Annual Day Visiting the Gardens

My friend and I had our annual day out a week or so back, visiting the open gardens.  I was a bit worried that I would have to stand her up this year, but at the last minute I cancelled my other plans.  I couldn’t miss out on our special day.  How would we get by without catching up on all the gossip?

I’ve shared our special day before, in 2012 here and here, in 2011 here,  in 2010 here,  and in 2009 here.  We’ve been making this a play date for probably 20 years now.

Anyway, to this year…..

First of all, I sent Mick off on his own.  It was the Motorcycle Awareness Week get together at Wellington on Sunday and he went up there to catch up with some friends from Coonamble.

Now, to our day out….

Quite a few gardens were open for the first time, or hadn’t been open for quite a few years. There was a great variety and the weather couldn’t have been better.

“Daleba” was a stunning native garden.  I don’t think I have ever seen such vibrant bottle brushes, in quite a few different colours.

They also had some wonderful sculptures.

“Winter Rose Cottage” was a leafy suburban garden.  I loved the creative recycling for the strawberries.  Very appropriate for car mad Bathurst.

“Harvey’s Garden” had a lovely vege garden.   It has been open on several occasions, but not for a while.

Next was “Bremar”, which was open for the first time.  It had several quite different sections.

The owners’ grandkids were well catered for with lots of different play areas.  This was my favourite.  Apparently it was bought as a kit down the mountains.

 
“Benning” is a relatively new garden, with lovely big beds and sweeping lawns.  It will be interesting to follow its progress as it matures.

The next garden we visited was “Cathie’s Garden”, a real cottagey garden.  There was next to no lawn.  The cottage was hiding behind the garden.

Out  in the back garden there was a delightful studio.  I had to go straight up there and check it out.

What do you think?  Can you see sewing machines, cutting tables, lots of fabric and quilting books? Isn’t the light just wonderful.  I could spend hours up there.

Cathie is certainly talented and  has created a wonderful haven for herself.

Next on the list was “Mt Tamar”, which was open last year.  It is a lovely country garden, but this year there are a couple of new features created by the owner.  Apparently the eagle was only completed a couple of days before the open weekend.  He is rather stunning.

Our final garden was “Brindabella”.  I was looking forward to seeing this one, as I’ve admired the house, as being a comfortable looking place.

This was truly gorgeous.  Water is obviously no object, as there were lovely, lush lawns.  So much work has been done in the few years they have owned the property. All the gardens were full and everything looked so very healthy.

The main feature was the walled kitchen garden. This lovely little building is actually the sheds.  A garden shed on one side and potting shed on the other, with a breezeway between.  It is constructed from recycled sandstock bricks.

I loved the way the specially marked bricks were featured.

Now to the garden….

It was still a bit early for a lot of plantings, but it was so very well set up.  The steel structure at the back had passionfruit growing up the wall and citrus trees in front.  There is an automated cover that comes across the framework to protect the plants from our harsh frosts.

One corner featured a glass house and another had a shade house.

The kitchen garden extended beyond the walled garden as well, with berries and espaliered fruit trees. 

You don’t get much better than this.  I really love visiting gardens like this one, as kitchen gardens are my favourites.  However, I’m extremely lazy with my own.  Maybe, when I retire mine will look a bit more like this……then I’d be wishing my life away.

It is a great day out visiting all the wonderful gardens around our city.  You don’t realise what dedicated people there are around us, creating their own piece of heaven.

Bring on next year.