Dear fellow Gardeners,
In these straightened days when all of the press seems to be about water wise gardening and sustainability we would like to humbly suggest that before looking forward we should look back for guidance. In Australia's brief history our forebears collected beautiful colourful, perfumed plants from around the world. All the interesting new ornamental and productive species found their way to this country during that age of plant discovery.
This means that we don't have to be content with monotonous, dry climate gardens to be sustain able. Most of the traditional plants which have come down from 19th century gardeners have proven their hardiness. This idea of looking back to the success of our parents in water wise gardening is the subject of our book "Over the Fence and Overlooked, Traditional Plants in Queensland's Gardening Heritage" and is discussed on our website www.montvillegarden.com.
Old fashioned, reliable, ornamental shrubs include varieties of Abelia, Abutilon, Azalea, Brugmansia,Brunfelsia, Camellia, Chaenomeles, Clerodendrum, Dombeya, Eranthemum, Escallonia, Eupatorium, Hibiscus, Hydrangea, Iochroma, Justicia, Michelia, Osmanthus, Pentas, philadelphus, Plumbago, Plumeria, Punica, Reinwardtia, Ruellia, Spiraea, Tecomaria, Tetradenia, Tibouchina, Viburnum and Weigela to name but a few hardy plants.
We should never of course be without old fashioned roses of many types.
Sustainability is also a subject which has led to discussion of future Australian gardens being in small allotments, without the space for trees and with no place for "water hungry" plants. This sort of discussion in the gardening media, both print and electronic, is very city-centric.
This bleak constrained outlook ignores the fact that many Australians live outside the growing limitations of the cities, and some of us even live in the rarely considered Northern half of Australia. While poor city gardeners may face space and water restrictions the rest of us are free to enjoy a huge selection of trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs and vines without such concerns.
Gardening is a peaceful and fulfilling activity. Like the act of holding a bird and then seeing it fly away, gardeners plant the tubestock and seedlings and watch as nature grows these plants on to maturity.
Gardening should not become the subject of a philosophical war, where almost puritanical views on "sustainability", "Australian natives only" and "natural disease control" issues ruin a happy gardeners view of his or her work.
We need to get real and look back to the vast inventory of hardy old fashioned plants from around the world which will give vibrant colour, wonderful perfume and shade, and satisfy the puritanical desire to display a "low Carbon footprint"
Dr Michael Simpson