A happy place — Rosemary Simpson and Cassie Johnstone chat in the Australian garden at Lubra Bend. 43996
By Kath Gannaway
ROSEMARY Simpson’s magnificent Lubra Bend garden is more than a designer showpiece – it’s an education.
On the last weekend in February some 3000 people came from all around Victoria to enjoy the lesson as part of the Australian Open Gardens Scheme annual plant fair at the Yarra Glen property.
The Phil Johnson designed garden, designed as a how-to no-water garden, narrowly escaped the Black Saturday fires, just a week after it went on show as part of the AOGS.
Outbuildings and stables were destroyed, but the magnificent 50-year-old cypress hedges, the gardens and the house were saved.
Mrs Simpson said she was delighted to be able to open the garden to the public again as a way of inspiring people to continue to create gardens in a sustainable way.
“That’s why I made the garden,” she said. “I have six children and 12 grandchildren and I thought if each of them told 55 people about the garden, there would be a lot of people who would see that you can have a beautiful, landscaped garden to live in and be inspired by, but you don’t have to have water,” she said.
“We put the garden in around July or August and in that first summer I just sat there and thought ‘Oh my God – they will all be dead’, but it’s been a marvellous experience to see them all growing and filling the space quite naturally.”
The Australian plant garden spills out to a dry river bed which cascades 130 metres using a solar powered pump to recirculate water from the Yarra River.
AOGS co-ordinator Cassie Johnstone said Lubra Bend was an ideal and inspirational venue for the plant fair.
“People are coming out and the response is just ‘Wow!’ It has been a great success,” she said.
Around 40 plants-people took part in the fair, which offered an introduction to rare and unusual plants and specialist fields such as bonsai, succulents, heritage fruits and bulbs.
For Mrs Simpson, it’s all about sharing the love and wisdom of gardening.
“I always think if we had a world run by gardeners we wouldn’t have any wars … we would have a happy place.”
