Visiting the Forest Glade Gardens on Mount Macedon in summer

Forest Glade Gardens in summer 2014

Towards the end of last summer I took some visitors from England up to Mount Macedon to view a garden. I remember looking on the open gardens website and seeing that nothing was on offer up there on that particular weekend. That being the case I knew that there are always a few gardens that are open for viewing as these particular ones are open every weekend. We decided to visit Forest Glade. I didn't know anything about Forest Glade and for some stupid reason thought that because the garden was open all the time and not part of the open garden scheme openings that it would be a bit sub standard. How wrong I was. Forest Glade is a huge garden (14 acres) and has 4 different areas. Those areas are an English garden, a woodland garden, a Japanese garden and a cool fern gully. The gardens were very well maintained and unbelievably green considering I was there in the middle of a really hot spell (I'm pretty sure this was only a week after we had that run of 40+ Celsius days). The gardens also have lots of sculptures placed here and there. One of the great things about living in Macedon how the trees colour up so vibrantly during Autumn so I'm definitely going back there in a few weeks.

This is the first view you experience upon entering the gardens. Believe me the shade was a godsend on the 30+ Celsius day I was there.

I love these pavilions (there must be a more accurate word for them). 

One of many sculptures throughout the gardens. This one is near the front.

Top view of the topiary area.

Arum lillies growing in a cascading water feature at the top of the topiary garden. 

So much box hedge. These big gardens on the Mountains are full of hedging.

Topiary swan

Bear and giraffe all neatly clipped

The next 4 pictures are of spectacular dahlias that were growing in a herbaceous bed. They are such showy flowers. I really need to get some for my garden at home.

The remainder of the photographs are of the Japanese garden. This really was an impressive part of the gardens. Its probably has to be the largest section of Japanese garden I have seen in Victoria to this day.

Wow look at that circular passageway.

Pond area complete with stepping stones and massive goldfish.

This small path was really cute. It wasn't anywhere near big enough for any person to walk though. I'm guessing it was a water feature as it runs into the pond area.

Bonsai house.

Garden visit to Coolart wetlands and homestead Mornington Peninsula Australia

 Coolart wetlands & homestead in the summer

Early this year I was lucky enough to take holidays at a small beach side town called Somers on the Mornington Peninsula. I've visited Somers several times in the past and on the drive into town always saw a sign labelled 'Coolart wetlands'. I used to think it was purely a nature reserve of sorts so I was pleasantly surprised to find an attractive and large garden there when I visited this year.

Coolart homestead and wetlands started out as a pastoral lease for the Meyrick brothers in 1839 (I wonder if that is the reason that a nearby town is called Merricks?). In 1895 it was purchased by Frederick  Grimwade for use as both farmland and a country retreat. In 1937 it was purchased by Tom Luxton and it was he who persuaded the state government to declare the estate a wildlife sanctuary. It was also at this time the garden was developed and many of the plantings still survive to this day. The state government took over management of the estate in 1996.

The gardens surrounding the impressively large manor contain several well established exotic trees. There are also several herbaceous borders, a rose garden and lots of hedging. The wetlands area is home to lots of wetland birds and there is also a woodland area that is home to the local Koalas. The interior of the house when I visited was very rundown. I could only get into a few rooms as all of the upstairs section was closed due to plaster falling from the ceiling and walls. There is also a herb garden and orchard on the estate. Entry is free and If you are in the area I would definitely recommend a visit. 

The large manor house in all its glory.

Orchard near the entrance

Fast growing wisteria crawling all over an archway.

View of the front lawn

One of the herbaceous beds. 

Good old dahlias in flower. 

A nice little pond area with bridge. An original small building in the background.

 The herb garden looked a bit dry. Then again it was summer so it was to be expected.

A European beech tree.

A golden ash tree. One of many exotics planted by the Luxtons.

Close up of lovely gingko biloba leaves.

The gingko in its entirety. Quite a large specimen.

Some sort of cedar tree.

Canna indica

Muehlenbeckia hedging. So popular in Melbourne.

Classic box hedging.

It was a really hot day when I was there. Shady areas like this were a godsend.

Visit to the historical Cameron Lodge Botanical Gardens in Mount Macedon

Last weekend I visited the Cameron Lodge gardens in Mount Macedon near my home and they didn't fail to impress. Originally built in 1886 it was names 'Rahiri'. In 1916 It was purchased by William Cameron who has the director of British American Tobacco who renamed it Cameron Lodge. William Cameron was the one who commissioned the landscaping work on the property and is thereby credited with creating the gardens. Cameron Lodge is one of the luck properties that survived the Ash Wednesday bushfires in the 1980s so there are lots of large established trees such as a Giant Sequoia, Pin Oaks, Oriental Spruce, Japanese Maples, English Elm and Copper Beech. In my opinion the highlight of the gardens is a structure build in 1932 called the 'Temple of the Winds' which is a pillared structure surrounded in the middle of a large pond. You need to step over small stepping stones to get to it. The garden also contains a potager (picking / vegetable garden) with beds bordered by box hedge and the whole potager surrounded by a large holly hedge. Cameron Lodge is a massive garden of several hectares and as such it has 2 full time gardeners and 1 full time hedger. Topiary and hedges play a massive part in the design of the garden to the point where a service driveway hundreds of metres long is completely hidden by huge hedges which run its entire length. Cameron Lodge is a really beautiful and huge garden and I highly recommend visiting on one of its open days. It is part of the open gardens scheme in Victoria. 

The sound of this fountain is audible from the entrance and its head peeks over the top of a hedge.

This is the pittosporum hedge which forms the front border of the property.

Box hedge creating the border for this garden bed. A theme repeated throughout the garden.

A view of the front fountain in its entirety.

The main residence of Cameron Lodge. Although a large house I liked the fact that it was a bit less monstrous in terms of height compared to some of the Mount Macedon properties. 

View from the main residence looking toward the back of the property.

View of garden beds on the side of the main residence.

Some topiary near the smaller cottage in the middle of the gardens.

One thing I gained from the visit was an appreciation of Holly like this nice variegated specimen.

There were lots of trees in the garden and lots of nice shadows cast across the paths.

View of the 'Temple of the winds'

One of several elephants in the pond surrounding the temple.

The stepping stones which are the only way to get to the temple.

View from the temple looking across the pond which surrounds it.

The maples were just starting to colour up for Autumn.

These 'Roman Baths' are one of the features that were recently restored.

This pergola was enveloped by Wisteria.

This is part of the long driveway which is hidden by hedges. You can see why they need a full time hedger.

One of the herbaceous beds.

Vegetable beds in the potager. They were a bit lacking in produce but that may be indicative of the season.

These Dahlias were also in the potager probably grown for picking and display in the house.

More Autumn colour showing in the trees

Some stone steps near the middle of the gardens. The property is quite steep in parts, the gardeners must be fit from all the uphill walking they need to do.