FROM NATURE Organic gardening takes root at Heronswood

FROM NATURE

Organic gardening takes root at Heronswood

Just up the road from Anthony’s Nose in Latrobe St, Dromana, sits a Mornington Peninsula landmark of importance. Heronswood. Here, where the bananas, paw paws and pomegranates grow with the eggplant, capsicum and citrus rooting below, bees buzz around edible flowers while fruit trees lull against the sloping land lunging towards the sea.

Given to The Diggers Foundation in 2011 by former owners Clive and Penny Blazey and family, this magnificent ‘hidden garden by the bay’ exemplifies companion planting and extreme edible garden diversity beautifully. The garden grows on all levels. From the flowering perennial border, herb garden and Russian olive tree to the citrus, kale, purple sage, creeping thyme and cumquats growing in between, Heronswood is the gardening lover’s dream.

Contour and colour are everywhere in this formal garden initially created by Clive and Penny in the English-French tradition. Layers of texture, space and shape abound. Look up to the sky and you’ll find yourself sheltered by desert ash, a Cook pine or a 150-year-old Moreton Bay fig. Look to the ground, where a series of underground wells are believed to flow, and you’ll find chilli, onions, fennel and golden oregano. Herbs are incorporated into ornamental sections. Wasps battle with aphids. Ladybirds flurry in spots of red and black. Pinks, blues and greys bloom in summer to offer a cool, inviting view.

The Heronswood ornamental and edible garden is completely organic. The gardeners here, who are profoundly committed to tending this 1.6ha plot of undulating land, work hard at letting nature do its thing rather than using manufactured chemicals. All organic matter is recycled. Seeds are collected and planted in the hothouse, then grown and replanted or sold at The Diggers Foundation garden shop. The Diggers Foundation, where Clive Blazey sits as chairman, promotes gardening education, preserves heirloom plants and seeds, and restores the historic buildings of Heronswood, among other things. Clive was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019 for his “significant service to horticulture, to conservation and to the community”.

Heronswood media and partnership manager Donna Morabito explains: “Heronswood was really the most incredible gift. Clive, Penny and their three children all agreed to bequest the property almost 10 years ago so as to preserve its beauty. The children had grown up

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Organic gardening takes root at Heronswood

and were in 100 per cent agreement with their parents. It is the heart and soul of The Diggers Foundation and the work we do in preserving seeds and plants. The Blazeys still visit the property regularly with the belief that Heronswood is not for owning but for sharing with others.”

Used as a holiday home by Professor William Hearn, the gothic revival Heronswood house, which was designed by Edward La Trobe Bateman and built from coursed squared granite blocks probably quarried at nearby Arthurs Seat, was built between 1864 and 1871. Fast-forward to 1983 when the Blazeys purchased the property and great changes were made to the once low-maintenance garden being protected from wind by Monterey cypress. Clive’s interpretation of the French garden, which is prescribed and ornamental, also took on a productive, edible aspect. These days the vegetable parterre supplies seasonal vegetables including coloured silver beet, cabbages, spinach, lettuce, fennel, beetroot and edible flowers for Café Heronswood. Horticulturist and Heronswood gardener Asha Holmes explains: “The vegetable garden is inspired by the French chateau Villandry. It’s an inexpensive vegie plot where a circle with six segments was cut into the lawn. Seasonal crops are rotated. Ornamentals were chosen because of their hardiness, and our Mediterranean climate with sandy subsoil suits our olives and citrus. The whole garden acts as a complete visual unit.” quota of vegetables including Tigerella tomatoes, Mini Muncher cucumbers and Tromboncino zucchinis in just 40 square metres, and the herb garden, which showcases a wide variety of herbs used both for eating and apothecary purposes, there is something new to view around every corner of this inspiring place. Being surrounded by the ocean and the bay provides an insulation blanket that delays the onset of spring, keeping the garden’s winter minimum temperature to 4C. Herbs such as lady’s bedstraw, which was used for making bedding; woad, which was a source of blue dye; and mandrake, which was used for magic, still grow.

Asha continues: “It’s such a beautiful place to work. We have berry patches and orchards and rosemary. A dry evergreen garden and citrus grove. A ficus walk providing shade in summer. All inputs are organic. We use chicken manure, seaweed solutions and compost. All our materials for landscaping come from on site, and garden pests may be a problem sometimes but that’s what happens when you garden organically. The cockatoos can really decimate the vegies or fruit too – but look at the view!”

Thanking you, Clive and Penny. Visit www.diggers.com.au to whet your appetite. LIZ ROGERS