28.06.15 KARLA AND BRUCE, WHITESIDE

[Lissa]

This is one very special property - acreage, with sweeps of lawn and arbors that lead you to explore down to the river - with beautiful mature trees framing the whole picture.

Hydroponics, a giant chook run that I would be happy to call home, raised wicking beds for veg and lots of colourful decorative plants to please the eye.

Karla has a distinctly artistic way of grouping plants to show off colour and texture to perfection, with lots of clever art work dotted amongst the foliage. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Karla does have the advantage over most of us. She has an incredibly versatile gardening aide called the "Bruce". Not sure what sort of fuel The Bruce works on but it's worth every penny for the amount of work this aide produces when you aim it in the right direction and give it instructions.

Some photos from our glorious morning visiting the garden of Karla, Bruce and their family.

The setting with fire for making damper.

Bruce working the damper.

Looking back towards the house.

Enjoying the morning tea table.

The swap table.

Some of Karla's artwork.

Colour everywhere you looked.

Brazilian Red Cloak or Megaskepasma erythroclamys

Coleus.

Mallow - grown from seed - bee attracting.

Dombeya Burgessiae Pink -  covered in bees both honey and native.

Miranda Moss - wire frame.

At the wicking beds. The property is watered via tank and pumped river water.

Zack and sculpture.

Zack's Mum Susan tucking into a tasty Loquat.

Karla leading the group down the curved lawn to the Aquaponics and chicken coop area.

Aquaponics.

Giant chicken run (to be extended Bruce tells me)....

...and some of the lucky inmates.

Isn't the rooster a beauty and doesn't he know it.

The arbor leads down to the Pine River.....

Some empty shells from the giant river snails.

George and Helena going back up to the lawn area through the lush gardens.

Aviary and children's cubby house.

A big thank you to Karla, Bruce and their daughter for making us all feel so welcome and providing such a lovely setting for today's Garden Visit. Memorable stuff and much appreciated.

[Elaine de Saxe]

Ripper pix and report Lissa! I'll add mine on as a separate post to lighten the download for viewers and posters.

Connect with part 2 here.

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What a spectacular place! Absolutely fantastic. So many beautiful plants, the artwork and views of the river. I imagine you could spend hours and hours out there and not see everything they have going on.

I don't know how they do it. I know I couldn't keep up with it all.

It's just an amazingly beautiful and peaceful place!

[Dianne Caswell]

What a beautiful garden, I am so sorry we missed Karla and Bruce's GV, a real inspiration. I love the moss lady, she is beautiful.

[Roger Clark]

Yes, a wonderful garden and with much thought and innovation at play. The chook house is like a palace, it gives us all ideas about how we can try to improve the lot for our chooks. It was great to meet everyone, sorry that I didn't manage to get around to you all, I'll work on that next time. Thanks for your organisation Lissa!

[Lissa]

It was good of you and your wife to travel all that way to be with us Roger. Nice to meet you both in person :)

[CHERYL SLAPP]

Everything looks even better than I remember - wish I had been there but surgery recovery has me house bound.

[Susan]

I'm so glad we made the drive up to see this.  Absolutely stunning.  I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for dwarf canna's after seeing a beautiful salmon pink example.  Zack is so excited at seeing all the photo's he's in :)  Thanks Karla and Bruce - it was a wonderful day. 

[Rob Collings]

Thank You Karla and Bruce for sharing your beautiful backyard and gardens with us, as well as the yummy damper.

I can't help but feel that you have managed to do 30 years of backyard work, somehow in 15 years. Both of you are an inspiration, and Karala and absolute asset to your employer, Bunnings, with your DIY and backyard walk more than talk!

And I've seen big Roosters, but he's got to be up there with the show guys ... stunning!

Thanks again for sharing

Rob

[Karla Wally]

Great to see everyone enjoying today. Thanks for all the photo's, as we never take any ourselves. Always nice to talk to like-minded folk and learn something new from those you can catch up with at these garden visits. Thanks to Lissa for all your organisational skills and dedication to the group!

[Lissa]

Thank you! and thank you to that pedometer thingy that Bruce was wearing that encouraged him to work like a wind up toy.

Can you put a name to that red flowering bush under "colour everywhere" for me Karla?

[Karla Wally]

Hey Liss,

Red flowering shrub is commonly called Brazilian Red Cloak or Megaskepasma erythroclamys;

the pink flowering one that you named begonia, was actually a Dombeya - I think it is Dombeya Burgessiae Pink. x 

[Lissa]

Thank you. All fixed :)

Mallow seed are in this fine wet morning - fingers crossed I end up with some of those beautiful flowering plants for the bees.