Inspired
Merry Garth
18 November 2015 | Sandra RossThe Mount Wilson garden of Libby and Keith Rainers is a treasure trove of miniature gems in an inspiring setting. Sandra Ross sets the scene in this beautiful Blue Mountain garden paradise
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Mickey's garden
25 June 2015 | Mickey RobertsonMickey Robertson gardens at Glenmore House near Camden. Sounds like a scene out of Pride and Prejudice? Well yes, you do feel as though you've traveled back in time where women wear linen and the air smells clean. Winter, she says, is crisp mornings thawing to glorious blue-sky days. Early morning reveal traces of frost on cabbage and kale leaves; and sometimes, just sometimes, the paddocks blanketed in white. Evenings also have a rhythm all their own as woodsmoke trails through the valley. Here she shares glimpses of days in her winter garden.
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Monet’s Masterpiece, Giverny
29 March 2016 | Linda Ross
Claude Monet always said his garden was his greatest work. Giverny is both garden and art.
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Nest of the Feather Serpent
20 May 2019 | Linda RossLinda finds a garden in Mexico that sparkles with surprise and joy.
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Old Wesleydale
01 March 2016 | Robin PowellDeb and Scott Wilson make garden magic in Tasmania's stunning Meander Valley.
Philip Johnson's Garden, Olinda
17 April 2015 | Philip JohnsonLandscape 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!
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Plants I love: dwarf banksias
28 February 2019 | Kath Gadd‘Banksia or grevillea’ I’m sometimes asked, in the native-plant lover’s version of ‘Batman or Superman’. For me, it’s banksia, every time.
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Plants I Love: peony
26 August 2019 | Sandra RossYears 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.
Plants I love: Star magnolia
21 May 2019 | Graham RossMagnolias can languish in their formative years, but perseverance will be rewarded. Here Graham discusses his favourite magnolia's story.
Possumwood
20 March 2015 | Myles BaldwinIn 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’.
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Postcard from the garden world
22 August 2019 | Ross ToursSee what's happening in the world of Ross Garden Tours this spring
Postcards from the 2017 Tour season
01 February 2018 | Linda Ross, Michael McCoy, Sandra Ross & Robin PowellViews, reports and travel tips from the world of Ross Tours. What a great year we had in 2017, traveling the gardens of the world. Here are some of our most memorable tours.
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Powis Castle
20 February 2017 | Robin PowellPowis 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.
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Relaxed style
20 May 2019 | Chris PearsonSydney-based designer Marcia Hosking gave a holiday vibe to this compact garden.
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Rose Tribute: 'Governor Marie Bashir'
16 September 2015 | Linda RossThe new rose, 'Governor Marie Bashir'. A fitting tribute to a great Australian, and Graham Ross was on-hand to capture the magic.
Roses at Red Cow Farm
21 May 2018 | Robin PowellSeduced 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?
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Secret Garden
11 September 2018 | Matthew CantwellSecret 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.
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Seed Capital
06 March 2015 | Robin PowellRobin Powell joins two seed hunters on the trail of rare and endangered plants in the Penrose State Forest south of Sydney.
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Sissinghurst
20 March 2015 | Linda Ross and Michael McCoyOne 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.
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Small space: big ideas
24 November 2016 | Robin PowellA 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.
The new upside of gardening
21 August 2019 | Kate Neale and Michael CaseyThe 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!
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Thinking gardens
21 August 2019 | Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, (c) Sydney Living MuseumsBetty 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.
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Two Gardeners The Cruden Farm Garden Diaries
14 June 2017 | Linda Ross, Lisa Clausen & Michael MorrisonMost 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.
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Under the cherry blossom
01 September 2016 | Robin PowellJapanese gardens are admired and imitated by garden lovers around the world. Here are just three reasons we love them.
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What’s new this winter
21 May 2019 | Robin PowellEven if she hadn’t been running Collectors’ Plant Fair, Linda Ross would have been there before the gates opened to be sure of securing a swag of treasure. Here’s part of her shopping list from this year.
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