Members will know that our Sennachie, Grahame
Thom, is interested in anything to do with Family Research. He
also acts as Chairman of our Archive committee and as
Treasurer of the Australian Branch.
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What is less well
know is the interest that Grahame and his wife, Rossie, have
in gardening. They have built a wonderful garden around their
house in Victoria, Australia. Grahame regularly sends
photographs of the garden and your webmaster decided that it
was about time that there was something about it on the
website - the photographs were too good to waste.
Grahame has
written the following article about the construction of the
garden.
An Australian Garden
by Grahame
Thom
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Enlarged Photograph in the Slide Show below
Up until 1980 our Valley was made up of seven farming
properties. In the 1980s a developer purchased all seven
lots and proceeded to spend about $30 million turning this
1000 hectare property into one of the best thoroughbred studs
in the southern hemisphere.
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But all this came
to an end in 1990 when the developer died. His widow
decided to rationalise his large empire and she had a vision
of turning this estate into a high class housing
development. However she sold all but a small portion
for about $7 million to a Malaysian partnership who quickly
turned her vision into today’s golf course estate. The
first land sales commenced in 1998.
****
We purchased Lot
75, a one hectare rye grass pasture, in late 1998, and
the erection of our home commenced in late 1999.
We moved in on 8th September 2000. Very little was done
to the grounds in 2001 and landscaping of the drive, front
steps, rear patio and rear steps took place in late 2001 and
early 2002.
****
As was required,
we submitted a landscape plan with the plans of our home for
approval. We also engaged a landscape designer to draw
up a plan for the hard landscaping. We have not “stuck”
to either plan but have incorporated features of both as we
gradually developed our garden.
****
The garden -
Severe water restrictions from 2003 necessitated
drought-resistant planting as much as possible. Hedges
of olives, buddelia, hebe, felicia and box provide a little
protection from predominantly northern winds. Camellias,
azaleas, and gardenias only survive along the southern face of
the house.
****
Having grown 500
to 600 agapanthus plants from seed prior to moving to the
Valley, we planted our first garden beds bordering the drive
and along the front wall. Two weeping elm trees
were transferred from an old nursery site. The roses
along the front wall are Meidiland White. Blue is a
recurring colour in the garden.
****
The beds below
the bank at the back of the house were planted with red and
apricot roses. Also in 2002 we established a vegetable
garden and planted the grove of cut-leaf silver birch trees
and various other trees.
****
In 2003 we built
the walk-through trellis and expanded the rose beds on either
side using buddelias and olive trees as a back drop to pink
and red roses. In 2004 we planted the west bank with
natives and built the garden shed at the back of the
garage. The beds around it are planted with yellow roses
- Gold Bunny, Graham Thomas, Teasing Georgia, Fresia - and for
contrast, Veilchenblau.
****
The large trellis
and surrounding day lily beds, the small pond and the two
large windbreak beds furthest from the house were all
established in 2005.
Most of the trees
and plants in the garden were obtained locally, many from
fellow members of the local Garden Club.
****
In 2005 we were
approached by the Australian Garden Scheme to see if we wanted
to participate. This came about because another couple
in the Valley had decided to participate and were asked to
suggest a second garden. They suggested we might
participate. We agreed and our garden was open to the
public in November 2006 and September 2007. Both were
successful openings.
****
The gate was
manned by the Pretty Sally Garden Club as this gave them the
opportunity to sell plants. In 2006 we had around 80
attend on both days. In 2007 the Saturday was also AFL
Grand Final day so we only had 56 visitors but things picked
up on the Sunday with 73 people attending.
****
It was a lot of
concentrated work as we had to plan maintenance to result in
the garden looking its best on the weekend. It was work
that needed to be done anyway, but still quite an
effort. We decided not to participate after
2007.
****
A selection of
photographs of the garden appears in the slide-show that
follows:
****
Grahame & Rossie
Thom's Australian Garden
The Australian Branch's annual picnic in
November 2012 was held in the Grahame and Rossie's
garden.
