4 minute read
Fresh perspectives on the Formal Garden
The Formal Garden at Blue Mountains Botanic Garden has had many iterations over the years. Now, thanks to a visionary redesign, the garden has transformed into a dynamic, ever-changing tapestry, writes Marion Whitehead, Supervisor Ornamental Gardens and Nursery Mount Tomah.
Nestled at the summit of Mount Tomah, the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden’s Formal Garden has undergone many iterations over the years. Within its symmetrical garden beds and impeccable hedges, each version of the Formal Garden has shared a common thread: the changing displays have told visitors stories about the history of horticulture. As the most accessible garden on-site, taking pride of place at the top of Mount Tomah, it was time for another transformation to once again capture the public’s imagination and inspire the awe that only a sprawling garden can evoke.
When it was originally established, the Formal Garden told the story of horticultural history, with plantings ranging from an old-style herb garden to displays that paid homage to great horticulturists and designers such as Gertrude Jekyll and Edna Walling. For the last eight years, the beds have been filled with seasonal bulb displays, featuring vibrant cohorts of tulips overplanted with pansies.
While these displays were a riot of colour, they demanded immense effort – every available staff member worked for at least two weeks to install them (often in the pouring rain), only for a stiff breeze to dismantle them in minutes. These displays also left the beds fallow for large portions of the year, waiting for the next floral festival to begin.
At the start of 2023, we were fortunate to engage renowned artist and perennial garden designer Ralph Bristow to help update and refresh the garden. An accomplished oil painter as well as a plantsman, Ralph ‘paints’ with a palette of plants. His designs, inspired by the New Perennial Movement, embrace a naturalistic style that mimics nature while featuring plants from around the world. While botanic gardens often emphasise scientific and conservation collections, Ralph taps into the emotional core of gardening – channelling feelings into beautiful landscapes. Before designing, he visited the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, gaining a deep understanding of the garden, the horticulturists who care for it, and the emotions the Formal Garden should evoke to align with the spirit of Mount Tomah.
The vision for the Formal Garden was to create beds alive with butterflies and bees in spring and summer, bursting with fluffy grasses and structural plants in hues of bright red, orange, purple, and yellow. As the seasons transition to autumn, the tones mellow into mauves, putties, and chocolate browns as the garden reflects the waning warmth. In autumn, the grasses take centre stage, capturing the soft, romantic light of the mountain, reminiscent of a Heidelberg painting. Winter transforms the garden into a gothic Victorian landscape, with towering seedheads adorned with dewy spiderwebs and the gentle susurration of dry grasses. At the end of winter, the garden is cut back, ready to begin the cycle anew. Ralph masterfully achieved this vision.
It is hard to believe that the Formal Garden has only been in place for a year and a half. Highlighting the unique flora of the Garden’s cool-climate, high-altitude theme, the garden features plants rarely seen in ornamental horticulture. Among these are Lobelia gibberoa and Lobelia aberdarica, species native to the gorilla habitats of Uganda, and Ferula communis, the giant fennel, that towers dramatically over its neighbours.
The planting also pays tribute to the 2019-2020 fires that breached the garden’s borders and damaged parts of the collection. Among these is Rudbeckia maxima (coneflower), the tallest of its kind, with golden, reflexed petals that sway high above the garden like beacons.
These striking plants are pioneers, often among the first to bloom after wildfires in the prairies of North America. This selection of ‘best of Tomah’ plants celebrates rare and unusual species housed throughout the Gardens’ collection, giving a nod to our own horticultural history while demonstrating the aesthetic potential of uncommon garden plants.
Through Ralph Bristow’s inspired design and the meticulous efforts of the horticultural team, the garden has become a dynamic and ever-evolving celebration of both nature and art. As visitors stroll through its seasonal displays, they are invited to connect with the landscape, to reflect on the stories of the plants, and to find their own moments of awe – and with a new plant or combination becoming the ‘hero’ of the garden every day, these moments of discovery are limitless.
