Beauty and sustainability combine in the gardens David Glenn and Criss Canning have created alongside their world-renowned Lambley Nursery. Words Hilary Burden, photographs Claire Takacs <\/p>

\u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nFoliage and flowers emerging under olive trees with their raised canopies are the hallmark of Lambley\u2019s dry climate garden. Bushy shrubs and perennials<\/a>, such as Salvia nemorosa<\/em> <\/a>\u2018Amethyst\u2019, evoke Mediterranean<\/a> hillsides, while the large flowers of Yucca gloriosa<\/em> and Euphorbia<\/em> x martini<\/em> add an exotic touch.<\/p>\n
$\""Lambley\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
\u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Windswept olive trees demonstrate the challenges of this dry garden. The spikiness offered by yuccas is cautiously maintained: their vigour can take over. However, the Yucca rostrata<\/em> in the centre hasn\u2019t flowered for 25 years.<\/p>\n

In brief<\/strong><\/p>\n
What<\/strong> Dry perennial garden, organic vegetable and cutting flower garden alongside nursery. Where<\/strong> Victoria, Australia. Size<\/strong> Three-acre garden as part of a 40-acre property. Soil<\/strong> Volcanic, highly composted and mulched over 30 years. Climate<\/strong> Sitting at an altitude of 400m, with temperatures that range from -6\u00baC in winter to 45\u00baC in summer, the garden has a six-month frost period and is prone to high winds.<\/p>\n
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<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
$\""_38A8643-Edit_2_1"\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
In this former paddock, eucalypts are kept to the perimeter, while pencil pines have been planted to provide wind protection and screening. The cool whites of Nerium oleander<\/em> \u2018Album Plenum\u2019 offset the striking colours of pink Salvia<\/em> \u2018Penny\u2019s Smile\u2019 and the brilliant orange-red Zauschneria californica<\/em>.<\/p>\n
$\""Lambley\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nA 19th-century copper boiler,from a local factory, forms a centrepiece bird bath for Lambley\u2019s central axis vegetable garden. The soft sea of blue, created by Delphinium<\/em><\/a> \u2018V\u00f6lkerfrieden\u2019 and Salvia azurea, is punctuated by the red Dahlia<\/em><\/a> \u2018Fire Mountain\u2019 to give the picture an Impressionistic touch. Teepees covered by the soft old man\u2019s beard seedheads of Clematis Golden Tiara<\/em> (= \u2018Kugotia\u2019) add height \u2013 these seedheads are preceded in summer by delicate Chinese-lantern yellow flowers.<\/p>\n
$\""Lambley\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nIn the Mediterranean garden, drought-tolerant plants<\/a> from southern Europe, such as the fragrant yellow broom Genista aetnensis<\/em> and acid-yellow Euphorbia<\/em><\/a> \u2018Blue Haze\u2019 mix with southern hemisphere natives including the Australian blue grass Poa labillardierei<\/em> \u2018Suggan Buggan\u2019. Framing the yellow broom are two blue salvias. Salvia<\/em> \u2018Allen Chickering\u2019, to the right, is a drought-tolerant Californian cultivar, while the fabulous Salvia sclarea<\/em> var. turkestaniana \u2018Jim Archibald\u2019, grown from seed originally collected in Turkey by Jim and Jenny Archibald, is the clary sage David believes so lovely he now grows no other.<\/p>\n
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$\""Lambley\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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Striking groves of frost-hardy Echium<\/em> \u2018Cobalt Towers\u2019 withstand both dry and frost, and can grow up to 4.5m. Elms planted in 1870 have been allowed to sucker to replace the older trees now in decline.<\/p>\n
$\""Lambley\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Claire Takacs<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
In the dry garden, sinuous paths wind around trees \u2013 \u201cpaths need to make sense, not snake around for the sake of it,\u201d says David. Beneath the trees the delicacy of late-flowering Ixia polystachya<\/em> contrasts with the striking beauty of Yucca gloriosa and Salvia canariensis f. candidissima, which is rare and difficult to propagate, with woolly leaves that age to silver-grey.<\/p>\n
USEFUL INFORMATION Address<\/strong> Lambley Nursery & Gardens, 395 Lesters Road, Ascot, Victoria 3364, Australia. Tel<\/strong>+61 (03) 5343 4303 Web<\/strong> lambley.com.au Open<\/strong> Daily, 9am-5pm.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s another dry garden\u00a0in Spain<\/a><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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