If the sunny spring skies and the recent rain have inspired you to tackle the garden that you have been neglecting, then a visit to the annual St Peter’s Armidale gardens weekend on November 5 and 6 will give you the inspiration to create your own little patch of Eden.
Ten gardens will be open over the weekend, ranging in style from large sprawling country gardens, to small intimate town gardens, sustainable organic gardens producing an abundance of home grown veggies and gardens that showcase our very own native Australian landscape.
On a beautiful spring afternoon I had the chance to catch up with Ashley Burnside whose property ‘Marraweeney’ on the Boorolong Road will be open during the St Peter’s gardens weekend. On my arrival, Ashley was aboard the ride-on mower which has been getting a regular workout since good falls of spring rain have painted the Armidale landscape green.
Ashley was left with a blank canvas in the middle of a paddock after building the house some five years ago and has been influenced by both exotic and native plantings.
“I moved here in September 2006 from Bundarra and, after my husband died, the garden filled a huge gap in my life,” said Ashley.
“I have always loved gardening, my father grew vegetables when we were kids and as a teenager I used to buy plants and bring them home.”
Ashley regularly attends church services at St Peter’s and last year was approached by the organising committee to open her garden for the St Peter’s Armidale gardens weekend.
“I didn’t think it was a show garden but the committee came and had a look and it was chosen because it’s a relatively new garden.
“It shows you what you can do in five years.
“I had 12 truckloads of mulch brought out here when I first came, to get the native garden started. There was no soil here, so all the soil was imported.
“I collected a lot of manure and made as much compost as I could.
“A dam was put in exclusively for the garden. However, this year with the recent rain, the garden has had little need for regular watering except for the veggies that require regular top-ups.”
Ashley has found native plants to be her biggest challenge in her garden.
“I don’t find natives easy to grow.
“People think because they are natives they will just come up, but they don’t.
“They get a lot of diseases and they are often frost tender.
“Once they get established, they are OK.
“I have some gum trees here that are on their last chance so, if they don’t do well this year, they’re going.”
The garden at ‘Marraweeney’ is divided into halves, with the front garden exclusively native and the back garden mostly exotics. Ashley doesn’t plan too much, which is a result of her addiction to buying plants, an affliction bestowed on most gardeners, so a place has to be found for the new additions.
“I am not a rose grower. I like plants for their foliage and colour, something different.
“And I love little plants; I don’t necessarily want something that is so perfect.”
During the St Peter’s Armidale gardens weekend on November 5 and 6, there will be entertainment and a variety of stalls at the St Peter’s Parish Centre and Cathedral on the Saturday morning. The garden at 93 Brown Street will also have a plant stall all weekend; the garden at Araluen, 23 Tulong Road will have a native plant stall and a guest speaker at 3pm on both days; and the garden at Rothley, 90 Brown Street will have a history of the house and area at 3pm on Saturday and 11am on Sunday. Gardens are open from 10am to 5pm. For more information, visit
www.armidalegardens.org.au
Story: Jo Harrison
