Dennarque, Mount Wilson: a sanctuary from the city

Dennarque, an historic garden at Mount Wilson, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, is a sanctuary for its dedicated owners.

Charming: a building at Dennarque. Pictures: Evan Wong / soulmadestories.com.au

Dennarque is one of the historic estates of Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, where the wealthy built big summer retreats in the late 1800s. The tightly held area is famous for its beautiful trees and gardens, due to a benevolent combination of basalt soil, rainfall and microclimate.

Mount Wilson today is largely unchanged – there are no shops or other services in the village, which retains its remote feel. Sheltered under stately trees, the secluded properties have a timeless atmosphere. Small wonder, then, that it was love at first sight when Boston Global investment group founder Bill Moss and his wife Lata entered the front gates of Dennarque back in 2003.

In the grounds at Dennarque

Charles Moore, director of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden, laid out the gardens more than 135 years ago around the Victorian Georgian stone house, including two Himalayan cedars that still frame its front facade. Bill and Lata added the adjoining property Koonawarra in 2006 to create a 9.7ha estate, which Lata describes as “their sanctuary”.

Dennarque’s two-storey house needed substantial work, starting with the plumbing and antiquated diesel heating. After extending the living areas to the northeast, Bill and Lata turned their attention to the gardens. The variety of plants is vast, with something flowering in all seasons and many rare specimens. There are intimate garden rooms contrasting with open lawns, clipped hedges enclosing swathes of perennials, delicate flowers under mighty trees – and the wild bushland as a backdrop.

Mount Wilson’s good soil, rainfall and microclimate enable lots of things to grow well

“It is a balance between preserving history and making it your own,” says Lata of owning a historic garden. “We are custodians, but over time you get a good feel for the different corners of the garden and you can see what works and what doesn’t. Where changes are needed we implement them sympathetically.” They employ four gardeners to manage the grounds and recycle all garden waste through huge compost heaps.

The bridge was made from timber milled on site

The Koonawarra property needed years of work. The former horse paddocks are now a series of gardens that flow easily from the Dennarque holding. Koi-filled ponds, linked by waterfalls and a timber bridge, set the scene for a Japanese-inspired teahouse amid maples, flowering cherries, azaleas, bamboos and tree ferns. Timber for the teahouse and bridge came from trees that toppled in the wild storm of 2011 and were milled on site. Bill and Lata have also resurrected the old tennis court, installed more water tanks and built a conservatory to host events. Newer areas include a Florentine garden and expanded kitchen garden. “We’re always planning something,” says Lata.

Bill and Lata Moss

The garden is opened sometimes for charity fundraisers, including the FSHD Global Research Foundation that Bill created to support research into the muscle-wasting condition he has suffered most of his life. He reportedly negotiates the winding garden paths in his electric wheelchair like a rally driver.

Dennarque is much loved by three generations of the Moss family. “It’s the feeling you get as you drive in, when you leave all your worries behind,” says Lata. “It calms you, you feel differently, and you hear the wind breathe. Spiritually, it’s a powerful place.”

Dennarque: the book

To book one of several guest cottages on the property, buy the coffee table book on Dennarque or check for garden open days, go to dennarqueestate.com

Q&A

Our 4m-tall Leyland cypress hedge has brown branches in spots on five individual trees; it seems to be spreading. It gets plenty of water. Laurence Watson, Berry, NSW

Although popular, these fast, tall hedging trees are very susceptible to cypress canker and it’s common to see them dying rapidly in patches or from the top down. The fungal spores are spread through wind, water, insects and pruning tools, entering through bark fissures or pruning wounds. Older and stressed trees are more susceptible. There is no cure. Small branches can be pruned out in dry weather but severely affected trees should be removed and destroyed.

I’ve struck some blue flowering ginger plants (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora). Do I leave them until they flower or cut them back at some stage? Bob Shadbolt, Perth

Although it looks and grows like a ginger, this tropical plant is not in the ginger family. It grows readily from stem cuttings, reaching 2m tall given shelter and summer moisture. New stems are topped by violet flowers in autumn; leave yours to do this. If you dead-head after flowering they can produce side branches with more, smaller flowers. If stems are cut hard or don’t survive winter, they flower on new, single stems again.

What colourful shrubs could I grow in two pots on a north-facing balcony, in a spot that’s near the sea and often windy? Anna Sedek, Hampton, Victoria

Hibiscus should thrive, especially newer, smaller varieties. Or try dwarf oleanders (Mediterranean Rose series), variegated Metrosideros, Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis), hebes, Abelia ‘Kaleidoscope’ or small, coastal grevilleas.

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. The best question for October wins The City Gardener: Contemporary Urban Gardens by Richard Unsworth ($50) and Dennarque by Bill and Lata Moss ($80). September’s winner is Wayne Williams for his question about planting passionfruit with livers.