Plant fair offers something for everyone and lots more
The Age
Saturday February 27, 2010
ROSEMARY Simpson lost 240 hectares of her land in last year's fires. While it was devastating, there was no loss of life and the historic Guilford Bell-designed house and garden were saved.Lubra Bend in the Yarra Valley is open this weekend for the Australian Open Garden Scheme's sixth annual plant fair. It's an opportunity for gardeners to buy rare and unusual plants from Victorian and interstate growers including perennials, trees, bulbs and succulents.Simpson's garden is also worth visiting with its traditional and contemporary styles from award-winning designer Phil Johnson's Australian plant garden complete with rocks, water cascading down the hill to the Yarra and a billabong to established camellias and magnolias, cypress hedges and escallonias.Simpson bought the property 10 years ago. She kept the camellias and magnolias but ripped out everything else except the trees."I just put in rocks and plants that don't need help. It's the way we all have to go," she says."I have huge water rights here and I can pump it out all day if I want to, but I don't. Water is a finite resource. You just have to plant the right things."Simpson says Australian gardeners were conditioned to follow England's horticultural heritage and plant species such as roses but Australian flora is infinitely more interesting. "My garden is a riot of colour from eucalypts, kangaroo paws, grevilleas and banksias," she says.Philosophical about losing most of her property to fire, Simpson says Australia is always going to burn and we have to live with that fact. Just as there are floods and drought.The plant fair is on today and tomorrow, 10am-4.30pm, at 135 Simpson Lane, Yarra Glen. $10.
© 2010 The Age
