Garden Design | The Garden Clinic

Meet Tom Coward: Head gardener at Gravetye Manor

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Gravetye Manor is the garden of the influential English gardener, William Robinson. Robin Powell spoke to its current head gardener Tom Coward about its historical accuracy and modern excitement.

Meet: Brendan Moar, show garden creator

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

You really can't help but be a big fan of the work of landscape architect and television presenter Brendan Moar - he's adorable. Seeing one of his gardens come to life on his Lifestyle channel shows is a treat; seeing one live at the Singapore Garden Festival is even better.

Meet: Caitlin Sawyer

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Meet Caitlin Sawyer, Young Horticulturist of the Year in 2015, and winner of the BBM Sir John Pagan Horticulture Travel Scholarship for 2014/15.

Meet: Michael Bates

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

When Michael Bates took a holiday and garden study trip to Sri Lanka, it changed his life - and his garden.

Meet: Peta Donaldson, garden designer

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

The Urban Gardens at the Australian Garden Show Sydney were spaces for new designers to show what they could do with a limited budget and compact, 5m x 5m spaces. Best of an exciting bunch was The Terrace by Peta Donaldson, which included water and fire in a wonderfully inviting space.

Meet: Philip Johnson, landscape designer

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Sustainable landscape designer Philip Johnson generated rare garden-related headlines when his ‘Trailfinders Australian Garden’ took out the Best in Show award at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013. What happened next?

Meet: Steve Warner

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Meet Steve Warner, joy giver. Steve Warner, landscape designer and owner of Outhouse Design, is a big believer in giving back. So when Fairy Sparkle needed help making a garden at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick guess who she asked!

Meet: Stuart Pittendrigh

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Barangaroo Point, Sydney’s great new harbourside park will soon open to the public. Before the ribbons are cut, meet the project’s horticultural consultant, Stuart Pittendrigh.

Melbourne's Flower Garden Show 2014

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

We pick our favourite moments from Melbourne 2014.

Mien Ruys

18 March, 2021 | Sandra Ross

If you’ve ever used a railway sleeper in a garden design you owe a debt to Dutch designer Mien Ruys, the so-called Mother of Modernism. Sandra visited her inspirational garden and wandered through its history of 20th century garden design.

Nest of the Feather Serpent

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross Linda finds a garden in Mexico that sparkles with surprise and joy. Read More

Oakwood

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Wonderfully eccentric, personal, witty and beautiful. The garden of sculptors, Fulko Cooper and Maureen Craig is both drawing board and artwork; a house, garden, studio and gallery space that inspires. Welcome to Oakwood.

Philip Johnson's Garden, Olinda

18 March, 2021 | Philip Johnson

Landscape designer Philip Johnson’s passion is to connect people with nature. In this extract from his new book Connected: the sustainable landscapes of Philip Johnson, he explains how that connection is deepened and refined at his home in Olinda, and creates a billabong to die for!

Plants I Love: peony

18 March, 2021 | Sandra Ross

Years ago, on one of our early Jacaranda Cruises, a woman presented me with a cardboard toilet roll. I was a bit surprised until I saw the round pink bud inside. It was a single long stem of the‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peony. Over the next two weeks I was captivated as the bud gradually opened to a multitude of pink petals and a boss of golden stamens. I’ve been mad for peonies ever since and have admired them in peak perfection in gardens in England, Canada, USA and France, as well as in cool climate gardens in Australia.

Possumwood

18 March, 2021 | Myles Baldwin

In the misty hills of Robertson in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Myles Baldwin designed a modern rendition of a walled perennial garden, with a twist. He tells the story in his new book, ‘Rural Australian Gardens’.

Postcard from the garden world

18 March, 2021 | Ross Tours

See what's happening in the world of Ross Garden Tours this spring

Powis Castle

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Powis Castle is a medieval fortress and grand country manor of striking red limestone that perches on top of a hill. Its crenelated battlements reach into the clouds and its mullioned windows overlook Italianate terraces planted up with fine herbaceous borders. Fromteh lake-like lawn at the bottom of the hill the castle appears to be resting on lumpy cushions. The are giant yews, planted as a hedge in the 1720s. The intervening centuries have allowed them to bulge and slouch and become their individual selves, rather than a single well-behaved entity. They’re called tumps, and look like giant green bean bags balanced on the weathered red brick wall. From their vantage point they have watched 400 years of history and garden-making play out in the grounds of Powis.

Relaxed style

18 March, 2021 | Chris Pearson

Sydney-based designer Marcia Hosking gave a holiday vibe to this compact garden.

Roberto Burle Marx

18 March, 2021 | Sandra Ross

Sandra visits the house and garden of the highly influential tropical garden designer Roberto Burle Marx and is inspired by his artistry.

Rose Companions

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

A swooningly beautiful rose garden isn’t just about the roses; it’s the plants that accompany the roses that complete the scene. Here are some awesome companions to plant with your roses.

Roses at Red Cow Farm

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Seduced by the colour, forms and perfumes of roses, Ali Mentesh has already collected some 200 to adorn the garden rooms at Red Cow Farm. Can he choose a favourite?

Secret Garden

18 March, 2021 | Matthew Cantwell

Secret Gardens is one of Sydney’s most successful garden businesses – designing, constructing and maintaining beautiful gardens across the city. In this extract from a new book featuring 19 of the company’s finest gardens, founder Matt Cantwell explains how a garden can balance privacy with views out - and into - the garden.

Sissinghurst

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross and Michael McCoy

One of the world’s most influential and visited gardens, Sissinghurst, is undergoing a change, as Vita Sackville-West’s grandson Adam Nicolson wrestles with the integrity of the garden and its surroundings. Linda Ross reports.

Small space: big ideas

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

A small space shouldn't deprive anyone of a great garden. Robin Powell is looking at some impressive small spaces with new plants and containers, new colours and loads of other big ideas.

Star of the season: Jacaranda

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

The purple veil that floats over Sydney in November is an international star – but not one most of us can bring home.

Stringybark Cottage

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Carved out of the forests of the sunshine coast hinterland is a garden of surprising sculptures, rare and unusual plants and great charm

The Blues

18 March, 2021 | Sandra Ross

Sandra Ross sings the praises of the blues, and finds inspiration from fine gardens around the world for using azure, cornflower, powder, navy, violet, lavender and mauve in our planting palettes.

The Lingering Garden

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

In the heart of the frenzied bustle of modern Shanghai is an altogether different thrill, the 450-year old Garden of Leisurely Repose. Linda Ross visits.

The new upside of gardening

18 March, 2021 | Kate Neale and Michael Casey The show gardens at Singapore's first-ever Horticulture Show earlier this year blurred the boundary between the natural and built environment and introduced us to a whole new place to garden - the ceiling! Read More

The Wrap Up: Chelsea Flower Show 2013

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross

As Linda packs her bag for Chelsea 2014 she reflects on what has kept her humming with inspiration all year from Chelsea 2013.

The Wrap Up: Chelsea Flower Show 2015

18 March, 2021 | Andrew Fisher Tomlin / www.theoutdoorcooperative.com

Andrew Fisher Tomlin reviews the world’s greatest flower show.

The Wrap Up: Hidden Design Festival 2015

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Hidden Design Festival offers a look at some of Sydney’s most exciting, professionally designed gardens. Here’s a look at a bit of what caught our eye this year.

The Wrap Up: Hidden Festival of Outdoor Design

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

On a sodden April weekend some of Sydney’s professionally designed gardens opened their gates to visitors for the Hidden Festival of Outdoor Design. There were 21 gardens, lots of rain, and plenty of take-home ideas for solving everyday design issues in our own gardens. Here are a few of our favourites.

Thinking gardens

18 March, 2021 | Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, (c) Sydney Living Museums

Betty Maloney was a pioneer of bush gardening whose advice on finding serenity in the garden is as relevant now as it was half a century ago.

Two Gardeners The Cruden Farm Garden Diaries

18 March, 2021 | Linda Ross, Lisa Clausen & Michael Morrison

Most mornings Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and her gardener Michael Morrison shared a breakfast of tea and toast and discussed the day’s plans for the garden. Michael filled in a garden diary, as requested by Dame Elisabeth early in their working relationship. The diaries have now been published as 'Cruden Farm Garden Diaries' by Penguin/Lantern, with explanatory text by journalist Lisa Clausen and contemporary photographs by Simon Griffiths. This brief extract shows how the diaries chart not just the garden, but also the attitude of its gardeners to each other.

Under the cherry blossom

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Japanese gardens are admired and imitated by garden lovers around the world. Here are just three reasons we love them.

Woodbridge, Tasmania

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

Robin Powell admires the view with pioneering heirloom apple grower Bob Magnus, whose ideas about pruning will change your mind about how to grow apples.

Woolmers Estate, Tasmania

18 March, 2021 | Libby Cameron

Woolmers Estate, in northern Tasmania was home to six generations of the Archer family. For the past decade it has housed the National Rose Garden. Libby Cameron renewed her love of the rose on a recent visit.

Wychwood

18 March, 2021 | Robin Powell

After a frenetic season of growth through summer and spring, autumn brings an easing into the relaxation of winter. Wychwood’s Peter Cooper tells Robin Powell why he loves the garden in winter.

Meet: Charlotte Webb

15 July, 2021 | Words: Graham Ross

Follow the career path of this high achieving woman in horticulture.

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