Meet our members

Linda shares a lovely tale of an old-fashioned garden being passed down from one Garden Clinic Club member to another.

Jen Stevens popped into Beecroft Village Gardens one sunny afternoon February last when I was giving one of my nursery talks. We bonded over gardening, Friday night footy and pizza so I convinced Jen to rent in Beecroft while she hunted for a new home.

After 18 months of intense searching she finally came across a home (and garden) she liked. Coincidently it was owned by a fellow Garden Clinic Club member Joan Hallman, who after 34 years in the same house, and garden, was downsizing to a place down the road. Joan wanted the garden to go to another green thumb and the sale was made. The house sale came complete with Joan’s ‘garden journal’, bulbs and seeds ready to plant. The garden was a botanical ark of treasures.

Joan comes from an era of CWA, Garden Clubs, a well-made posy and a good home-cooked scone, and she holds the firm belief that a cup of tea can solve most of the world’s problems. She moved to Sydney from the country when her children were small following her husband Ted, who ‘was in the bank’. Her garden, floristry and flowers were her passion. Over the years her Beecroft garden gradually grew from slips, nursery finds and friends’ gifts.

Six weeks after the sale, Jen invited Joan and me for tea and scones and a discussion about Joan’s wonderful garden. On the table was a bunch a freshly picked camellia: ‘Fragrant Pink’, Joan’s favourite. Walking around the garden with Joan is like reading her diary - flowers and plants have come from friends, and been planted for anniversaries. Stories are related as plants are spotted, so that the plants themselves have become repositories of memory.

Spring in Joan’s garden is usually a breathtaking display of rhododendrons, azalea, magnolia, peach blossom and freesias. Unfortunately Jen mistook most of the freesias along the driveway as grass and pulled them all out the weekend before Joan’s visit. Oops! Joan set her straight with the best piece of advice I’ve heard on garden inheritance, “Don’t pull out anything in the garden for one whole year”. With a longer-term view of the garden - Jen plans to take notes in her Journal – she can make informed decisions about changes later.

Before moving to glorious Beecroft, Jen had a modern garden in Kellyville, with straight lines and hedges, and was initially unsure about the exuberance and sheer bounty of Joan’s beautiful, old-fashioned (and fairly high maintenance) plants. Now she adores Joan’s garden (she still calls it Joan’s garden) and, freesia mishap aside, is respectful of her legacy.

During the afternoon, countless cups of tea were drunk, scones were eaten and darkness fell. Some stories would have to wait till next time. Joan gave Jen some quick tips on using the fan-forced oven for the perfect scone and as I left Jen was returning the favour by programming Joan’s new mobile phone. So I’m looking forward to receiving text messages from Joan, great scones from Jen and watching the garden slowly becoming Jen’s garden.

Breakout

Joan’s tips on gardening

* When inheriting someone else’s garden, watch it for a year without changing anything, and then you know what you have to work with.

* Collect plants from friends to make your garden. Cuttings and root divisions are easy.

* Special plants can be bought from the local nursery and propagated to share with friends.

* Plant flowering plants for each season.

* Get a gardener to help with the big jobs and keep your eye on them!

* Write notes in the Garden Clinic Journal each weekend from listening to the radio show – it helps me remember.

Plant Notes – old favourites

Common name:  Azalea ‘Red Wings’

Plant name: Rhododendron azalea ‘Red Wings’

Description:  An evergreen shrub that flowers with profuse bright red trumpet flowers in spring.

Size:  Height 1.5m x 1m width

Special comments: Prevent pest and disease by spraying with Confidor in November, spraying for petal blight at flower bud swell and spraying with pest oil after flowering. Prune after flowering to keep compact.

Symbols:

Full sun

Part shade

Moderate water

Extra water in summer

Good for pots

Frost tolerant when dormant

Common name: Camellia

Plant name: Camellia ‘Fragrant Pink’

Description: An evergreen shrub with profuse, winter-flowering, fragrant flowers.

Size:  Height 3m x 1.5m width

Special comments: Trim lightly after flowering, or prune by picking flowers for indoors. Feed with camellia food in spring. Mulch with cow manure.

Symbols:

Part shade

Moderate water

Extra water in summer

Frost tolerant

Common name:  Hippies

Plant name: Hippeastrum

Description: A flowering bulb that comes up year after year with a cluster of large, trumpet-shaped flowers on an upright stalk in summer. Flowers come in red, pink and white.

Size:  Height 0.4m x 0.4m width

Special comments: Buy bulbs from mail order companies (see stockists list pg 98)

Symbols:

Full sun

Drought hardy

Good for pots

Frost tolerant

Common name:  Upside down Orchid

Plant name:  Stanhopea sp.

Description: An evergreen orchid that enjoys hanging in a basket lined with sphagnum moss or bark so the flowers can poke out from the bottom. White, yellow and orange, sometimes spotted flowers.

Size:  Height 0.4m x 0.3m width

Special comments: Let everyone appreciate its delicious vanilla fragrance by bringing it close to the house during summer. Hang up in a tree during winter.

Symbols:

Part shade

Moderate water

Good for pots

Frost tolerant

Common name:  Heartleaf Saxifrage

Plant name: Bergenia cordifolia (syn Saxifrage)

Description: A low growing groundcover with rounded green leaves and bright pink flowers in winter. Shade-loving. Also comes in deep pink, pale pink and white.

Size:  Height 0.2m x 0.5m width

Special comments: Excellent when planted with other shade lovers such as lamium, pieris, variegated iris, hellebores, violets and bromeliads.

Symbols:

Part shade

Moderate water

Extra water in summer

Wind protection

Frost tolerant when dormant

Common name:  Luculia

Plant name: Luculia gratissima

Description: A large evergreen shrub from the Himalayas with pale pink, fragrant flowers in winter. Also comes in white.

Size:  Height 3m x 2m width

Special comments: Morning sun is essential; try to avoid afternoon sun. Mulch plants well. Plant into improved soil. Not for areas with frost.

Symbols:

Part shade

Moderate water

Frost tender

Extra water in summer