Aran and Julia at The Drip

Aran Creighton and his wife Julia arrived from London and spent time exploring the pleasures  of the inner city in Sydney and country life at The Drip in Mudgee.  This was Julia's first visit to Australia.  She was delighted by all that she saw and it  is now  looking as if the London/Mudgee shuttle service will be getting increasingly busy in the future.

Aran and Julia planted a new collection of cycads in The Hill Garden above the house.  Additional cycads, Macrozamia perowkskiana and Macrozamia communis,  too small to be planted out  just yet,  were also purchased from the Friends of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney.

Aran cut a set of steps into the hillside leading from the Top Terrace down  along "Aran's Path" making the walk around this section of the garden more easily accessible.  Very useful as some of us seem  to be getting on in years and easy is good.

Why design?

A thought from Dan Kiley, arguably the greatest landscape architect of the twentieth century, "The greatest contribution a designer can make is to link the human and the natural in such a way as to recall our fundamental place in the scheme of things".  Kiley's magnificent and influential book, covering his complete works,  has been ordered for the Library and will add another source of inspiration to the goings on at The Drip.

Welcome Aboard

Suddenly we seem to have more and more people taking an interest in what we are are doing here at The Drip, Mudgee.  It amazes me that people are now beginning to track us down through the blog.  Kirsty, an Australian living in the Mddle East, is the most recent follower.  It would be wonderful to see all these people come here to spend some time,  explore the gardens and the library, swap ideas and make The Drip a dynamic focal point for the development of an emerging Australian style of landscape and garden design. 

Notes from the :Library #9

2010 has seen the publication of a number of books of significance to those who are interested in the development of garden design in Australia.  All are being added to the library at The Drip.

Of special importance is "The Garden of Ideas, Four Centuries of Australian Style" by Richard Aitkens, the nation's pre-eminent garden historian and editor of the "The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens".  Meticulously researched, copiously illustrated and thoughtfully presented this book is modestly seen by Aitkins as "the commencement of a conversation"  So,  let's talk

Grand Designs

We have made a big and life-changing decision in recent weeks. For the next several years we will shift our focus away from the construction of the house and back to where we started... the creation of a unique Australian garden.   No more frantic activity, endless construction hassles, building rubble and dust, but back to the gentler satisfactions of helping the gardens grow.

Check out the page entitled "Garden Design @ The Drip Mudgee" to see a list of the garden areas we embarked on when we first purchased the property and check back regularly to see progress in achieving our goals.

Today's photograph shows the gardens of Marquessac in the French wine and food region of  Dordogne, one source of  inspiration for future development in The Hill Garden at The Drip, Mudgee.  Will we ever create something as gobsmackingly wonderful as in  this photograph of Marquessac?  Time will tell. 

Spring Lamb

We have had eleven new lambs born this Spring, and yet again, thanks to the vigilance of Ricky the alpaca, there has not been one loss to predators.  Others who use alpacas as guardian also report 100% success.  Given the impressive track record of alpacas in protecting stock it amazes me that so many  local farmers still persist in using poisons and guns in an inefficient, ineffective  and costly attempt to solve the problem.  The old habits of the past die hard so it seems.

Extra Hands on Deck

Creating the gardens at The Drip is an insanely ambitious project.  With twenty distinctly themed garden areas to be developed and maintained, it can seem a bit overwhelming at times.  So it is with great delight that we welcome Peter Marshall to the team.

Peter has recently returned to Mudgee after a long stint  in Sydney, where he worked with the well-known Surry Hills garden design company Garden Life.  He will be developing his own landscape business here in Mudgee and we are thrilled that he will now be working with us to assist in bringing the plans for gardens at The Drip to fruition. 

Right now he will be working in the orchards, helping ensure that we get good healthy crops of cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, quinces, pears , figs, olives, oranges, lemons and cumquats this season plus doing new tree plantings in the Horse Paddock and elsewhere.  First off ... twenty five new Silver Birch will be added to the European and North American sections of the Horse Paddock. Then there's the new Hazelnut hedges in the Nuttery, new Pink Flowering Ironbarks, Yellow Box and Spotted Gum to go into the Regent HoneyEater Eucalypt Forest, plus planting more Box Hedges, and propagating hundreds of French and Italian lavender for the Terraces. Then of course there is work to done on the Water Gardens,  the Main Courtyard,  the Arid Garden and ..... hmmmm,   thats enough for this month.  Damn!