Alan Jackson’s Gory’u, Little Hartley, NSW

Alan Jackson had to find exactly the right climate to recreate his Japanese dream in Sydney.

Alan Jackson's Gory’u garden, Little Hartley, NSW. Picture: Brent Wilson

Nurseryman Alan Jackson has lost count of how many times he’s been to Japan. He reckons he’s been to more than 1000 gardens there, studying the philosophy, design, plants, pruning techniques and ornamentation. It’s a passion that has endured for nearly 50 years.

His own Japanese garden, Gory’u, is at Little Hartley, 140km west of Sydney on the other side of the Blue Mountains, where he also runs Maple Springs nursery with his wife Margaret. He chose the site after years of searching. “It had to have the right climate and the ‘Six Sublimities’ of a Japanese garden – seclusion, spaciousness, artifice, antiquity, water courses and panoramas,” he says. The name Gory’u means confluence, or where the waters meet.

Alan Jackson's Gory’u garden, Little Hartley, NSW. Picture: Brent Wilson

Jackson excelled at Ryde School of Horticulture where he enrolled in 1971, aged 16, while working for the University of Sydney’s Plant Breeding Institute at Castle Hill. He became an authority on grasses, researching wheat, oats, barley and rye diseases, until 1987 when he resigned to concentrate on his nursery business. All the while he fed his interest in Japanese gardens, building a collection of Japanese maple varieties that now numbers 320. At Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains he built his first house (his father was a builder), started a family, grew the business and created his first Japanese garden.

Needing more space, he bought the 4ha Little Hartley site in 1994 – “a cow paddock with a couple of dead trees and a dam” – where he again built a family home and expanded the nursery, which services both retail and wholesale. “I designed it so it doesn’t look like a nursery,” he says. As well as maples he grows a range of cool-climate ornamental and fruiting trees and shrubs.

Alan Jackson's Gory’u garden, Little Hartley, NSW. Picture: Brent Wilson

The garden covers most of the property; views to Mt York and the conical Sugarloaf Mountain are his “borrowed scenery”. “It’s my Mt Fuji without the snow,” Jackson explains. The lake includes 13 ornamental bridges, a waterfall, moon viewing platform, and stone lanterns, basins and suikinkutsu, or underground water harps.

His design incorporates a dry landscape garden (karesansui) and a pine garden, while the stroll gardens around the lake provide beautiful reflections. Each season brings its special moments, from the blossoms of spring to the fresh foliage of summer, the blazing autumn leaf colours and the stark clarity of winter with occasional snow.

Alan Jackson's Gory’u garden, Little Hartley, NSW. Picture: Brent Wilson

The work is all his, despite a raft of physical and mental challenges. I learn he has a pacemaker and an implanted neurostimulator to help control chronic pain after two serious vehicle crashes. “I’m not one to sulk,” he laughs. “I laid 25,000 stones by hand on the lake’s edge, doing it on my backside while recovering from a double knee replacement. I like to keep busy.” He says that gardening has always helped him fight depression.

Now 64, Jackson is still running the nursery, exploring the remote parts of Japan twice a year and improving the garden. “I have to wait for the trees to grow before I can do the next bits,” he explains. “With gardens, you have to look to the future, not to the moment.”

To visit Gory’u go to maplespringsnurseryandgardens.com.au

Q&A

What dense, evergreen tree to 3m would suit a pot that gets hot afternoon sun and sea breezes? Titian Serrano, Fremantle, WA

Many natives such as bottlebrush and grevilleas will be OK in a pot for a couple of years but not longer-term. Cumquat will work unless the winds are strong and salty. Olives are tough – tip prune often to make them bushy. You can grow oleander as a tree, or try feijoa (Acca sellowiana), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) or a lillypilly such as Acmena ‘Cherry Surprise’. You’ll need a very large pot for your tree to reach 3m.

My Viburnum ‘Emerald Lustre’ hedge looks lovely except when it gets scorched in summer. Reluctantly I’ve decided to replace it with murraya. When is the best time? Cherie Churchod, Sydney

Viburnums are better in sun than shade (where they grow lanky) but can scorch in extreme heat when water stressed. Limit damage by ensuring soil is moist on hot days; add organic matter and a wetting agent to the soil, and keep them mulched. If replacing, autumn and spring are best.

An infestation of lawn army worm stripped our lawn of anything green. It’s slowly recovering in patches but how can I help it? Do the worms deposit larvae that will hatch again next year? Maxine Dale, Terrigal

These hordes of dull, striped caterpillars attack healthy lawns, often just as growth slows in late summer. To aid recovery, use a hose-on lawn fertiliser – liquids work faster than granules. The caterpillars pupate into moths, which lay eggs near lawns but not on them. Next time spray immediately you see small patches that spread overnight. Use organic Eco-neem or Yates Baythroid.

WhoFlungDung mulch

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. Website: helenyoung.com.au. The best question for March wins two bales of WhoFlungDung mulch, 8kg Gyganic citrus fertiliser, and 1 litre GOGO juice from Neutrog, worth $100.