I am typing up this post before I get out to the working bee today at 9am. I want to apologise what I said about the SDAs as it was a bit harsh. If you are an SDA reading this you are welcome to come to our community garden on a Sunday and help out as well. On a Saturday you can just come along and enjoy the garden while the rest of us are working in it but we will leave some jobs for you to do on Sunday. How is that?
Anyway....
My report on lovely Mincher!
Mincher is a Garden of National Significance. Like Ayrlies, it was originally farmland. Whilst Ayrlies was paddocks and rolling hills with a coastal climate, Mincher was orchards and strawberry fields on flat land on beautiful rich soil bordering on a stream. The owners, husband and wife team Angela and Bruce Spooner, transformed this into an English style country garden, complete with Georgian House, Cottage, hedging, herbaceous border, potager, cottage garden, kitchen garden, and even its own riding trail (no horses...yet) There's plenty of interest with the stream bordering the property where there's a native bush walk, leading toward a small lake with ducks, a croquet lawn surrounded by a circular totara hedge, pergolas covered with vines, espaliered fruit trees, plum trees in the remaining orchard, an avenue of pin oaks...even a bog garden with primulas and flag iris beneath a low bridge over a ditch.
For those that delight in all things English, you will find yourself at home in this immaculately presented garden that recalls a grand estate. Not quite as dramatic as Larnach Castle with its ghosts and brooding mists, I would say the atmosphere in this garden is quite different, when Margaret and I visited the day turned out brilliant. The gardeners gave us a tour of the property and in which they help the owners achieve their dreams - the herbaceous border is a lot of work! The lawns are criss cross patterned and I can imagine a sort of Jane Austen style Pemberley rom com being enacted here.
We exclaimed over all sorts of unusual plants we'd never seen before and I have taken a few (if can get them upload) photos of ones that caught my eye. There are even helpful brass name tags identifying the unusual plants in many areas of the garden. On the day we visited a later tour group of garden club members descended on the garden so it must be very popular one to see. As its only 25 minutes from where we are its worth visiting for a day out. Mincher is named after a breed of spaniel dog that the owners adore. Thank you Angela and Bruce for opening your garden for everyone to enjoy, its gorgeous!
