Greetings from The Shambles

Another wet morning in beautiful Montville . Probably the only down side is the  plants for the plant stall which are saturated . Hopefully we will get a bit of sun for them soon. By the time the open garden comes around on the 19th and 20th April 2025 we will be getting some cooler days. 

I have noticed that there are very few open gardens now and it is a great loss for people who are gardeners and who like visiting gardens. So many of our ideas and inspiration for plants came from seeing other gardens over the years. If you are new to gardening try to do this , you might see what you want and you will definately see things that you don't love .Personally I am not keen on ornamental frog collections but that's just me!

In the 1980's and 1990's gardening was really supported find a thee media . I remember Burkes Back yard show casing a plant and  the next day it was at the nursery . There were lots of independent nurseries often family owned . These days new gardeners are very restricted by what is commonly available at big hardware stores. Often the plants on sale are not even mean't for the area so will fail. There is also a big lack of knowlegeable  shop assistants in those places. 

 Luckily  there are gardeners who are happily sharing cuttings in old plastic bags or tied with string. Just yesterday I came the home with three rose cuttings to pot up. Many who pour over gardening web sites and books and who are happy to share their knowledge . 

I continue to love domestic garden spaces . Gardens that are not too big to manage but can keep you fully occupied and interested. 

 Cute idea I saw at the St Erth garden in Victoria .

Easter in two Montville Gardens

  

We look forward to seeing lots of gardeners and garden lovers at the Open Garden . 

The Shambles and Lower Woontooba are situated on Western Avenue ,Montville in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast . 

This is an opportunity to see these gardens for the first time in two years and for first time and return  visitors to enjoy the changes in the gardens . Both gardens surround Queenslander homes and are very different . Lower Woontooba has a park like quality and views to the dam . Lovely planting and maturing trees surround the house.

The Shambles  is a mature garden that has been a plant collectors project for over thirty years .  As the garden has grown it has become a shady place which is essential in our hot climate.  See you in the garden , Kyleigh 

Raising funds for Cittamani

 This morning we had a  lovely visit from Melanie from Cittamani . 

Cittamani Hospice Service offers specialist palliative care at home for individuals with terminal illness and their loved ones.

Cttamani Hospice Service is a not-for-profit public benevolent institution  and registered charity. It was founded by health professionals and community members on The Sunshine Coast in 1996.Their philosophy is based on Buddhist principles of love and compassion.

Generally you don't find out about organisations like Cittamani until you or someone you care for needs them . Hopefully by spreading the word to people at the Open Gardens  people will be aware that services are available when the need arises. Join us at Easter as we raise funds for Cittamani .

garden conversations

 If you are lucky enough to have a partner in gardening , a spouse, a friend or a garden club you will have plenty of garden conversations. 

From our experience reading about gardens, visiting gardens and generally being immersed in gardens has been a connection for us over more than 40 years. If I didn't have the garden who knows what would have happened? At our place there are always books out, new ideas of designs for the garden, lists of plants, collections of labels and that is just in the living room . We don't always agree on ideas for the garden , I probably wouldn't have a pool since it has taken up the best sunny spot and did have a prosperous vegie and herb garden there once. Michael would also like it if I was a bit more receptive to his huge knowledge of plants and his zealous need to collect and document everything. Either way we bring different skills and have created a garden that we love.

Even our children were dragged into this obsession as they were constantly being taken to gardens , botanic, historic, foreign and domestic  and never to the Theme park "worlds". Even a trip to Australia Zoo with our grandkids had Michael in raptures about the plants. Some people say they can't have a garden because they have kids or no time . Our babies slept in the pram or when they were bigger played along side us while we worked in the garden . When they were teenagers I found the great escape of mowing  . That aside it is lovely to see our adult children and grandchildren engaged with gardens and being outdoors. 

The Shambles is a child friendly place and at Easter we always have an Easter hunt and an art activity to do .  

The Garden in Autumn

 

The Autumn weather is great for visiting gardens. To me it is the best season for South East Queensland ,not too hot and generally lovely fine days. The three Montville gardens that are open this Easter long weekend will have a display of colourful shrubs and trees and as a result of the rain the gardens are green and lush. A garden is much more than individual plants and there is a unique feeling or atmosphere that comes from a well loved and tended garden. This is evident in each of the gardens and will be a wonderful way to see what are very private gardens nestled behind the hedges of Western Ave and Manley Drive .

Wongawilli , Lower Woontooba and the Shambles gardens are open to share with visitors and to raise funds for Cittamani Hospice .  See you in the garden , Kyleigh

Lower Woontooba  

Woo Hoo a Fine Day !!

 It has been so good to see the sun ,even intermittent sun is good. At the moment I think we are all trying to keep up with the weeding due to the perfect conditions. Weeds are beneficial too so I never worry too much about the odd weed unless they are taking over something better. The constant rain is making mulch break down fast and the large mulch piles are turning to compost quicker. There is something about that earthy mulch smell teeming with worms that I love. The soil is alive and worms are thriving.  Speaking of worms reminds me of the time our friends , The Collies  bought up a canoe and I had a fishing line and decided it would be good to try to fish down on the Mary River. Not having any bait I dug up a few worms and put them and soil in a bag and we headed off. We went to Kenilworth and Little Yabba only to find that there really wasn't enough water to launch the boat and even less to fish in. Anyway we had a picnic and the worms had a great day out and they returned to the garden in the afternoon. K

The fernery looking lush 

The Shambles opening this Easter

It's been five years since we opened our garden, "The Shambles". Every opening is special for us and we see it as a way of sharing the garden and inspiring people to garden . It also brings the community together in fundraising and is a chance for us to catch up with return visitors as well as meeting new people. 

Our garden has seen many new changes that will interest visitors and we are kept interested with seasonal growth the addition of new plants and the on going work of maintaining the garden. I love the variety of work that a garden offers. On a really hot day I can find a shady corner to weed and I tend to work around the garden in stages and will attend to an area such as the fernery or the south rose garden so there is always something new to work on. Michael likes the planning , the documentation and maintaining the website . He has been responsible for the advertising for Open Garden events and looks forward to talking plants with visitors to the garden. 

This garden is set on less than one acre and so it is the smallest in the group and yet it is a full and complex garden. Through thoughtful design the garden is totally accessible and as it has developed over thirty years it has a maturity and sense of permanence that only happens over time. The garden surrounds a 112 year old workers cottage . It has seen our family grow up and has provided the backdrop for numerous social gatherings of family and friends over the years. It is a hide and seek garden that children love to explore and it is over flowing with plants and , secret pathways and art works. It has survived droughts an intense wet seasons and has a resilience that  gardens in Queensland need.

This year with reliable rain we have seen substantial plant growth and the garden is looking lovely. By Easter there will be a variety of flowering shrubs in bloom and perhaps a nip in the air . We really look forward to seeing what

people think of our new additions to the garden. See you in the garden, Kyleigh