It’s bloomin’ great!

By Dion Teasdale
HODDLES Creek green-thumb Karen Meeuwissen is the latest Upper Yarra gardener to be thrust into the national media spotlight.
The self confessed garden addict has been named as one of four finalists in the ABC Gardening Australia – Gardener of the Year competition.
Mrs Meeuwissen and her stunning four-acre cool-climate garden, an Australian take on the traditional English cottage garden, beat hundreds of entries to make it into the finals.
Her success comes hot on the heels of another Upper Yarra gardener and competition finalist, Wandin resident Bob O’Neill, who was crowned the ABC’s Gardener of the Year in 2005.
Mrs Meeuwissen, who was born and raised in the Upper Yarra, has created her garden, which features more than 600 varieties of rambling roses, on the her family’s berry farm over the past decade.
The garden combines winding gravel paths, luscious grassy walks, an assortment of colourful deciduous trees, and white pergolas and rotundas with a waterlilly-filled lake.
For Mrs Meeuwissen, a mother of three and grandmother of two, being a finalist in the gardening competition is the culmination of a lifelong love of plants.
She inherited a passion for gardening from her mother, grandmother and aunt and while she works on the family berry farm, she steals whatever time and money she can to spend in her garden.
“My family used to ban me from doing the grocery shopping because I would always come home with more plants than food,” she said.
“I’ve always loved buying new things for the garden. I even bought plants on my honeymoon (with husband Albert) in Marysville.”
Mrs Meeuwissen and her garden, along with the other three competition finalists, will feature on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia at 6.30pm on Saturday, 4 November.
The winner will be announced in the December issue of the Gardening Australia magazine and appear on the television program on 18 November.
Mrs Meeuwissen’s garden will also feature as part of the Upper Yarra Garden Club’s Open Gardens Weekend on November 4 and 5.
Contact 5966 2828 or 5967 1158 for more information.