Garden Visit

In the Garden: Broughton Hall

Find out what David Musker is up to at Broughton Hall in Victoria

In the garden: Red Cow Farm

In 1990, Ali Mentesh stood in the bald paddocks of Red Cow Farm and dreamed of a canopy of trees, a woodland-edged lake, and garden rooms fragrant with roses. In making the dream reality Ali turned himself into a garden designer sought-after for his imagination, and his hands-on experience of plants and how best to grow them.

In the garden: Retford Park

Rick Shepherd, head gardener at Bowral’s grand Retford Park, dishes the dirt on what goes on in the garden in spring.

In the garden: Sea-changer

Four years ago garden designer Peter Nixon traded in his inner-city Sydney courtyard for a big blank corner block on the Central Coast and turned it into this!

Is Villa Gamberaia the most romantic garden in Italy?

We join a long line of world-weary travellers who have fallen for the charms of Villa Gamberaia hook, line and sinker.

Italian Lakes

Glamour and romance are the twin themes of a stay in Stressa. Robin Powell took a room with a view and was enchanted.

Jaipur - The Pink City

Bustle, colour, beauty and great stories: Peter Whitehead reveals some of the allure of Jaipur, and tells why he can’t wait to take Ross Garden tours first trip to India.

Japan in Autumn

Cherry blossom season might make all the headlines but Graham says that in autumn Japan glows with a gentle beauty.

Japanese Garden Design Ideas

Japanese garden design offers some great ideas to gardeners. With a bit of imagination we can incorporate aspects and approaches that enhance our gardens without turning them Japanese

Japanese Gardens

We love Japanese gardens so much we visit twice a year: in spring to catch the fleeting magic of the cherry blossom season; and again in autumn when the maples and chrysanthemums are at their best. 

La Vie En Rose

The charms of French country living inspired Marian Somes to create her own version at her beautiful garden Picardy in the Gippsland hills.

Lambley's Garden

Longwood

Money isn't an essential ingredient of a great garden, but my, can’t it help! Michael McCoy reports on how the dollars show at the lavishly loved Longwood Gardens.

Macquarie Island

Hobart’s Botanic Gardens is home to an unusual glasshouse with a collection of plants from Australia’s sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Robin Powell wrapped up warm to collect stories from one of the wildest places on earth.

Marqueyssac

When it comes to box, this iconic French garden thinks outside the square! No flowers, few trees, few paths, but amazing views – and more than 150,000 sculpted box.

Matsue

Flying into Matsue, on the shores of Lake Shinjii, the ground glows green with rice and buckwheat. The area is famous for its soba noodles, ancient samurai houses, moated castle - and a succession of cherry blossom, peonies, azaleas and wisteria through spring.

Meet Pat and Bill Rhodin Tulip Tops gardeners

Meet Pat and Bill Rhodin, Tulip Tops gardeners. They work hard all year to make this garden's spring display something memorable

Meet Robert Price

Meet: Bob Price, founder and curator, Mexico’s Vallarta Botanical Gardens. Bob Price plan was to conserve Mexico’s unique flora and birdlife and the Vallarta Botanical Gardens he founded to help achieve that were recently included on the list of Top Ten Public Gardens in America you should visit.

Meet the Lindesay gardeners

Every Thursday morning a group of garden lovers gathers in the beautiful grounds of Lindesay in Darling Point and gets to work. Here Robin Powell talks to the group about their passionate connection to this historic house and garden

Meet Tom Coward: Head gardener at Gravetye Manor

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: Anita Rayner

Meet Anita Rayner, Head gardener, Sydney Living Museums. The gardens at Vaucluse House are one of Sydney’s historic horticultural treasures. Anita Rayner fell in love with them at first sight; now she runs them.

Meet: Geoff Duggan, landscape planning officer, The Australian Botanic Garden

A discussion with Geoff Duggan about his work creating native daisy meadows at the Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan.

Meet: Ivy Singh, gentle warrior

We recently enjoyed the very different Singapore experience of Bollywood Veggies, a ten-acre organic farm owned by Ivy Singh-Lim. Ivy is refreshingly outspoken – just check our her signage! – and named her farm for her Indian heritage and her love of singing and dancing. Linda Ross shared banana bread with the woman who calls herself Poison Ivy!

Meet: Jeanne Villani, keen gardener and member of the Garden History Society

Jeanne talks about her love for her tropical garden.

Meet: Karen Hall, garden creator

Wychwood is the magical garden created by Karen Hall and Peter Cooper. Though they are moving on, the magic of the garden has been captured in Karen’s words and Peter’s photographs, packaged in a handsome new book.

Meet: Liz Gledhill, owner of Waverley Nursery and Garden Design

Liz's nursery specialises in hardy shrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses. Libby catches up with her.

Meet: Richard Barley, CEO, Open Gardens Australia

The mission of Open Gardens Australia is to promote the joys and benefits of gardens and gardening. Over 25 years garden-lovers have been inspired by what other gardeners have achieved, and more than $5 million has been raised for charity. There was more good news this year when Richard Barley received a prestigious international award. We asked him all about it.

Melbourne's Flower Garden Show 2014

We pick our favourite moments from Melbourne 2014.

Merry Garth

The 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

Mickey's garden

Mickey 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.

Monty Don's 'Great Gardens of Italy'

There is a pile of gardening books on my bedside table that entices me to crawl into bed after a bath and a cool day in the garden. On top is my garden diary where I make notes of ideas, planting schemes and interesting quotes. 

Nest of the Feather Serpent

Linda finds a garden in Mexico that sparkles with surprise and joy.

Oakwood

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.

Old Wesleydale

Deb and Scott Wilson make garden magic in Tasmania's stunning Meander Valley.

Outback Bloom

The Australian outback is experiencing a one-in-a-lifetime explosion of exuberant growth and flowering. Birds are flocking to the newly drenched watercourses and brimming lakes, and so are plant lovers. Angus Stewart shares the thrill.

Paris

Perch Hill Farm

Linda is passionate about growing all her own vegetables at home. So she sought inspiration from England’s great gardener, writer, teacher, and vegetable grower, Sarah Raven.

Philip Johnson's Garden, Olinda

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!

Possumwood

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’.

Powis Castle

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.

Roberto Burle Marx

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

Scandinavia

Sandra has been in travelling though Denmark, Norway and Sweden, preparing the itinerary for next year’s Ross Garden tour. Here she shares a sampler of tastes of high summer in the far north.

Seed Capital

Robin Powell joins two seed hunters on the trail of rare and endangered plants in the Penrose State Forest south of Sydney.

Shanghai

Shanghai's fascinating atmosphere stems from its long history. It was a trading centre as early as 960 AD. It was here that the European trading powers of the 19th century established themselves in the East.

Singapore - a city in a garden

In search of more information on Singapore’s best garden, history, food and cultural experiences - and a great itinerary - we headed to the Garden City, and this is what we found.

Sissinghurst

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.

Stringybark Cottage

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

The Children's Garden, Melbourne

For nearly 200 years botanic gardens in Australia have largely been the domain of adults. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, has set a joyful new trend with an innovative Children’s Garden. Graham Ross was inspired.

The Heritage, South Australia

Want roses like this? We picked up some tips from rosarian Walter Duncan on a recent visit to his lovely Heritage Garden in South Australia's Clare Valley. We are in love with his garden (and yes more than just a little in love with Walter too!)

The Lingering Garden

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.