Jubilee Garden nestles at the foot of Mount Wellington in Hobart. On the day Burke's Backyard visited, the garden was a blaze of autumn colour.

This is not a cutting edge, modern garden. The owners, Joy Stones and Ted Cutlan, have filled their garden with thousands of rare and unusual treasures, usually single specimens. They are plant collectors. Their collection features many rhododendron hybrids imported from America, as well as maples, magnolias, smoke bushes, nyssa, styrax and conifers. They are particularly interested in dwarf varieties and varieties with interesting foliage.

Jubilee Nursery

Ted and Joy also run Jubilee Nursery, which is about 10 minutes from Hobart and specialises in all sorts of rare, cold climate plants. In spring and autumn, retail customers are invited to visit Jubilee Gardens to see mature specimens of nursery plants in a garden situation. The retail nursery is open Fridays and Saturdays only.

Plants featured in our segment

Dwarf deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara ‘Warakilla’)
A mushroom-shaped, dwarf deodar cedar growing only about 1m (3') in 10 years.

Dwarf pine (Pinus mugo ‘Amber Gold’)
The green foliage of this dwarf pine turns almost fluorescent gold colour in winter.

Variegated maple (Acer ‘Esk Flamingo’)
This spectacular maple has a graceful weeping habit with pink and cream new growths in summer and attractive red branches in winter.

Smoke Bush (Cotinus coggygria)
A deciduous shrub or small tree to 4m (12') tall. As well as glorious orange and bronze autumn colour, in early summer the plant has finely branched pinkish-purple inflorescences which look just like clouds of smoke scattered over the foliage.

'Foliis Purpureis' is a variety with beautiful plum-purple leaves that turn to light shades of red in the autumn.

Rhododendron (Rhododendron ‘Teddy Bear’)
A compact hybrid growing to just over 1m (4') tall and producing large but delicate pink flowers. The leaves are a glossy, deep green with furry, teddy-bear-brown undersides.

Magnolia (Magnolia campbellii)
A deciduous Himalayan species growing to about 24m (80') tall. It takes about 20 years to flower, but the fragrant pale pink and rose flowers are well worth the wait.

Further information

Jubilee Nursery
73 Hall Street
Ridgeway Hobart
Phone: (03) 6223 2116
Mobile: 0419 351 002

Copyright CTC Productions 2004