Photo: Rose garden, Hunter Valley Gardens. Created by Bill Roche, the Hunter Valley Gardens cover 25 hectares of spectacular international display.
Back in October, I described the old style home garden. There is something enormously satisfying about planting and then watching things grow, although it is hard in this time poor world, especially for those living in metro areas.
Several years ago, well back into the last century in fact though it seems odd to describe it in this way, I used to live in Queanbeyan and work across the border in the Australian Capital Territory. A visit to Lanyon Homestead was a favourite week end activity.
While the Homestead and its exhibitions were always interesting, what I really enjoyed was a walk in the garden with its trees, so satisfying on a hot day because of the quiet shade.
Personal gardening has been in sad decline because of smaller house blocks, more things to do, an increasingly crowded world. Yet the desire to grow things for sight and taste continues to be strong.
Here I have watched the development of community gardens with interest as a way of bringing people back to gardening.
Community gardens are a subset of a broader change process that includes the farmers market, slow food and cittaslow movements. Long may they continue.
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