Lifestyle

This summer is going to be tough if we can’t get out and enjoy the Great Outdoors. My solution is to invite guests in – and I’m talking about butterflies and birds.

MY neighbours were laughing at me (again). I didn’t mind, I’m used to it. “So, Suzsi, you working for the Council now?” snigger snigger. I was sweeping the leaves off the street. The whole street! […]

Residents of Boroondara are justifiably proud of their green leafy suburbs and wonderful parks and gardens. The name Boroondara signifies shady place in the local indigenous dialect. The municipality has hundreds of mature canopy trees […]

Whenever I plant something new, there’s a lot to consider: Will the plant get enough or too much sun? Does it need really good drainage? How big will it grow in the next five years and most importantly – how do I keep it alive?

One of my neighbours asked me to have a look at her garden. It wasn’t performing well. It was straggly and sickly looking with a lot of yellow leaves; a nasty black fungus on one plant, white mould on another.

Astolat is an unexpected gem hidden behind a screen of plants on busy Riversdale Road. The elegant and beautifully maintained two-acre garden surrounds an impressive Italianate Victorian mansion, providing a rare glimpse of life in gracious nineteenth-century Melbourne.
Where: 630 Riversdale Road, Camberwell
When: Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October, 10am–4:30pm