Montville Gardens in winter

 Cooper wondering what the fuss is about with this garden

It's not really that cold in South East Queensland so our Montville garden has quite a lot of flower colour in July. Fully deciduous shrubs like Hibiscus mutabilis, Hibiscus syriacus and Chaenomeles (japonica) create a wintery feel. The red cedars (Toona ciliata), Japanese maple, various Weigela and Prunus are all bare by this time of year letting in light to shaded corners.
We don't get frosted so our large collections of tender and subtropical perennials and shrubs carry on undamaged. It has been wet this winter, on top of the previous two wet years so epiphytic ferns, orchids, lichens, mosses and fungi abound and new tree ferns and staghorn ferns are "popping up" throughout the garden.
Our young Magnolia x loebneri is producing star like flowers and reliable mature Camellia japonica are adding splashes of winter colour.
New plants this week are Weigela florida variegata in our Weigela collection in South East corner, and an advanced Punica granatum 'Andre le Roi' in our central shrubbery. We already have juvenile Punica granatum in the blue trellis garden but I think this new planting has a better chance.
We have just started to send invitations for our book launch and garden party to unveil "An Open garden, Visiting Gardens by Motor Car" for 22/9/2012.
I am still working on extensive revision and rewriting of "Australian Gardens Making History"
Lets hope all of our usually reliable spring shrubs and perennials are ready for the event
Michael Simpson