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Tips & Tricks for your day at the Cambridge Garden Festival

Your first garden Your ticket has a Garden for you to start at.  We would appreciate it if you could aim to start at that garden, so that not everyone arrives at the same garden at the same time.  Then plan your day using the map, from that starting garden. Most of the garden owners will be at their gardens when you visit.  Please feel free to ask them questions as they are keen to share what they have discovered and know.  Visiting gardens and talking to people is the best w...

Garden Ten - 32a Shelley Street- Large Residential Surprise, Katherine Tozer and Peter Tribe

They brought home the wild bush they love – introducing wax eye, fantails and moreporks. Arrive at wooden gate of this delightful garden and one wants to tip toe so as not to disturb the birds, darting behind tall flowers and trailing ivy, escaping the heat and inquisitive humans. A hush comes over you as you move deeper into the hidden world of this wild garden. Katherine and Peter love walking trails in the back country and have made their urban garden a reflection of this, whether they inte...

Garden Nine - 114 Amelia Place - An impressive big garden with her own stunning artwork, Shirley & Mike Peterson

We visited Shirley and Mike Peterson’s garden on the edge of urban Leamington on a cool winter’s morning.  Shirley welcomed us incredibly warmly and we were straight into viewing this impressive large garden.  The imaginative pottery artwork filling the garden brought so much colour to this garden along with the glowing citrus and the last of the brilliant red maple leaves.  I cannot wait to see this garden in the spring. Shirley and Mike moved here three years ago from a bloc...

Garden Eight - 15 Cowley Drive, An Oasis of Tranquility and Colour - Eric and Jan Todd

Enter the garden under weeping pears and be drawn through a formal arbour to the heart of the garden, with Buxus hedging, elegant roses and grapevines cleverly looped to aged trellis. Admire the robust trees planted when the garden was part of a chicken farm, leaving rich dark soil.  Their spreading branches create dappled shade for hot summer days when one slips into a hammock with hat, book, and glass of something delicious. Jan and Eric are developing the garden by softening it with edge...

Garden Seven - 11 Shaw Street, Leamington - A Captivating Established Garden, Ken & Sue Ludbrook

My first impression of the Ludbrook garden is set by the large, established trees at the front of the property, many planted over 30 years ago.  Ken and Sue are the original owners of this property which was one of the first developed in the area.   Ken met me at the front of the house on a cool winter’s day, close to the shortest day.  Clearly this garden is going to look very different at the time of the festival.   The front of the house will be very green in t...

Garden Six - 8 Shaw Street, Sun Filled Garden Lot - Lyndsay and Ted Mason

Birdsong (waxeye, tui, fantail); perfume (roses, Lily of the Valley) colours (soft pinks to vibrant purples) will greet you in November at Lyndsay and Ted Mason’s. Their large and well established garden has lots of interesting and beautiful spaces.  Even on the wet and miserable day I visited, our spirits were lifted as we sipped a welcome cup of tea and viewed through the large windows the glorious expanse outside. You couldn’t help but imagine this garden’s beauty throughout the va...

Garden Five, 33 William Paul Street - Size Doesn't Matter, Joy & Des Bell

Joy and Des Bell’s garden in Norfolk Downs is another model of what you can do in a small town property.  This is a great example where people can see a garden that is just being established.  I was intrigued to see this garden because I had recently got to know to Des at the Cambridge Bowling Club, not realising that his was one of the gardens in the festival.  Ailsa, my wife, and Liz, my sister, accompanied me on this visit on Queen’s Birthday.  Joy and Des had jus...

Garden Four, 40 Terry Came Drive - With Nature in Mind, Eunice & Peter Martin

Eunice and Peter Martin have lived in Terry Came Drive for 3 ½ years after moving from the country back into Cambridge. They originally lived out at French Pass in a property that was converted from an old sand quarry and was named ‘The Olive Grove’. They were the first house built in Terry Came Drive so the section needed to be broken in and became a fresh canvas for Eunice and Peter. In between moving from The Olive Grove to their new home they had a 5 month period renting in between so a...

Garden Three - 105 French Pass Road - A Riot of Colour, Anne & Steve Spelchan

Anne and Steve Spelchan’s country garden in French Pass Road is a garden that grows (no pun intended).  And grow it has.  Every time Anne visits a garden centre she brings a plant home, she has to make the garden bigger to fit it in.  In recent years the area at the front of the house, that was part of a paddock and a play area for grandchildren, has become garden.  Ailsa and I met Anne on a cool misty day in the depth of winter with rain threatening.  It’s probably ...

Garden Two, 2/182 French Pass Road - Designer Inspiration, Juliet and Sean Coleman

Juliet Coleman’s garden in French Pass Road is such a contrast to the two small town gardens I had visited recently.  In two words, huge, impressive. Ailsa and I were met by Juliet and her gorgeous, friendly poodle-spaniel Maisie and we were immediately invited in for coffee.   The first thing we see as we walk to the front door is Hellebores in a mass planting.  This will be a fabulous display in a few weeks. Juliet says she a love-hate relationship with Hellebores.  ...

Garden One, 97 Wells Place, RD1 - Crowd Pleaser, Jan & Bill Mathers

Mass plantings of Hydrangeas, wandering paths through trees, shrubs, and garden art. This country garden is not to be missed. Lots of ideas and plants to buy.  All the garden photos in this newsletter are of this garden Jan Mathers is an ‘Original Cambridge Girl’ and has become a hydrangea enthusiast and collector.  Jan and Bill’s acre of farmland on the outskirts of Cambridge has been transformed since 2002 to the beautiful garden it is today with 178 varieties of hydrangeas. Mo...

26 Queen Street, photos

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Traditional Villa Garden - a sight to see

This lovely garden has been crafted over the years by Louise and Duncan McGillivray.  In central Cambridge, the traditional villa is surrounded by trees, lawns, box hedges. Over the 14 year that they have been here, they have taken the established garden that they inherited and added fruit trees and a much bigger vegetable area. Louise & Duncan have always had a garden, but this is their largest one. Some trees have been removed or cut back and most of the flowers have been changed to suit ...

Joy and Des Bells garden at 3 Boulton Street, Norfolk Downs

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Final showing (possibly) of this lovely garden

When Joy and Des Bell purchased their house and property in Norfolk Downs 8 years ago there was a minimalistic garden with Laurel trees at the front and 18 olive trees around the perimeter. Having moved from 15 years on a 10 acre block with a 2 acre garden then to a to a 1 ½ acre garden and then to this ¼ acre town section, it was quite a change for these avid gardeners. Joy started with a green and white theme but soon missed the colour of her old gardens. In conjunction with daughter Wendyâ€...

Garden Transformation photos of 12 Williams St

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Garden Transformation

Shirley is the owner of this garden which illustrates the dangers of being in real estate.  Through her work she sees a number of homes and gardens, and from time to time, Shirley discovers a property that she can transform. When she purchased this1960's cottage 2 years ago, it was a blank canvas and had a garden that was sparse and unloved.  The gardens were bare, there were 2 cherry trees and a rotten back fence.  The weeping cherry died, so an artistic twist has been designed l...

Wetlands, Parks, Reserves and beautiful gardens

St Kilda is a new suburb of Cambridge and our two gardens showcase the suburb, with modern structural gardens that interact with the wetlands and parks and reserves of the area.Ground was broken on the 80 hectare St Kilda development in mid 2012.  A total of 285 sections are to be developed, and many are already well established with lovely gardens.   St Kilda is an energy efficient and eco friendly development, built around 4 hectares of wetlands, parks and reserves. We are delig...

Our 2 St Kilda Gardens at 20 Baxter Michael Crescent

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St Kilda - how it came into being

Matt Smith was the owner of a dairy farm with 400 milking cows had a dilemma when the Waikato Expressway cut his farm in half. He solved the problem about what to do with it by developing the property into a subdivision with a rural lifestyle with a residential feel. It was to be free of rigid fences with no two houses the same and all with solar panels. The average sections are 1600m2. It is a a community where it is safe to commute around with off road paved walks and boardwalks arou...

Lilies by Blewden - special Behind the Scenes Tour

At the Cambridge Garden Festival this year, we are privileged to be able to offer 100 tickets for the Behind the Scenes Tour of Lilies by Blewdens.  These one hour tours are available at 9am, 10am, 11am and midday.There are only 40 tickets left - the cost is an additional $10 per person and you can purchase them only on the Cambridge Garden Festival website at Lilies Tour.The Cambridge News wrote an excellent article on what they do out at Lilies by Blewden.  For more informa...

Learn more about Hydrangeas - old and new from Jan and Bill Mathers

From the old Hydrangeas in your grandparents gardens to the new small Hydrangeas that are suitable for smaller town gardens, Jan and Bill have experimented and learned about this plant over the years.  They have many varieties in their garden, come and visit their garden at 97 Wells Place, Cambridge - and learn more. The genus HYDRANGEA Hydrangeas or hortensia is a genus of 70–75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, the Himalayas, and Indon...

8 Different types of Hydrangeas in Jan and Bill Mathers Garden

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Festival could become an annual event

Thanks to Cambridge News for their article announcing the launch of the Cambridge Garden Festival.To see the full article - click here....