Water gardens

This morning we walked through the gardens of Villa Melzi on Lake Como for our morning walk.

The spectacular setting makes it impossible to replicate.

The garden is set on a steep hill flowing down to the  lake.

Pictures cannot adequately capture the magnificence of this garden.

Favourite garden in France

Erignac in the Dordogne region of France would have to be one of my favourite gardens ever visited.

We were inspired 6 years ago by this magnificent family owned garden and decided to return again on our trip to France.

The very simple manoir house sits at the bottom of the garden, in unadorned beauty surrounded by a clay colored gravel which is raked each morning to perfection.  Generations of the same family have lived here for 500 years.

The owner describes this avenue of hornbeams as the Champs Élysées of the Perigord.

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we were fortunate this time to have a private tour of the garden by the owner who took us onto the magnificent lawns cared for like precious carpets and see breathtaking vistas of the garden.

The white garden holds white picnics in summer with musical recitals amongst the roses and clipped box hedges.

Again Erignac has inspired us to return to our own garden and continue with our work and aim towards an even highly level of detail and excellence. 

Photos from Erignac.com and tripadviser

Designer gardens in the Loire valley

Today we visited Chateau Chambord in the Loire valley.

The gardens feature installations of art work and display gardens created by various designers each year. We were particularly taken with the beds near the chateau which combined grasses with annuals and perennials in blues, pinks, purples and white.

A large gravelled area was broken up with spheres of irregularly spaced buxus adding contrast in both color, texture and design.

The parklands included touches of whimsy with cleverly suspended works of art and sculpture in sympathetic materials.

Monet's garden

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” Claude Monet
This weekend I visited Melbourne, a favourite city of mine. While there I visited the Monet exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. I would highly recommend it to anyone who can go. I was transfixed by the beautiful images filled with light,magnificent colours and images. Any one who has been involved in creating a garden can I'm sure relate to Monet's quote.

"Monet’s Garden is a stunning exhibition devoted to Claude Monet’s iconic garden at Giverny. Renowned as the ‘father of French Impressionism’, Monet was inspired by his direct experiences of nature, culminating in the ravishing depictions of his lily and flower gardens in the rural property at Giverny, northern France, that became his lifelong obsession. Step into the extraordinary this winter for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these masterpieces in Australia, exclusive to Melbourne" an excerpt from the Nationql Gallery of Victoria's website who does a far better job describing it.

Roses are pink

The pretty, pink, old English style, floribunda roses in our parterre garden are the Jane McGrath rose from Treloar roses. They were chosen for their hardiness in drought conditions and apparently have total resistance to black spot. The colour is a soft pink and they have a soft fragrance. They have flowered prolifically all summer and autumn and are surprisingly still covered in blooms in winter.

$1 from each rose is made to the McGrath foundation from the sale of each plant. The proceeds go towards helping the Foundation's work including placing breast care nurses in rural Australia. We couldn't be happier with our choice.

Inspiring gardens

One of my favourite landscape designers is Jacques Wirtz, a Belgian designer who combines structure and formality in a unique way.

In the days before Pinterest, when I used to rip out my favourite  ideas from magazines, I saved a garden which included the top picture at least 10 years ago. I am still fan today.

Garden history tour

Australian Garden
History Society 2013 Autumn Tour

On Friday we had 40 guests visit our garden with The Australian Garden History Society. The tour , guided by Trisha Dixon, was a great success and we couldn't have had  more perfect weather.The tour included private gardens, historic architecture and discussions on artists and poets who have resided in our district.