Hillcrest Park

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Formal gardens are not common within Australia but Don Burke recently visited this award winning formal garden situated in Sydney.

‘Hillcrest Park’ is a 14.4 hectare (six acre) garden at Middle Dural, which belongs to Charles and Cheryl Hanna. The garden has many of the classic elements which make up a formal style garden. The Hannas began with a formal driveway, laying out the symmetrical axes, and then continued into the rest of the garden to create garden rooms. The result is a stunning garden which has won local acclaim in garden competitions.

The feel of the garden is spacious and ordered. Formal hedges and edges reflect the linear layout and axes, and focal points lead the visitor and the eye to interesting plants or water features within the garden. Although the basis of the garden is strict with straight lines and vistas, plantings spill over garden edges, softening the look of the pathways with colour and texture.

The owners enjoy colour in the garden in flowers and foliage. The Hannas have chosen plants that suit the English or European type garden. Cherry pie (Heliotropium arborescens ‘Lord Roberts’) has a wonderful vanilla fragrance and rich purple flowers during spring and summer, while such trees as the variegated tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera ‘Aureomarginata’) and purple dissectum Japanese maples (Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’) give colour throughout the year. Colourful flowers also fill the garden. There are over 300 pink roses planted around the tennis court. Other dominant plantings include pink azaleas and flowering cherries, which feature in one garden room.

Climate map – Heliotropium arborescens ‘Lord Roberts’

Water

Water features strongly at Hillcrest Park. A geometrically shaped pond filled with Koi carp and a small water feature are in a direct line of sight with a large lake and fountain, which dominates the landscape. Six deer, including Bambi, live in the paddock below the lake.

Although a large lake may not be possible in every backyard, many formal features can be reproduced in an average sized garden. Geometry and symmetry of pathways and plantings can give a formal feel to any garden. Dominant features or statuary can be used as focal points to draw a visitor into the garden. Plant materials, such as clipped box and standard roses, can also assist in creating that formal feel.

Open Garden

Hillcrest Park at 6 McLeod Road, Middle Dural, NSW, 2158 will be open to visitors through Australia’s Open Garden Scheme over one weekend during September. For more information about this and other gardens to visit consult Australia’s Open Garden Scheme Handbook 1998/99, which will be available from late July.