14/08/2012
BRONTE HOUSE OPEN DAYS
SATURDAY September 22nd and SUNDAY September 23rd
10am to 4pm
The magnificent garden at Bronte House will be open for viewing on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of September just as the garden is bursting into life for spring.
Perennial gardens like Bronte House are cut down each year in winter, a method of gardening that can find its roots in Jacobean England within the great gardens of Capability Brown. Cutting back the gardens of Bronte House is a mammoth yearly task, and takes two weeks, four staff and a whopping twenty metres of compost to bring the garden under control.
This open day expect to see fresh growth throughout all gardens, flowering roses, salvia and poppies. Our bank of over ten thousand Clivia will be a sea of orange, and the succulent collection is in full flight.
The often forgotten ‘flowering plant of the garden’ succulents are some of the best late winter early spring blooms, putting bright oranges, reds and yellows into an often overly green landscape.
Bronte House is only open a few days each year, giving garden enthusiasts and locals an opportunity to wander through a modern interpretation of a Victorian garden surrounding a 19th century gothic cottage.
In the mid 1800s, Mrs. Georgina Lowe, a skilled watercolour artist, botanist and gardener, was originally responsible for landscaping the grounds with native and exotic plants and designing picturesque walks. Today the house and garden is maintained by Matt and Clare Handbury.
A short walk from the beautiful Bronte Beach, the house is the only example of early Victorian architecture facing the ocean in Sydney. Bronte House designer Myles Baldwin and newly appointed gardener Carla Pettit will be on hand to answer horticultural questions and to give information about the garden design and development.
Signed copies of Myles Baldwin’s popular garden books, Period Gardens: Landscapes for Houses with History and Rural Australian Gardens will be for sale at the door for a special Open day price.
Media enquiries, call Phillip on 0488 101 292 or email
[email protected]
