The Achievable Gardens

Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show 2008

SGA volunteer Prue McColl takes us on a tour.

The Nursery and Garden Industry Victoria (NGIV) are to be congratulated for providing a win-win situation.

Their Achievable Gardens at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show provide an opportunity for landscape students to demonstrate their talents and build a garden which they have designed. And we benefit from the chance to be inspired by their creations and can take home plans of those which stimulated us.

Kate Galea's award winning garden, called Organic Produce Garden, shows us common community issues: the quality of the food we eat and a concern for our environment. There is resurgence in interest in heirloom variety fruit and vegetables and a concern that along with our food we do not ingest herbicides and pesticides. Her design demonstrates a concern for sustainability as she reuses and recycles.

As Kate suggests there is much to be gained by joining a garden club. The web site www.rhsv.org.au is just one way to identify a garden club near you (this site does include some interstate clubs). By associating with people with similar interests you not only learn more about gardening you also have the opportunity to swap plants and seeds. Even if you only have a balcony you can still grow some herbs, vegetables and fruit.

Both Serena Bates ('Whispering Inspiration', pictured right) and Yvette Whiteman ('Tranquil Cove', pictured below left) have concerns for tranquillity. They both provide a space in which to enrich the soul. Seasonal interest and colour may easily be provided by changing plants in pots. With fine foliage the breezes will whisper in the trees. The permeable ground covering allows for water infiltration, extremely important as homes are built closer together.

The scented plants in the garden 'Crowded House' (below right), designed by Brett Forecast, Damien Collins, Steven Wheeler and Danielle Mizzi would delight the senses as one relaxed. An illusion of greater depth is provided by the purple tones in the plants. This colour is enhanced by painting the woodwork in the same tones.

Salvatore Lofaro also enhances the apparent size of his garden by the use of dark foliage and mirrors. The view in the garden will change with the seasons.

The 'Gourmet Garden' by Sara Wilson, Brett Walker, Tyson Whelan and Nichole Robinson also 'pleases the senses, feeds the body and lifts the spirit'. They grow herbs and vegetables and provide fruit via dwarf fruiting trees.

'Sent-Sational' by Achuta Prasad, Arturo Beltrami, Chase Ely, Clinton Pringle, Kim Oakes, Mark Kadar, Natasha Rogers, Ross Goodman and Giles Gemmill (pictured at top) will inspire renters who know they will be moving on. They grow herbs and vegetables in planter boxes attached to a vertical frame. This provides extra space in a courtyard garden and could disguise a slimline tank. By covering an urn of water with a sheet of polycarbonate with a hole they achieve a water garden that minimises evaporation, and it becomes an occasional table for the bench seating.