The Amazing Garden of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

Recently I had the absaloute delight of visiting the bi-annual open garden at Cruden Farm, home to Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. It was a darling of a day - weather was late spring perfection, and I was dressed in my vintage 'garden party' floaty yellow roses dress ! The garden was beathtaking, as one would expect of a garden that has been the owners pride and joy since the 1920s!! But without a doubt, the highlight of my day was being able to speak to Dame Elisabeth, even if it was simply to tell her how much her garden inspired me ! I dont care if you are wealthy or middle class or poor, if you are 100 years old and opening your home and garden to what appeared to be THOUSANDS of visitors, if you are 100 years old and you are out and about mingling with all these strangers, greeting them, smiling, having your photograph taken with them, all with a gentle graciousness while they trample and smoke, drink and eat in your pride and joy, then you are a heroine in my books !!

Here are some photographs of the inspiring garden - please forgive the crowds, it was nigh on impossible to take a picture without someones head getting in the shot (if you dont like crowds I would sugest not going to this open garden).

But it is Dame Elisabeth I would like to give homage to, she has established her garden throughout most of the 20th Century, and therefore the life of this philinthropic woman and her garden are perfectly suited to a 20th Century vintage blog post !

Dame Elisabth was born on Feb 8, 1909 and is the widow of Ausralian newspaper publisher, Sir Keith Murdoch whom she married in 1928. Sir Keith and Dame Elisabeth had four children - Janet, Helen, Anne and Rupert. Dame Elisabeth found solice and enjoyment in her life at Cruden Farm, which was a very simple Langwarrin acerage when Keith first purchased it as a wedding presant. The couple employed the then up and coming Ausralian Landscape Designer, Edna Walling, to design a garden for the property. Dame Elisabeth has since heavily modified Walling's original design, making the garden uniquely her own.

Dame Elisabeth has involved herself in philinthropic pursuuits all her life long. Before her marriage, Dame Elisabeth worked for the RSPCA and joined the management committee of the Royal Children's Hospital in 1933, functioning as Presiden 1954 to 1965. Dame Elisabeth is a life-governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and is Patron of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and of the Australian American Association (Victoria). She is also a patron and founding member of disability organisation EW Tipping Foundation, and a founding member of the Deafness Foundation of Victoria. The first woman on the council of trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch was a founding member of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop. Phew !! I am exhausted just thinking about all those involvements !

An article in The Age 2003 stated that "Few can rival Dame Elisabeth's enormous contribution. Her interests are so many they need to be alphabetically catalogued: academia, the arts, children, flora and fauna, heritage, medical research, social welfare. Many of Melbourne and Australia's most cherished institutions, from the Royal Children's Hospital to the Australian Ballet and the Botanic Gardens, have benefited from her involvement. But Dame Elisabeth also devoted herself to less popular causes: prisoners, children in care, those battling mental illness and substance abuse."

What an amazing woman, using her position and money to bless society. I am inspired by her lovely garden, and inspired by her tireless activities for the good of the community. I wish there were more Dame Elisabeths in the world !

If you would like to know more about this lovely woman and her garden, I would suggest borrowing or buying the book "Garden of a lifetime - Dame Elisabeth Murdoch at Cruden Farm" it really is a marvelous read and full of inspiring garden and family pictures throughout the 20th Century. Beautiful!!

Eden Design Price and Package List

Below is a list of my fees and charges for all new projects from 1st July 2011. If there is anything that I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to contact me - I'd love to talk gardens with you! ** Please note these packages pertain to an average residential size block. Large estates, industrial, commercial and public places require inspiection and provision of a quote, due to the degree of extra work required.

Starter Package :$40 per hour of work undertaken (average 7-8 hours)
What do you receive?

1. Initial discussions (Free)
2. Onsite meeting if required (Free)
3. Three concept plans (not available for clients to keep)
4. Discussion of concept plans and arrangements for final plans.


Bronze Leaf Package : $500
What do you receive?

1. Final plan - completed in black and white, A3 size or larger as required
2. Plant list.

Suitable for? Simple residential gardens where the owner intends to complete all works and as costs allow.

Upgrade available? Colour plan available for $50 extra


Silver Leaf Package : $600
What do you receive?

1. Final plan – completed in colour A3 size or larger as required
2. Elevation drawings (where required)
3. Design description
4. Plant list.

Gold Leaf Package : $700
What do you receive?

1. Final plan – completed in colour A3 size or larger as required
2. Elevation drawings (where required)
3. Site analysis
4. Design description
5. Plant list, plant numbers required and proposed suppliers
6. Product list and suppliers
7. Cost estimate for clients installing their own garden

Suitable for? Submission to planning authorities; small or large-scale residential projects undertaken by owner or professional landscapers; displays and promotion.


Extras :

Plans on CD $25

Plans Laminated $30

Multiple copies $30 per set

Items in package 4 added to other packages $40 per item


Contact : kesenyabaker@bigpond.com

Old Fashioned Flower of the Season - Spring 2010

Spring time isnt springtime without my mothers crab apple tree bursting into glorious bright pink colour every October....it always heralds warmer days, tall grasses waving in spring breezes, picnics, cups of tea and cake outside in the sunshine, and lying on the lawn staring at fluffy white clouds and blue, blue sky through boughs of joyfullest blossom. Mum's stunning 30 year old tree always brings a smile to my face - in the spring time with it's flowers, and in the Autumn with its cheery red fruits....there is nothing like a crab apple for delightful garden 'romance' ! When I have my own (hopefully acres) of garden again, I am going to plant a walk of crab apples to tryst down dreamily on spring mornings adorned with birdsong, and meander along in the mellowness of Autumn twilight's. Ahh....now I am dreaming big and blossomy !!

Crab apples are available in a huge array of colours from pearly white, to delicate pinks and deep reds, and almost everything in between including corals and salmon colours. They are in the rose family (Rosaceae) and are differentiated from apples by the size of their fruit. if the fruit of a tree is two inches or less it is deemed to be a crab apple. larger than two inches and it is officially an apple. Fruit colour is just as spectacular as the flowers with variations from dark-reddish purples, to reds and oranges, golden yellows and even green on occasion. Larger varieties of crab apple fruit can be used in jellies or spiced.

Crab apples have diverse growth habits or tree shapes. The shapes consist of weeping (pendulous), rounded, spreading (horizontal), upright (columnar), vase-shaped, and pyramidal. They vary greatly in size - from a shrubby 2.5m tall to over 11-12 m. Check the label before you buy to make sure it is suited to the position you want it.

Flowering crab apples are adaptable but thrive in rich loam type soil (a combination of clay, silt, and sand). Regardless of soil type, good drainage is a must for tree health. Rrelatively dry sites can be tolerated by crab apples if plant stresses are minimized during the first year after transplanting. They need 8-12 hours of direct sunlight to get the best flowering and fruiting. Fortunately for most areas of Australia, they are also frost tolerant.
 

If you are looking for a medium to largish shrub/tree to make your garden look positively mid century, then you cant go past crab apples...the perfect old fashioned flower for drought conscious modern times.

Old Fashioned Flowwer of the Season - Winter 2010

Over the past winter I have sojourned to Melbourne on many occasions and wound up in the charming inner city suburb of Clifton Hill. It was always such a pleasure on a bleak grey day to wander down Queens Parade, poking my head into various cute little shops, cafe late in hand. However, nothing would send my head spinning with delight as much as the heady whiff of jonquils in great overblown bunches, sitting prettily in buckets on the footpath, just waiting for someone to carry them home to a snugly winter living room.....

Jonquils are my very favourite of all winter flowers....the come along just when the world seems quite cold and dead and liven things up with their colour and their intoxicating scent. And from an old fashioned gardening perspective, they are so very easy to grow !! Simply plant your bulbs in the ground and let nature surprise you come the cold chilly season. When I was born, my mother recalls coming home to our old farm homestead with her new baby, and finding the garden lawn brimming with swaying jonquils. They do so well planted, old fashioned like, under a buffalo lawn.... while the lawn is dormant (and where I live, frost bitten) up come the jonquils....and by the time the spring growing season is upon us, the jonquils are about finished and can be simply mown over with the lawn mower when it requires it's first haircut. Alternatively, they look marvelous popping up through violets, or planted alongside freesias in contrasting colours like red, or purple.

My only suggestion pertaining to the growing of jonquils is that you allow as much time as neat garden appearance will allow you, to let the jonquils die back naturally. It is at this time that they are storing energy for the next flowering season and they are drawing nutrients to do so from the spent leaves of this season. It's hard to resist the temptation to lop off scraggly leaves, but hang out as long as possible....or if you bulbs are in a pot, pop them somewhere discrete !! Jonquils love sun, and well draining soil with moderate water. And give them a little loving care and they will reward you with days and days of happy winter cheer !!

Old Fashioned Flower of the Season - Autumn 2010

Isnt it beautiful? And very very hardy too !! This Autumn the flower of the season is the pretty 'Cosmos' flower, sometimes known as the Mexican Astor. Native to Mexico (obviously!), this pretty little plant is an annual, but oh so easy to grow from seed, or you can obtain seedlings from your local nursery.  It is known as a wildflower in it's native land, but suits the wild cottage garden look here in Australia. They will readily self seed so you can either collect the seed heads at the end of flowering and store then in a dry brown paper bag for use next year, or you can simply let the seed fall where they will and watch for new plants in the coming spring. (Here where I live, unless tended, most garden seeds will not reproduce in the wild, however you may want to be a bit more careful of 'escapee's in other parts of Australia that receive higher rainfall that the semi arid inland where I am.)

 The plant in the photographs is actually growing in quite a dry but mostly shaded part of my garden, however this is not the best spot to make the most of your cosmos.....better to be in full sun with well drained, moderately rich soil.

Cosmos is wonderful as a picked flower in cottage garden type bouquets alonside other 'wild' flowers such as Queen Annes Lace, Love in a Mist, Kiss me quick, and Cornflowers. (Arnt some of those plant names just dreamy? Whoever handed out those 'common' plant names deserves a big trophy of appreciation from romantic old me!!) I grow my cosmos to add a sunny little lift to my garden at this time of year (and in spring too), but also because I love to pick bouquets for people - an inexpensive way to show loved ones you care about them - and you simply cannot beat cosmos to add that delicate something to a solid bunch of roses or geraniums. There's nothing like a little bit of 'wild-ness' in your life now and again!

Old fashioned Flower of the Season - Summer 2010

" I once heard that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I was never able to believe it. A rose just couldnt smell as sweet if it were a thistle or a skunk cabbage!"

Anne of Green Gables

What more can I say - there is no more favourite 'old fashioned' flower in all the world than the rose. Beautiful colours, adaptable to so many environments, intoxicating fragrances, glorious in a garden, mass planted or as a cut flower. Its beauty has graced so many poems, so many stories of old, and inspired many of the great minds of history (see this month's quote of the month). It is my favourite flower - I must always have a rose growing in my garden, and I delight in giving great bunches of them to those I love !

Growing roses is so easy too. Best planted in winter during bare rooted season, they bennifit from a little fertiliser, and regular water, although they are so very hardy, they will withstand periods of drought and almost any soil bar pure sand (!) and still turn on an impressive show. Prune every winter (June is best in most parts of Australia, although you can get away with waiting till mid August if need be !), and nip away dead flowers from the first flush in spring to encourage further flowering. This is always so enjoyable when done on balmy evenings with a glass of Moscato in one hand and secateurs in the other !!


There are numerous varieties of rose available on the market - shrub, floribunda, minitures, climbers, standards, burbons, Austins, hybrid tea - all of which have quite differing flowering habits, so my main reccomendation when purchasing a rose would be find out what it is you are wanting from your rose and purchase accordingly. Do you want lots of flowers? Floribunda would be your pick. Would you like strong fragrence? Burbons and Austins are a good choice. Do you want the look of a post war garden? Choose hybrid tea's - the frilly Austins and Burbons and other old fashioned roses have only made a come back in more recent times. A true mid 21st Century garden will use only hybrid teas - 'Oaklahoma', 'Ena Harkness' and 'Peace' are some good choices for this purpose. Feel free to email me if you want some help !

I do hope you delight in these photographs from my own garden as much as I have delighted in taking them - I have recently purchased a lovely new digital camera and have had a wow of a time photographing my pretty little garden gems. Summer in the garden is never dreary when there is a rose to enjoy !

Old Fashioned Flower of the Season - Spring 2009

WISTERIA
How very beautiful and dazzlingly old fashioned is the wonderful Wisteria floribuna, W.sinensis! I have loved this beautiful plant ever since I was a child. I would go 'exploring' around my parents farm and happen across this climber growing up a south facing verandah post of 'the old house', delighting me with its subtle fragrance, captivating me with the dainty-ness of its mauve blooms. Although this fabulous old vine was struggling to grow in the neglected 100 year old garden of 'the old house', and on the totally inappropriate, heavily shaded south side, it still managed to muster up quite a dynamic show every year. That is one thing beautifully old fashioned plants are quite renowned for - their hardiness and resilience. To me that is what makes them so desirable in today's 'low maintenance, drought tolerant' gardens. And at this time of year, none display their hardiness more delightfully than the Wisteria !
A native of China ('shorter' length blooms) and Japan ('longer' length blooms), it is a very vigorous, heavy twining climber and has a moderate to fast growth rate. It is idea for covering verandahs or pergolas, but can also be trained as a standard. It is frost hardy to -25 degrees, and does not appreciate the humidity of the tropics, but otherwise will do well almost anywhere in-between. Unlike the climber at 'the old house', full sun is a must for a wisteria, and some shelter will also prolong the floral display in late September/early October. Prune to desired shape, and to also thin out and prevent the vine from becoming too heavy for your chosen support. Then sit back with a seasonal glass of my lemon refresher recipe and enjoy the floral display, amazing colour and the elating fragrance!

Old Fashioned Flower of the Season - Winter 2009

WINTER IRIS

This adorable little flower lights up our garden in the winter time.....and TOUGH ! This is the toughest plant I have ever come across - a must for water restricted gardens. A lovely green stappy leafed plant (the kind that are oh so popular right now), winter iris flower from June to September with a stunning little purple iris flower and look brilliant when mass planted. I have planted them just outside my front fence between the rence and the footpath, in rough imporverished soil. Nearby on the nature strip are two large ash trees that compete for moisture, and they are up against our concrete brick fence, which, unfortunatly, is also a mositure sucker ! In this hostile environment they have done wonderfully well with little or no care, attention or water - even during our last horrific Australian summer with two weeks of temperatures above 40 degrees !!! They truely are amazing little gems.

Winter iris will require watering through their first season to get them established, but after that just leave them be and enjoy their stunning, easy care display time and again. Their latin name is I.unguicularis and they can be ordered in Australia from Tesslars (online ordering).