Christine McCabe’s Adelaide Hills gardens
Travel writer Christine McCabe describes her own special place in the Adelaide Hills.
There so many beautiful gardens in the Adelaide Hills, “I could have had a hundred in this book,” says Christine McCabe of her latest project. The passionate gardener and Hills resident of two decades is also a seasoned travel writer, so she knows how to weave a story.
Ultimately, McCabe selected 20 for Adelaide Hills Gardens (Thames & Hudson, $80), all beautifully shot by Simon Griffiths. “I’ve tried to give a cross-section of historic, designers’ and small gardens,” she says. “There’s a rich history of both market gardening and ornamental gardening in this part of the world. It’s wonderful to walk through these old gardens with their huge trees and learn the stories of people who made them.”
Her own garden is a case in point. McCabe and her husband bought the 2.5ha property at Blakiston looking for a tree-change and space for their sons to grow. Even before they saw the 1870s stone homestead they fell in love with the grand avenue of English oaks lining the long driveway. McCabe believes the garden’s interest is not so much in the plantings but its trees and the old farm buildings. Significant trees include a large field maple (Acer campestre) that generously shades the broad steps to the front door, Judas trees (Cercis siliquastrum), hybridised elms, walnuts and some huge river red gums and woollybutts. “Our most beloved elm is behind the house and its huge, spreading branches seem to go for miles,” she says. “In summer it’s like a great cathedral of shade. I think trees do so much to cool your mind in summer.”
The garden has gradually evolved over the years, using organic practices. “It’s the least designed garden you’ll ever see,” she laughs. “I’m a big fan of self-seeding – plants know best where they want to be – so it has a free-flowing, kind of wild feel to it.” She has added more Delbard and David Austin roses that thrive here, and increasingly, drought survivors such as rue, echium, salvias, euphorbias, artemisia, ornamental grasses and agaves.
With her travel wings clipped by the pandemic and their children grown, McCabe is gardening more intensively than ever. In rethinking areas, she has an eye to making it less labour intensive in the future. “I’m still no horticulturist but over 20 years I’ve become a good hands-on gardener – I’m an ace weeder,” she says. “I get stuck in out there and it takes me back to my farming roots as a little girl. It’s my happy place.”
Q&A
Crop rotation rules say tomatoes should follow nitrogen-depleting leafy greens, yet experts say to prepare tomato beds with compost and manure. Won’t they add nitrogen?
Darren McClelland, Melbourne
Compost is added not for nutrients but for organic matter, which feeds the entire soil biota and helps hold water and nutrients. Manures add organic matter plus nutrients; cow manure has about 5 per cent nitrogen but chicken is high in potassium. Add some pelletised chook poo-based products such as Organic Life or Organic Xtra that have balanced NPK plus calcium, sulfur, silicon, carbon and trace elements.
What could I plant instead of annuals in two concrete pots (45cm wide) in full sun?
Margaret Watts, Sydney
Geranium ‘Big Red’ flowers all year and is very tough. You could grow herbs such as sage, rosemary and thyme, or chillies. Any succulents will thrive; Kalanchoe blossfeldiana flowers in various bright colours. Small perennials include coreopsis, dwarf pentas and African daisies.
Send your questions to: helenyoungtwig@gmail.com or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. The best question for November wins two copies of Paul Bangay’s new book Stonefields by the Seasons. October’s winner is Shah Ramamurthy for his bulb question.
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