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Wattle Woods Tour

The Wattle trees have always been here on the boundary line. The Wattle Woods was one of the first gardens planted, helped along by loads of compost and manure. Later a path was built, following the route that the dog took, with shady seats to rest on.

Wattle Woods Garden

Then the area started expanding. Foliage plants battled with roses. Groundcovers battled with weeds. Each storm saw more and more fallen Wattle branches, as these trees indulged in some self pruning. Now in the outer gardens, each season has a totally new look. Think of spring daffodils and honesty, followed by aquilegias and foxgloves, then the roses and lychnis, and finally the huge miscanthus grass, the sedums and the toad lilies in autumn...

You'll find tougher plantings directly under the trees, in the dry shade. Renga Renga enjoys being here and its clean green leaves look good. So does a silver Astelia which has grown huge and beautiful. I often do lots of sneaky watering to keep this area functioning properly, but enough of that! Every summer I decide that its too dry to attempt to grow anything in here, and make plans for mass removals of ailing shrubs, to be replaced with giant screens...

At the top of the Wattle Woods there is a special seat which looks at the JAM garden. This part of the garden has a special history. In the Christmas of 1997, midsummer, my friend Judith Anne decided to shift to England, and I moved her whole garden out here. I chopped out unnamed roses, dragged out rhododendrons, hostas, bergenias and ligularias. No-one believed that her plants would survive their summer shift. Ha! They were wrong! The Judith Anne Memorial (JAM) Garden survived, though with some unseasonal pruning and a lot of sneaky watering. In the winter of 2003 several of the Wattles came down in a snowfall.

Memories of friends do live on in plants from their gardens. I'm sure you'll know what I mean - plants can be as quirky and surprising as the friend who gifted them. So think of warm dappled shade with a cat or a faithful dog following you, and wander through the Wattle Woods Garden.

Aargh! Breaking news regarding more breaking Wattle trees in the snow storm of winter 2006. Huge areas have been replanted!

Red Rose... Sat 26th Feb 2005: One summer early in the Wattle Woods history I dug out some old roses from a friend's garden and moved them into the country. This red rose came with hardly any roots - yet it has survived!
Rugosa Rose Hips... Wed 16th Feb 2005: In the middle of summer my Rugosa roses by the glass-house garden have already formed red rose hips, as well as starting to flower again. The Rugosa rose in this close-up photograph is possibly Frau Dagmar Hastrup.
Flax Cream Delight... Sat 12th Feb 2005: At the grass edge of the Wattle Woods the plants need to be survivors. There is patchy sun, but the trees take a lot of the goodness and moisture from the soil. New Zealand flaxes like the weeping hybrid Cream Delight grow well here.
Growing Tomatoes & White Fly... Thu 10th Feb 2005: My glass-house is situated on the back lawn near the Wattle Woods, almost underneath the trees. The burbling water race is nearby.
Wrong Place for Rhododendrons... Thu 11th Nov 2004: This extension to the upper Wattle Woods Garden was one of my biggest garden mistakes. Rhododendrons will not grow under Wattles, and since this archive photograph was taken the poor suffering plants have been shifted twice to try out new homes.
Wintering Over... Thu 5th Aug 2004: The glass-house in winter is always full of half hardy plants wintering over. In the Moosey garden we get frosty mornings, and pelargoniums and daisies wouldn't always survive.
Wattle Woods Flaxes... Fri 9th Jul 2004: When I sit on the garden bench by the pond I can see the sweeping curve of the Wattle Woods, and enjoy the bright Yellow Wave flaxes planted on the edge by the lawn.
Red Yellow Dahlia... Fri 4th Jun 2004: There are many small surprises in the Wattle Woods Garden - particularly in the area I call the JAM garden. Here you'll find roses, perennials and annuals, and this delightful dahlia. I have no idea where it came from - it must be a Moosey hybrid.
Dappled Sun... Thu 3rd Jun 2004: Some of the tree trunks in the Wattle Woods are on desperate leans. This is the view looking from the seat down towards the Pump House gums.
Red Dahlia with Bee... Thu 3rd Jun 2004: I love the red dahlias which grow behind the glass-house. They always take me by surprise in late summer - I obviously don't do much work in the glass-house at this time of year!
Garden Foliage & Flowers... Wed 21st Jan 2004: In this part of the Wattle Woods garden there is quite a bit of sun, and I can grow a mixture of foliage plants like New Zealand flaxes and flowering plants like the large white Nicotiana Sylvestris.
Glass-House Garden... Fri 12th Dec 2003: The glass-house is a favourite gardening location in all seasons - except high summer!
Wattle in Flower... Mon 23rd Jun 2003: The Wattle trees flower right in the middle of winter, with cheery yellow flowers.
Pumphouse Garden Path... Mon 3rd Jul 2000: The Pump House marks the end of the Wattle Woods Garden, and here the path veres towards the fence-line gums. This is a photograph from the archives looking back towards those crazy leaning Wattle Trees.
Chrysanthemum Flower Close-Up... Sat 1st Jul 2000: Here is a close-up of the yellow Chrysanthemum. It's a real nuisance when it flops over, as I always forget to stake it.
Wattle Woods Garden Path... Mon 29th May 2000: The paths in the Wattle Woods weave their way through waves of Renga Renga and Japanese Iris Japonica.
Railway Sleeper Garden Bench... Mon 22nd May 2000: At the back end of the glass-house is a garden bench made from a railway sleeper and two columns of bricks. The garden below is full of Camellias, and in spring this is a delightful place to sit.
Wattle Woods Garden Bench... Mon 22nd May 2000: This seat, deep in the shade of the Wattle trees, is a place for calm meditation. It's surrounded by mass plantings of Renga Renga and Japanese Iris Japonica. The cats know that I sit here in summer, and it's never long before one of them arrives.
JAM Garden Glass-House Plantings... Fri 19th May 2000: This is a picture of the top if the JAM garden by the glass-house. The roses are Icebergs, and the edging Scabios plants are in full flower.
Iris Japonica... Thu 11th May 2000: Iris Japonica, also called Japanese Iris, is a foliage plant that I use everywhere. I can transplant it at any time of year, and within weeks it will be established. My Iris Japonica has bright bluish white flowers in spring.
Iris Leaf Insect Close-Up... Tue 9th May 2000: Here is another insect photograph of an unknown bug sitting on a green Iris Japonica leaf. My photographer son insists on spending time and money stalking these wee critters.
Red Dahlias By Glass-House... Sun 30th Apr 2000: This dahlia was dumped in between the potting tables and has decided it likes it here. No problem!
Glass-House Garden Cat... Fri 28th Apr 2000: Sifter the cat often comes out to the glass-house for the winter sun. Here he is sunbathing on the bench in the middle of the plastic pots.
Gardening Coffee Cup... Wed 5th Apr 2000: It's one of my new blue and white gardening coffee cups, and it's gone cold. I often bring a drink out to the glass-house and then forget to drink it.
Sifter the Garden Bench Cat... Thu 30th Mar 2000: Sifter the cat has ulterior motives for sitting here in the Wattle Woods. These are home to a large group of fantails, and these birds hover near people, hoping for insects.
Cotinus & Miscanthus... Sat 18th Mar 2000: The seed heads and autumn colours of these shrubs are lit up in the afternoon sun. The Wattle Woods are behind in shadow. The plants in this photograph are a Cotinus, a Miscanthus grass and a Rugosa rose.
Beautiful JAM Garden... Thu 16th Mar 2000: Standing in the JAM garden at the corner of the glass-house there is a small path, which allows the low plantings seen in this photo. This is a sunny sheltered area, and the path is hard to keep clear.
Chrysanthemums... Thu 16th Mar 2000: There's a riot of colour in Autumn as the sedums and chrysanthemums which are planted in front of the glass-house door erupt in colour. When the sedums are in flower I have to run the bee gauntlet to get in and out.
Commelina... Thu 16th Mar 2000: These bright blue bulbs are summer flowering, and are in the garden by the glass-house.
Acacia Tree Seed Pods... Tue 14th Mar 2000: These are the Acacia (or Wattle tree) seed pods close-up. The ground in the Wattle Woods becomes carpeted with them.
Head Gardener in the Glass-House... Thu 2nd Mar 2000: The glass-house is a peaceful place. I can't hear the phone, but Jerome the cat can still find me.