THE owners of the world-renowned Lambley Gardens and Nursery are moving on from the business after more than thirty years in operation.<\/p>\n
Following recent health issues and with his 80th birthday looming, co-owner David Glenn said it\u2019s time to take it easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had health issues and last year I had a heart attack so it was sort of saying it\u2019s time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d ever have to retire. The garden\u2019s still looking beautiful and maintained so we\u2019ll move while that\u2019s still the case rather than letting it go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been deeply moved by the customers who\u2019ve responded all over the country, even overseas. We met one of them in a cafe in Creswick and she was in tears about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Glenn and his partner, artist Criss Canning, moved the Dandenong Ranges-established nursery to Ascot when they bought the 30-acre property in 1991.<\/p>\n
Between the 1860s bluestone building and haybarn, he said it\u2019s been a labour of love to make the place a home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had been a potato farm for a while when we bought it and pretty run down,\u201d Mr Glen said. \u201cEvery weed known to agriculture was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe house was more a fauna park. We had to get a new roof put in to keep possums out because there were still shingles there from the 19th century.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo start a nursery of that size, if it hadn\u2019t been that run down, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to afford it. In a way, it was a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The business has since grown to include 10 staff along with potting, propagation and shade houses and four hundred-litre storage tanks helping to grow the majority of plants featured on the property.<\/p>\n
Thousands of flowers feature each year at Lambley including seasonal tulips, dry-climate-sourced plants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most beautiful part of the garden is just about to come into flower,\u201d Mr Glenn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an avenue of ornamental pears which flower in late winter, on either side is one variety of Japanese windflower called Honorine Jobert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Canning and Mr Glenn are set to move full-time to a Central Ballarat property once the nursery sells, with the latter saying he hopes the legacy of Lambley lives on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI desperately hope it keeps going,\u201d Mr Glenn said \u201cMost of our staff have been with me several years so I hope it keeps going for them too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE owners of the world-renowned Lambley Gardens and Nursery are moving on from the business after more than thirty years in operation. Following recent health issues and with his 80th birthday looming, co-owner David Glenn said it\u2019s time to take it easy. \u201cI\u2019ve had health issues and last year I had a heart attack so […]<\/p>\n