My favourite type of garden is the one that surprises me and makes me think happy thoughts. I would like to have a garden with winding paths that turn even a short walk into an exploration of the wonderfully beautiful unknown.
I visited Mt Tamborine Garden Show a couple of weeks ago. I really liked the garden number 1. It was tiny compared to others but it was full of wonders and delights. You could sense the enjoyment and love that had been planted into that tiny plot. There were colours, shapes, textures, scents mixing in a happy union. My least favourite garden was the one (number 8, I think) that didn't have, in my mind, any artistic flair, any soul. A hired garden designer had designed the garden. Although there were million dollar views onto the mountains, there were also orderly rows of the same plants, masses of mass plantings. There were no surprises, no excitement, just the feeling of show off. Everything screamed money, money, money. Well, this might be news to some but in my mind money doesn't bring soul into a garden. Read, and be inspired by, Jackie French's book The Wilderness Garden if you don't believe me.
This photograph is from the Botanical Gardens in Mt Tamborine, Queensland.
Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016
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