The Garden Vineyard: Part 1 - The Native Section

A couple of weekends ago my mum and I headed down to Moorooduc on the Mornington Peninsula to visit a reasonably well known garden that was open for a Diggers Club event. It's well known in the sense that it's been on Gardening Australia and even Monty Don's program 'Around the World in 80 Gardens'. It is however a private garden and I recently found out that the original owner had sold it - so it was a perfect opportunity to see it for myself.

'The Garden Vineyard' is an interesting garden with a structure comprising of consecutive rooms that hold within them various planting styles using both native Australian and exotic plants. It is most well known for the 'Grey Garden', the perennial border and the native garden.

Here is the first instalment of my photos - The Native Garden. It is a clever, contemporary styled native garden with clipped shapes used to contrast wild, natural forms as well as texture and colour combinations to achieve dynamic and playful effects! It's certainly a refreshing take on the typical 'bush' garden.

The native garden is set around a sloping lawn - much like an informal English style border, 

but with native plants.

Talk about mixed colour palette! 

Love the contrasting textures and forms here of the clipped Westringea fruticosa Coastal Rosemary 

and the wild, soft Poa spp. Tussock Grass.

Lots of fabulous mass planting!

And a bog garden in a small low point, full of frogs and critters. There is also plenty of shelter for little birds to take cover in when coming for a drink...

Last but not least - the show stopping part of the garden:

The twisted trunks of the Red Flowered Yellow Gum Eucalyptus leucoxylon 'Rosea' are set off by the clipped wave form of the Saltbush Rhagodia spinescens below. What a stand out! 

Its not often you come across interesting native gardens like this and I was really excited to have been able to go along. If it's open again in the near future, I highly recommend that Melbournites make the treck and see it! Well worth it for the inspiration as many of the design techniques could be easily be adapted to smaller suburban backyards...

I hoped you've enjoyed this post because there's still the Grey Garden and Perennial Border to go! 

Oh and if there are any plants you'd like me to ID, let me know!