Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda.

 

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda.

A woolemi Pine

Chelsea Australian Garden Olinda at the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden (DRGB) on Wurundjeri land has finally opened and for someone like me who needs no excuse to visit the old rhododendron Garden no matter what season, this was a long-awaited event, having watched its construction from afar since the park had reopened post CoVid. Based on Phillip Johnson’s Chelsea Flower Show Grand prize-winning garden from 2013, it is a beautifully designed showpiece.

Whilst many options were explored the perfect outcome was to bring it back to where the garden was originally designed and inspired. In Olinda where Johnson calls home. The new garden is 20 times larger than the original and has been incorporated into the DRBG seamlessly on land that was unused from the bordering golf course. Another factor that makes the garden appealing is the effort to introduce native plants as far-flung as Western Australia & Queensland. Including the world’s oldest and rarest tree the Woolemi

Pine. The centre piece is the Billabong with its waterfall and huge Waratah sculpture, but it is these introduced natives like the Boab or Bottle trees In another section, which I loved, where the Grass trees with their black spires shooting out the top and with Acacia waterfall trees they looked like something straight out of Dr. Seuss’ Whoville. The rich red volcanic soil of the area has made it possible to plant this type of flora, and as it is an experimental garden, hopefully, thrive. I cannot recommend the garden highly enough and suggest everyone take the opportunity to see it. It’s only up the hill, free to visit, and is going to be there forever.

Originally printed in the BBCN issue 325 Sept 2023