Garden No.2 – Karoola, 28 Malvern Road
Garden courtesy of Chris and Murray Wilcox
The property was purchased by Chris and Murray Wilcox in 2001 and they engaged eminent Australian landscape architect, Craig Burton, who introduced them to a talented young architect, James Stockwell, who was awarded the 2008 Wilkinson Award for the design.
They also engaged Leura bush regenerator, Alex Strahan, and set about removing the weed growth of poplars, privet, ivy honeysuckle, blackberry etc then sprawling across the whole site.
The garden was planned so that the part surrounding the house and facing Lone Pine Ave reflects the heritage of the more formal Blue Mountains gardens with plantings of colourful autumn and spring-flowering trees including the 100-year-old rhododendron behind the cottage.
There are paths through the formal gardens and around the house and cottage. For the more adventurous there is a walk across the creek via a bridge or over stepping-stones to explore the regenerated bushland, rainforest and dry sclerophyll sections, predominantly made up of blechnum ferns, tree ferns, ti-trees, banksias, Sydney wattles and callistemons, and a canopy of eucalypts.
Just across the bridge where the creek enters the property there are shallow pools under a patch of cool temperate rainforest of coachwood, sassafrass, cedar wattle, lilly pilly, and of course tree ferns.
This is the first year this young garden of 12 years has opened for the Leura Gardens Festival and the owners welcome you and hope you enjoy the experience.
