz loves cutting flowers for inside, and there are plenty to cut, including many that are beneficial to pollinators and birds, which abound here. Indeed, Liz has become very interested in pollination and it is now one of the garden’s key elements. There is also plenty of birdlife in this garden, including tawny frogmouths in the right season, honeyeaters and finches.

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You will find a very productive vegetable garden, mini orchard and chicken run, an efficient composting regime and evidence of systematic mulching of garden refuse. These are key to the garden’s focus on sustainability where recycling, repurposing and making use of what’s available are paramount, in the spirit of ecological responsibility that is central to Steven and Liz’s philosophy. They will be around on Ramble day and will be pleased to answer your questions.

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We look forward to seeing you there.

Entry $5