Two north-east Geelong gardens are going on display

This September, Open Gardens Victoria will open two sustainable, drought-tolerant gardens in north-east Geelong for all to visit and be inspired.

Yarrabee and Suealoe gardens are private gardens that will open to the public on the weekend of 17-18 September.

Yarrabee is a large sprawling garden in Lara set apart by its mass plantings of native and exotic species, while nearby Suealoe in Lovely Banks is an oasis of natives, succulents and flowering cacti, many of which are expected to be in flower during the opening weekend.

Owner of Suealoe garden, Sue Davis, said she is thrilled to finally be opening her beloved the grounds to the public after a delay last year due to lockdowns.

“It’s an event that allows those in Victoria to go and visit other gardens and that’s how I got into mine in the first place, by going to open gardens and seeing how beautiful they are,” Davis said.

“I’ve always loved gardening, I got that from my grandmother. I was a florist… and then I worked in a nursery and I picked up a lot there.”

Davis said her garden is designed to be drought-tolerant, inexpensive to water and relatively low-maintenance, though she said she and her husband love caring for their garden each day and say they wouldn’t have enough time for their passion if they had children.

Davis and her husband go walking in their garden every day and notice the little things changing through seasons, and they are eager to open the gates for others to enjoy too.

“I hope that when people visit and they get an idea, they then go home and think, ‘I’d like to do something like that’ just to encourage people to get into gardening.”

Davis said she will run a Q&A session at 11.30 am and 2.30pm during the event.

Davis said her focus is on high impact extensive group plantings with paths giving visitors easy access to view the aloes, agaves, acacias, eucalypts, correas, grevilleas, banksias, callistemons, hakeas, cleistocactus, echinopsis, echinocactus, epiphyllums, bromeliads, pond plants and more.

The garden also boasts a large, fully planted bird aviary that is a must-see and includes golden song sparrows, elegant parrots, Bourke’s parrots, neophema parrots and a collection of finches.

At this time of year visitors might also spot the yellow-tailed black cockatoos feasting on the hakeas, or New Holland honeyeaters amongst the aloe flowers.

“The thing I love most about gardening is the amount birds it attracts. And that was why I started getting into aloes, they were easy to grow, drought-tolerant plants that flower in winter and that’s when they offer all the nectar to the birds that haven’t got a lot to choose from that time of year.”

The Yarrabee garden, owned and maintained by couple Judy and Steve Anderson, is named Yarrabee to reflect the First Nations word meaning ‘place of many gums’.

“We wanted anyone to be able to walk through and get an idea of what a plant looks like when it’s fully grown, especially if people might just want to plant one feature plant and see what it looks like and plant it at home.”

The garden is striking, with many walking paths to explore, with the large dam and diverse range of drought-tolerant natives.

There’s also exotic plants including an eclectic collection of trees from crepe myrtles, grevilleas, ginkgos and flowering gums through to lipstick maples and a Persian silk tree.

“Everything that people see here has been brought in because it was just flat flood prone swamp area.”

“We also have a covered orchard, we have veggie gardens, and a small nursery where we will have plants for sale and jams for sale and tea and coffee for the weekend.”

The orchard of 38 fruit trees has everything from plums, apples, quinces, figs, apricots, guava and pear trees and two large, raised strawberry beds, along with loganberries, blackberries, raspberries and Inca berries.

One striking element of the Yarrabee garden are the thousands of local boulders and rocks used to create three ponds, a four-metre waterfall and numerous garden beds.

Yarrabee garden also includes a spectacular mass planting of a 600-tree river sheoak forest and another of 300 beautiful callistemons, with many expected to be in flower this September during the opening.

“We tried to recycle material. We used sugar gums that were cleared from the property as garden edging and used old power poles for garden edging too, and a lot of recycles materials that people can see and get ideas to use in their garden.”

Plant sales and morning and afternoon tea will be available at both gardens over the weekend.

The Yarrabee and Suealoe gardens are located an easy 10-minute drive from each other and will both be open between 10am and 4.30pm.

Open Gardens Victoria is a not-for-profit organisation that organises open gardens of private gardens across Victoria, with a mission to inspire more people to embrace gardens and gardening.

Tickets are available at the gate or now via Trybooking.