Fabulous Day in One of Scone’s Oldest Gardens

YESTERDAY, Bill and Sarah Howey opened their garden at Geraldton, one of Scone’s oldest homes, drawing more than 100 people to raise money for Scone’s Australian Decorative Fine Arts Society (ADFAS).

See photos of the garden below…

Sarah Howey, said they were surprised how many people came to the open day and they enjoyed having people see the garden.

“We fed nearly 90 to 100 people and there were quite a lot of people who just walked around the garden,” said Sarah.

“I think it was a really good day and people are still walking around an enjoying the garden, which is wonderful to share,” Sarah Howey said.

Bill Howie gave a talk on the history of the home and the early days of Scone, while Lynda Poser from Plants on Main talked to guests about the garden and how they could apply some of the drought saving ideas to their own garden.

“This garden is beautiful because it has so many mature trees, that we should all aspire to having at least one in our garden somewhere,” said Lynda Posa.

“There are a lot of trees and plants in the garden which don’t require very much water at all such as melianthus, euphorbia, iris, the Chinese elm and teucrium,” she said.

“Sarah already made hay while the sun shined, or in this case, when it rained six or seven weeks ago she came in a bought a heap of fertiliser specific for the lawn, which is made all the difference to put it out when we did have a little bit of rain.

“She mulches regularly which minimises the amount of water loss, minimises the weeds and keeps the plants that are planted in the gardens very happy because they are not only keeping their root zone cool they are getting nutrients form the mulch

“There are so many old varieties of plants in here the oleander, the celtis australis which is actually an illegal tree to plant or buy now, but it has been there for so long that you just don’t see it unless you are in an old established garden.

“I love the setting it is so peaceful and relaxing, this is the highway right here and you hardly notice that you are in it and it is such a beautiful old home,” she said.

“Sarah and Bill are so incredibly generous to open their home for the community to see the garden,” Lynda Posa said. 

Kerry Cooke, president of ADFAS, said it was a fabulous day and a rare opportunity for people to see such an established garden. 

“Sarah and Bill have opened their hearts, their garden and their home – how lucky are we?!” said Kerry.

“The lunch was provided by Bill and Sarah and their family and it was delicious,” she said.

“The talk from Bill on the house, which was also the history of Scone, was a marvel, I think we might have to keep him in mind as a guest speaker at ADFAS,” she said.

“It was fabulous, fabulous weather and with the rain on Saturday the garden was bright and shiny and even better than it would have been without the rain,” she said. 

“We only thought we’d have 50 people, but we have had more than 100, so it has been a fabulous day and hopefully more people will come to ADFAS events next year,” Kerry Cooke said. 

ADFAS held their last event for this year last Tuesday, but will begin again in March next year.

For information on ADFAS contact Kerry Cooke, 0428 458 141.