Nell’s dry garden

The Exton Gardener

It was with sadness we learned last month of the passing of Nell Carr.

Nell was the inspirational author of the garden columns in the Western Tiers and this Gazette for so many years, giving us her insight and experience in all things horticultural.

Nell has left us another legacy - the little gardens outside the Commonwealth Bank in Deloraine.

These little gardens are a masterclass in planting.

She told me one day as she tended it that the beds were very dry with poor soil and had to cope with low maintenance. It was all about trial and error.

This year with the extra rainfall, they are a triumph.

There has been an endless display of blooms, providing colour and delight for months now.

If you have a garden with dry and difficult soil, here are the plants for you!

The other garden, cut in half by the ATM access, is drier and much simpler.

There is a wonderful prostrate rosemary, more catmint, thyme and seaside daisies, a lotus and a small white pelargonium.

I do hope that Nell’s garden will be maintained and cared for in the future so that it may delight us for years to come.