Riverside idyll, Wyong River

RIVERSIDE IDYLL

WORDS PAUL URQUHART PHOTOS LISA HAYMES

The Central Coast sports some spectacular secret gardens, and the garden surrounding the home of Bill and Carolyn Burton is a standout. Sitting on the riverbank of Wyong River, it is a blend of perfectly manicured lawns and a palm-filled oasis marked by quirky additions and superb attention to detail.

Overall, the garden has a tropical rainforest feel with boardwalks, towering palms and massed ferns and foliage plants on the forest floor, with Bill’s flights of fantasy adding a quirky touch. Bill is a retired builder with a passion for all things Disneyland and has visited most of the Disney parks around the world. While he initially incorporated some of his favourite fantastical features into the overall garden for the enjoyment of his grandchildren, one suspects these flights of fancy may be more personally inspired. His wife, Carolyn, is responsible for different sections of the garden – particularly the area that fronts the river – and has given this a relaxed and restrained planting of massed clivias and native Brachyscome daisies.

A slow reveal

Bill regularly enters the Wyong division of the Central Coast Council garden competition and opens the garden in September for others to enjoy. The first thing you see from the street is a perfect lawn, backed by a forest of Bangalow palms and a driveway edged by native shrubs such as lemon-scented tea tree (Leptospermum petersonii) and heath myrtle (Babingtonia virgata), which share some similarities. While both shrubs have small white flowers, the tea tree is a spring bloomer and the heath myrtle has summer flowers. Both shrubs also have graceful, weeping branches that trail toward the ground so comparisons with the Wind in the Willows are not so far off. There is also a dwarf form of the latter that forms tight mounds of green foliage and needs no fancy pruning. These common native shrubs have a charming weeping foliage without the problems associated with willows. In garden beds on either side, seasonal flowers add massed colour within a framework of established shrubs. All of this is amplified as you progress through the garden.

The river is a key element in the garden providing a restful backdrop. Colourful pots of impatiens and other seasonal flowers give a wow factor to the owners’ private jetty.

ABOVE: The planting is simple – massed native daisies and clivias and orchids for the spring show give the decked area a pared-down feel.

LEFT: Colourful ornamental birdhouses give some interest to the palm trunks often decried as garden telegraph poles but are regarded here as a feature.

A garden for living

As a builder, Bill is adept at creating decks, boardwalks and structures within the garden. Decking demarcates clear spaces for sitting, relaxing and socialising with family and friends. Bill’s allweather barbecue sits hidden behind a bank of succulent cactus and euphorbias that have been there for around 20 years and form a dense architectural feature. Bill’s family-focused lifestyle is celebrated in the numerous structures and sculptures, all made by him to amuse his grandchildren.

The keen gardener uses annual and biennial plants that have a habit of self-seeding and germinating. For instance, in spring his display of foxgloves brightens the front garden while in summer, the same bed is occupied by coneflowers or echinacea in bold mixed colours.

Palm grove

One of the most appealing parts of the garden is a grove of palms traversed by a meandering, raised-timber pathway. It skirts in and around a semi-circular stone water feature while shafts of light sparkle through the canopy and dance upon the waters made dark by the tannins in the falling leaves of many trees. Some people go to great lengths to artificially blacken the water

in smaller ponds but here it is a natural occurrence. The darker water is a great foil for water lilies and reflects the surrounding foliage.

Palms have lost favour in recent years mainly because they shed fronds, but this self-cleaning focus means that about the only maintenance required is to collect them when they fall. This can be a nuisance but, because they are so tightly planted, it too is a natural occurrence and much less of a nuisance. Trees give another dimension to any garden and so often we forget to look up while we are so focused on the ground plane. Looking up here, the glimpses of sky and fronds adds a very dramatic experience.

Waterscapes

The garden on the riverside is small in comparison and dominated by decking that makes admiring and enjoying the river ambience a real delight. Carolyn’s predilection for pretty flowers comes to the fore here with a massed edging of blue Brachyscome daisies and bright-orange Belgian hybrid clivias. The effect when the clivias are in flower is stunning, albeit brief. But the daisies are a long-term feature. In spring, too, the large tubs of cymbidium orchids are always filled with tall spikes of bloom. As they fade though, big pots of New Guinea impatiens take over to spark up the decking. Through summer and autumn, though, the real star is the river. This is a great spot to sit and watch the world go by, whether it’s water birds or the water-borne version of MAMILs*, as many kayak enthusiasts make this river their playground.

[*Middle-aged men in Lycra]

TOP: The coneflowers make a vibrant show in the front where it is most sunny.

MIDDLE: Coral or firecracker plant (Russelia) is a cracking bloomer for the warmer months and loved by spinebills.

BOTTOM: The lushness of the palm walk is in sharp contrast to the simplicity of the river garden. Here, exuberant foliage, spot colour and a predominantly green palate creates calm and serenity.