tree lopping

Warren organised Jeff and the team from the 'treeloppa' company to do some treelopping. They came and lopped off some dead branches of a big Monterey Pine over the driveway. It is an amazing tree and a long way from its native California. If you look closely in the photo posted you'll see one of the boys right up in the tree! They also took down a Jacaranda and Paulownia tree. The good news is now there is plenty of mulch!

On a previous weekend Di, Gabby and Relle helped out in the front garden to put down a layer of mulch. Now if I can only find a way to stop the chickens scratching up all the mulch I'll be happier!

I transplanted a whole lot of traditional agapanthus plants and moved them up to the border of the top garden where they will have a sunnier position. They will eventually spread out and make an attractive border feature.

Thanks girls for all your help and thanks to Relle who served up a refreshing ginger mint drink with fresh mint from the kitchen herb garden...and a special mention to Gabby who made a cherry clafoutis dessert - very yummy.

The garden restoration begins

This is the story of the renewal of an old garden and homestead in the mountains of Beechmont, Queensland. It is also the story of community.

New friendships forged through restoring the garden

Warren and Gareth helped to organise a whole group of friends and neighbours to help with the weeding and clearing up of the overgrown garden. The working bee included :

Dean & Tim - Michelle - Anthony, Nicole and Rose - John & Rex - and Lae. New friendships were forged as everyone mucked in and showed their individual and team strengths. Patience is important in order to discover some of Rosewood’s buried treasures such as seasonal bulbs – so it was seen as important not to use weedicide at first but to have a small army equipped with wheelbarrows, chain-saws, garden forks, shovels, matics and hand trowels to pull out weeds, trim and prune overgrown plants. Also gloves were so important for pulling out prickly weeds and sensible sunscreen to ward off the rays of the sun – ouch!

A big thanks to Warren and Gareth for organising the workers who included -Peter and Alec who were holidaying from Scotland; Daniel from Ethiopia who is studying here, Denis and Tim from Nerang; Delvae from Beechmont..my nephews and niece Leo, Sigi and Hope

The Entrance to Rosewood

Two large Bunya Pines flank the gates at the entrance to Rosewood and then the road weaves through a stand of remnant rainforest before you arrive at the property...Nature had started to reclaim the property and catsclaw weed has been growing rampant and is now in the the rainforest canopy





One of the first gardening tasks has been to remove the cat's claw creeper (Macfadyena unguis-cati). It is an aggressive climber which was once used as an ornamental in older-style Queensland gardens....Melissa Cooper who is a park ranger has been invaluable in her advice about slowly eradicating this creeper..and allowing the remnant forest to breathe again.