Vic Branch: The Garden State

AGHS Vic Branch & Friends of the Royal Botanic Garden Melbourne present The Garden State: Inside Victoria’s private gardens.

This talk will showcase, in words and pictures, a selection of stunning rural Victorian gardens. Victoria’s rich soil, mostly cool climate (apart from mid-summer heatwaves) and – in many places – nourishing volcanic soil mean that with passion, patience, imagination and commitment, amazing gardens can be built and maintained.

Richard Allen and Kimbal Baker’s book, The Garden State, includes wonders like the magnificent Macarthur Street Garden at the foot of the Grampians in Dunkeld, rambling hill gardens of Mount Macedon and the Dandenong Ranges, and newer, more intimate gardens on the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas. In Mildura an eccentric desert garden appears like an oasis in the flat landscape, while at Sherbrooke, a miniature garden displays a collection of rare alpine flowers painstakingly collected and propagated from around the world. The book’s chapters cover a range of garden types, including Grand Rural Estates, Hill Stations, Climate Conscious Gardens, Coastal Retreats and Old Curiosities.

Venue: Mueller Hall, National Herbarium Birdwood Ave, South Yarra.

Light Refreshments from 10:30am

Tickets: AGHS/Friends RBGM Members $20, Non-Members $25, online $10.

Book: at Trybooking. Note: Bookings for online attendance close May 4th, 12pm. An email with link will then be sent.

Contact: Wendy Dwyer aghsvicbranch2@gmail.com / 0408340967

Richard Allen
Richard was a magazine and newspaper writer for 15 years, principally for BRW magazine and the Australian Financial Review, before starting a financial communications business 20 years ago. In the past 15 years he has written 10 books, including five with photographer Kimbal Baker: Australia’s Remarkable Trees (Melbourne University Publishing), Great Properties of Country Victoria – The Western District’s Golden Age (MUP), More Great Properties of Country Victoria – The Western District’s Golden Age (MUP), Australia’s First Families of Wine (MUP) and The Garden State (Thames & Hudson). Richard and Kimbal are currently working on two books: Great Properties of Tasmania and Gardens of the Dandenong Ranges.