Jumbunna Garden
Don spoke to Paul Blackman about the garden he designed around an old house in the Jumbunna area of southeast Victoria. Paul’s brief was to create a pleasure garden, and so he set about filling the space with tranquil ‘micro worlds’, or different areas of interest for people to enjoy. The garden has been developed in two stages, and since 1998 when the owners bought an adjacent property, Paul has been busy blending the new garden with the old.
Garden features
* Months of work went into the construction of drystone walls, which are made up of 250 tonnes of bluestone from a nearby quarry.
* An oriental pavilion is beautifully handcrafted from Western Australian Kauri Pine. It has a slate roof and overlooks a very formal rectangular pond.
* Two sides of the tennis court are surrounded by a large grass garden, with mostly indigenous grasses planted in a pattern.
* A courtyard next to the house has high concrete walls, architectural plantings and massive sliding doors which can be opened to the garden.
* A ‘tree of life’ pebble mosaic covers a staircase, complete with dragonflies, moths, bees and butterflies.
* Garden structures such as pyramids for climbing roses and a laburnum arbour give form and geometry to the garden.
* Plants used include Australian natives, succulents, grasses and many shrubs with silvery foliage.
Further information
This garden is open as part of Australia’s Open Garden Scheme on 2-3 December 2000, 10am-8pm. For more details phone: (03) 9397 8841