As part of the Autumn festival in Bright there were a number of gardens open to the public. We spent an enjoyable day seeing two of them. This first one is called Elm Haven and described thus in the Open Gardens pamphlet: Private town garden, framed by heritage listed 100 year old trees … a collection of traditional and cottage plants and trees. It was small – half an acre- and crowded but lovely.
This is an Irish Strawberry tree. Mum had one, but it didn’t ever have as many berries as this one.
There were lots of bits and pieces scattered around.
And again here. The whole thing would have taken such a lot of work. We met the owner who was lovely and obviously proud of her efforts. She created it from nothing and it wasn’t that old, but I can’t remember exactly, except that I was surprised.
I tried to take a picture of the heritage listed trees but they were too big. Establishing a garden next to these monsters is quite something.
This big tree was in the front of the house. She told us she had to deal with hundreds of suckers in the early days of her garden but now not so much. She likes her garden art.
And then we travelled to Harrietville to see the gardens at Shady Brook Cottages. This was much bigger – fourteen acres of which five acres are landscaped bounded by the Ovens River and a mountain backdrop of natural forest. Cottages for rent are interspersed although I only really saw one. I don’t know how many there are in total.
Exotic trees include Maples, Oaks, Magnolias,Dogwoods, Birches and Conifers.
This is a beautiful red maple.
And here’s another conifer tucked away.
The way the trees are grouped makes spectacular displays throughout.
The family owners were working around the garden as we wandered through. Distributing mulch. Sweeping away leaves – so many leaves to sweep up here. You see people everywhere with their blowers, which in this part of the world I think is excusable. Beautiful colours in the picture below.
There were lots of enormous camellias. Here is a white one reaching up to the heavens.
And likewise, a pink camellia.
There was quite a bit of water around. Here’s Joe next to a bridge over one stream.
And here are some geese!
Next to this bit of water.
Obviously the dahlias had been magnificent. There were a few blooms in evidence.
All different colours.
Enormous heads needed to be held up.
This is a stream we crossed over on our way in and again on our way out. It may be the Ovens.
As you can see we had a beautiful day for our garden tours. A really great day out.
Leave a Reply