Garden paradise open this weekend

THIS weekend garden lovers have a chance to check out a stunning landscape as well as support a wonderful cause – Kalangadoo Remembers – a veterans group that plans special events commemorating those who have served.

Sue Hickey, a member of the Kalangadoo remembers group is opening the gates to her 9 South East Terrace garden this weekend, from 10am to 4pm on both days.

The Kalangadoo garden reflects garden design and plants from the 1950s through to the present.

The overall design is attempting to combine non-native and native plants to support bird and bee activities throughout the year – an ongoing gardening process started with its previous owners and continues by its new owner.

Gardening is in Sue’s DNA, having grown up with a mother who definitely had a green thumb.

“Gardening was always there,” Sue said. “Mum loved her garden and so our humble urban block became a mass of roses and other flowering plants.”

And while Sue’s life saw her move around for work – she is an army veteran, both reserves and full time – she never neglected the garden that she was currently calling home.

“As I moved around Australia for work, including Darwin and Canberra, I always added to or refurbished the gardens I had,” she said.

The Darwin and the Canberra gardens were also both urban as Sue added to her family background with some more formal knowledge, undertaking the Certificate II (Darwin) and the Certificate III (Canberra) in Horticulture.

“These helped me decide on plants and planting, as well as maintenance,” Sue said. “I love remembering the Latin names and to help with that I keep the labels in a photo book, acknowledging how they are going, buying more of the same and removing labels and plants if they don’t thrive.

“That follows Mum’s philosophy of ‘you are going’ or ‘prune it hard, and if it dies, it was going too anyway’.”

Once Sue retired she joined forces with her mother again, moving to the South Coast NSW where her parents had a small property with an acre of garden.

“It was established in the 1950s by the previous owners, and was your typical rows of trees, but no garden beds and over the 10 years I was there mum and I added garden beds, from roses, fruit trees to masses of native plants,” she said. “They were edged and mulched, which cut down the amount of lawn we had to mow. We enjoyed nursery crawling.”

That decade of experience laid a great foundation for Sue and her current Kalangadoo garden which is also a 1950s established garden – moving to the area three years ago.

“I have many mature trees with a mix of roses and perennials, and some natives,” she said. “So, my plan was to add to the mix, especially underneath the trees, and include more natives and perennials that gave more flowering through the seasons.”

And Sue takes quite the scientific approach as she continues to develop her garden, sticking to some simple but effective principles as she has honed her craft over the years.

“The basics for me are, where is north, east, south and west What is not thriving. What weeds do I have. Edging and mulching the beds. Supply of water,” she said. “Then I prioritise my efforts. I also do sketches of the yard, so I can decide on full sun to shade and start going to the nurseries.

“We are lucky down here the soil is very good, and we have some great nurseries. I also love having the birds, so there are many different types of bird baths.”

While maintaining her Kalangadoo paradise takes a lot of hard work, Sue does take the time to enjoy her stunning surrounds as well.

“My favourite spot is under my pergola, looking out into the garden, as it is framed by the mature trees and the original design has several curved paths out to the back,” she said. “My other favourite spot is out the back walking through my giant echiums.”

Sue spends most days in the garden and obviously that has been even more important as she has prepared for this weekend – her first ever open garden.

Fortunately Sue has had an eager band of volunteers to help put the weekend’s open garden together, promoting the event with flyers and social media posts; organising chairs, tables and refreshments and then the finer details including insurance and other required logistics.

Kalangadoo Remembers puts together an ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Kalangadoo Cemetery on the Sunday prior to April 25 and it also researches local family veterans and present a talk on two each year at the service.

“We also place flags and bouquets on veterans’ graves and conduct a Remembrance Day service at the local Primary School, who also participate,” Sue said.

Entry is a gold coin donation and a cash only Devonshire tea will be available.