The Queensland Gardening Pages

Our Birkdale "Giving Garden"

After 20 years of Service in the RAAF and nearly as many addresses, Judy, I and our two sons were looking forward to putting roots down in one place. We acquired our one-acre block here in St James Park, Birkdale in Expo year 1988 and proceeded to build a house that would actually be our permanent home.

It was a bare block, so we started well and truly from scratch. We decided from the outset that we would have a nice garden and one that would return something back to us. It must be pointed out that we have done ALL the work ourselves, no Landscape Gardeners in our yard. It is basically a "Gardeners' Garden", built by sheer hard work and effort, the only help being shovel and wheelbarrow.

We started off the garden by planting a variety of tropical fruit trees and basically lots of lawn. However, it was not until after our eldest son received a severe spinal injury in a motor bike accident in 1996 that we really started to put our heart and soul into the garden, which then became an integral part of our own rehabilitation.

It's been very hard work with poor soil and no underground water. We rely on rainfall and the garden hose, sometimes I wonder if we should have taken up a less stressful hobby. In 2005 we put in a 15000 litre rainwater tank so we hope to use this water on the garden.

The soil is solid clay down to about 70 feet, so over the years we have had to trailer in many metres of different mulches. We bring in quite a lot of stable and mushroom manure and compost everything that is able to be put through the shredder and use all the lawn clippings.

Visitors can walk through the many rainforest tracks which are covered by a canopy of exotic and different Tropical fruit trees. The under plantings are full of many spectacular mass plantings of rare Bromeliads, Heliconias, Gingers, Orchids, Costus, Caladiums, Cordylines and Calatheas as well as many other varieties of unusual plants we collect throughout the year.

We now have 77 Tropical Fruit and Nut trees, with approximately 40 different edible varieties, we have Sapotes, Star Apples, Longans, Custard Apples, Sapodillas, Hog Plums, Wax Jambus, Lychees and of course several types of Mangoes, just to name a few. We also have a productive vegetable garden, which reflects the time we spent living in Malaysia, it is full of Asian vegetables. No matter what time of year it is we can always go outside and find something to eat, be it fruit or vegetable. Our Garden is a 'Giving Garden' and if we cannot eat it the Bats and Cockatoos will.

The garden changes every year and is still evolving, it will never be a truly Sub-Tropical Garden due to lack of water. I endeavour to do one major landscaping project every year and a few minor ones.

This year's major new addition is the 100 m² Bromeliad Shade House, which you will walk through on your way to the first rainforest walk.

There is also a new garden that complements and joins two existing walks and gardens.

There are many water features spread around the Garden. These range from a Goldfish pond with a large running waterfall, Balinese water pots and small in ground ponds all filled with plants and fish. Heliconias are a relatively new interest and we now have 52 different varieties. We also have 33 different Costus, 53 Gingers and a selection of Calatheas. You will be able to admire the swimming pool area with its three separate gardens and enter the Bromeliad and Orchid shade houses which are crammed full of hundreds of colourful plants.

There are a number of new projects completed in 2006, including a large front and rear expansion/refurbishment of the pool area garden incorporating an African thatched roofed oval gazebo with timber deck, another 15000 litre rainwater tank, and refurbishment of several garden areas including another water feature.

In 2007, the main addition has been an extension to an existing garden featuring a "water lily" pond. This is a stunning and colourful addition and just about completes the landscaping. Our ability to cope has been severely tested by the drought but we've come through, even becoming a finalist in the Queensland Premiers Water-Wise Garden Competition.

New developments include installation of three more rainwater tanks, extended front gardens, many new plants and some small landscaping additions to the backyard.

Our garden gives us something back in return, and we are very proud to share it with you during our 'Open Garden'. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Would you like to see our Garden 12 months a year? There are more images in our online photo album here: http://img52.photobucket.com/albums/v160/Ianrobert/