Wombat Gully – a Native and Rose Garden

DSC08800

115 Coxs Creek Trail (17 km along Coxs Creek Road)

KandosGardenFair_WombatGully2

Wombat Gully is a sustainable house and conservation property. You will find lots to entertain you, including a native plant nursery and native gardens, a formal walled rose garden, vegetable garden and chook house and an artist’s studio.

The poured earth house has 40cm wide walls which provide insulation and indoor temperatures of 20 degrees (without air conditioning or fans!). Solar power is used exclusively and there is a composting toilet. Note the fire retardant plants and a fernery. Also the art work and other artistic features, including mosaics.

Saturday & Sunday 11am: Demonstation – propagating native plants from seeds and cuttings. Saturday & Sunday 2pm: Sustainable house tour. Devonshire teas available.

Native plant nursery – plants for sale.

Wombat Gully1

Coomber – Two Classic Australian Country Gardens

Coomber3 copy

Both properties are located 5 minutes from Rylstone on the Cudgegong Road, between Rylstone and the Castlereagh Highway

Coomber Homestead

It’s no surprise this garden won The Sydney Morning Herald Garden Prize in 1967. Sweeping lawns dotted with well-established trees, such as golden elm and desert ash, are bordered with lush garden beds (planted three years ago) to provide a gentle, shady retreat. An edge of Elina roses – a subtle cream – frames the house. This garden is being renewed in a grand style. One can imagine a table set with white linen and Royal Albert ‘country roses’.

Morning & afternoon teas and lunch will be provided by the Rylstone Hospital Pink Ladies, as will the produce table.

Sunday 11am: Fiona Ogilvie talk – Using autumn and winter to prepare a garden for a harsh environment.

Windy Hill Nursery.

Alex Schiebner sculptures.

Coomber Guest House

This garden also has the charm of an English country garden, with sweeping lawns under shady trees bordered by colourful garden beds. The original trees were planted by Tim and Helen Evans in the 1960s: pin oaks, lindens, English elms, liquidambars and plane trees. The garden sits beautifully in a farming landscape providing a 360° view of soft hills and fertile paddocks.

The guest house provides attractive accommodation for 12 people and has a pool, cubby house and chooks.

Coomber2

Hazelgrove – a native parkland

IMG_2047

a veggie patchThis beautiful parkland retreat of one and a half acres is a haven for wildlife. A mixture of native and hardy introduced species have been chosen for texture and colour and placed to suit soil and drainage, demonstrating a lovely mix of native and exotic in a waterwise environment. Bonnie and Peter are meticulous in their maintenance and enjoy the process of developing their garden. The raised home veggie garden is constructed from recycled water tanks and provides produce for delicious eating and home processing. There is a small hothouse for propagating seeds for veggies and native plants.

Stalls: pickles and jam, treasure table, plants and seedlings, leather goods

IMG_2048

A Big Weekend Ahead – Program Now Available

DSC09026

Gardening enthusiasts, be warned! You have two big days ahead on the 2 and 3 April with the CWA Kandos Gardens Fair. Twelve local gardens, guest speakers including ABC Gardening Australia’s own Costa Georgiadis, Garden Markets, workshops and walking tours, just to name some of the events. As well as a train trip from Lithgow and back. Refreshments and lunch available.

A full program of the activities to help you plan your visit is available here.

CWA Kandos Gardens Fair Program 2016

Horse Gap – An Australian Country Garden

DSC08913

DSC08926Situated on Dunville Loop Road, most of this garden was planted by Jim and Merran over the last 40 years including a 40 year old wattle at the entrance. It is the outlook (a surrounding landscape of paddocks, hills, and sandstone cliffs) as well as the garden, which establishes this as an Australian Country Garden. It features many native plants, including a patch of bush, with yellow box, Blakeley’s red gum and a grove of grey gums.
DSC08896Some unique elements include a dry stone wall which was the inspiration for the Lizard Garden , and the “wedding rock” (three weddings have been held in this garden). There is a secret sunken paved garden with a still pond and peep hole and a water feature with ferns and gold fish A fully enclosed orchard with raised vegetable garden and chook run completes the productive area.
KandosGardenFair_Horsegap3The house was built in 1938 entirely of concrete from the footings up.
There will be a plant stall both days.

DSC08961

Springvale – A Sculpture Garden and Courtyard

DSC08851

With a backdrop of mature Kurrajong trees, rocky outcrops and rolling hills, Ludwig’s garden and courtyard is an enthralling outdoor assembly of contemporary sculpture on a grand scale.

DSC08845Ludwig Mlcek is an accomplished professional sculptor who works in metal, stone and timber. In collaboration with Rylstone Sculptures Inc., Ludwig initiated and convened the October 2015 Rylstone Sculpture Symposium. He has participated in the famous Bondi ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ on three occasions. You will be able to glimpse but not enter Ludwig’s impressive workshop studio.

DSC08872His garden, which is also home to a miniature pony, features a converted meat house (now an accommodation unit) with an intricately carved wooden door. There is a stone fruit orchard and vegetable gardens.

Over the weekend Ludwig will offer occasional walking/talking sculpture tours.

Sculptures for sale.

Sausage Sizzle, tea/coffee.DSC08878

DSC08871

 

A Terraced Town Garden with Remarkable Kandos Views

KandosGardenFair_BuchananSt1

KandosGardenFair_BuchananSt2Kandos Serviced Apartments is a low maintenance ornamental garden featuring white offset with pink. This garden without lawns was designed and planted in the last four years.

Gum trees shade the western wall of the buildings and provide shady retreats. Winter blooming white irises and summer blooming white iceberg roses ensure some floral interest all year round.

 

DSC08986Mary’s garden design complements the two modern, serviced apartments she has built on the steep site. She was inspired by the idea of creating and urban creek bed to deal with site drainage.

Stalls: white irises, after garden wear, grass heads and sparkling spring water.

DSC08996

 

 

Kandos Gardens Fair 2016- and so it comes again…

KandosGardenFair_BuchananSt1

On April 2 and 3 2016, Kandos will again showcase its gardens in the CWA Kandos Gardens Fair. And this time around we can promise it will be bigger and better than ever.

DSC08830

Historic country cottages with Winton outside Rylstone

Over the weekend a dozen gardens will be open to the public – all diverse. From “in town” gardens to working properties, artist homes, newly established gardens and even a Convent. In addition, there will be lots to see and do.

We are so excited to announce that Costa Georgiadis, yes, from ABC Gardening, will be coming, as well as gardening writer, Fiona Ogilvie, who writes for The Land and Diego Bonetto, a “wild food forager”. All will be available and at gardens throughout the weekend.

In addition we have a Saturday Market, art trail and so much more for keen gardeners, including workshops and talks. A full program will be available shortly.

DSC09030

Converted community halls offer surprises to every visitor

This time around, Kandos CWA are sponsoring the event and are actively involved in the organisation. The theme is “Gardening in a harsh environment” and the gardens will showcase how wonderful and different gardens can be established and flourish in an area with limited water, bitter frosts and real summers.

DSC08884

Expansive country properties with resilient natives and handmade drystone walls

You’ll hear and find out lots more between now and 2 and 3 April but we would love to see you so put the dates in your calendar. We recommend taking the weekend to explore the full program and see all the gardens – in which case, book in accommodation early. The local Rylstone and Kandos website has lots of accommodation information.

We will see you all on 2 and 3 April 2016!

IMG_2311

St Dominic’s, the Good Samaritan Convent

Preview – a Courtyard Garden

June1

‘The Hall’ 
June and Brian Keech 23 Rodgers Street Kandos
June3A little over three years ago this small, unique, courtyard garden was a rough patch of kikuyu and weeds. An area was levelled and the workshop erected using recycled materials. The brief was to have a low maintenance and water efficient garden. A small rainwater tank supplies drinking water. The majority of plantings were ‘potted-up’ from the owners’ previous garden and chosen for their hardiness, diversity of foliage and variety of shapes and colours. Succulents, agaves and other desert plants sit happily amongst hardy trees and shrubs from the Mediterranean Region. Prominent throughout is Garden ‘Art’, all of which has been salvaged from tips and throw-aways and reinvented. It is an easy-care garden which looks good all year round. And the best feature for the owners? No lawn mower!

Attractions at the Hall:

  • Found Objects Stall
  • Basket Weaving & Floral Work
  • Ad-Hoc (recycled furniture for home and garden)

June4

The Convent Gardens

Image

An early photo of the Convent gardens with formal hedges and garden beds.

Built in Spanish Mission style in the 1930s and home for many years to the Good Samaritan nuns, the Convent is a landmark in Kandos. The building was constructed with great care to detail and specifically built as a Convent with nun “cells”, a Chapel and Sacristy. A Grotto was added in the 1950’s. After the departure of the nuns in the 1970s, the building became a Presbytery for local priests until being privately sold in the last year.

A dated low maintenance canvas to build upon

A dated low maintenance canvas to build upon

The gardens, which were formal and well-tended by the nuns, became low maintenance over the last few decades and the new owner is now keen that the gardens do justice to the stately building and the Convent continues to play an important role in the community.

Whilst still finding its feet, the Convent gardens intend to balance productivity and industry with a relaxed country atmosphere and a long-standing heritage of roses. Very little of the original gardens are still in place, other than some old rose bushes. At the Kandos Gardens Fair, visitors will be able to view photos of the gardens throughout the Convent’s life. The new owner has inherited a blank canvas to build upon.

Baby steps to redesign the garden

Baby steps to redesign the garden

So far, raised vegetable beds have been incorporated to support a keen cook, herbs have been added, which are a passion for the new owner, and the rose garden has been substantially supplemented. The Grotto has also been restored.

All these activities are understandably very new and will take some time to reap rewards. And much more is planned for the future.

The new owner is excited to be part of the community and participate in the Kandos Gardens Fair. Please say “Hi” when you visit and feel free to give feedback on the gardens as they begin to evolve.

The owner has a blog that you are welcome to visit or follow

http://conventandchapel.com

The new raised veggie beds

The new raised veggie beds