garden

It isn't easy to establish and maintain a garden when there is no town water supply, and weather conditions vary from one extreme to the other during the year, however, Peter Norvill has managed to do just that!

The house yard is surrounded by many different types of trees – conifers, poplars, Chinese pistachios, willows, eucalypts, and many more.

There is a beautiful stand of robinas on the creek flat at “Norville” and Peter has planted more poplars, flowering fruit trees, shrubs and conifers around the cottage, cabins and sheds.

The Garden!
It isn't easy to establish and maintain a garden when there is no town water supply, and weather conditions vary from one extreme to the other during the year, however, Peter Norvill has managed to do just that! The house yard is surrounded by many different types of trees – conifers, poplars, Chinese pistachios, willows, eucalypts, and many more. There is a beautiful stand of robinas on the creek flat at “Norville” and Peter has planted more poplars, flowering fruit trees, shrubs and conifers around the cottage, cabins and sheds.

There is also a fernery which supports a variety of plants including bromeliads, ferns, treefern, impatiens, syngonium, ribbon grass and begonias, not to mention two conifers which become the nesting place of Willy Wagtails each year. These plants are sheltered from frosts and hot sun by a double layer of shadecloth. Two fish ponds are inhabited by Golden Carp and Lionheads and contain a variety of aquatic plants which add beauty and give shelter to the fish. Lawns in the house yard are kept green and lush by watering direct from Warlands Creek and Peter uses both a ride-on mower and a hand mower. The lawns consist mainly of kikuyu grass. In 2003, Peter held his Clayton's Open Garden Exhibition and placed his home and garden on display to the public. This year, 2005, he has decided to expand this exhibition into a number of other areas as well (see Events page for details.) New gardens are presently “under construction”, both in the house yard and at “Norville” , presenting a challenge to Peter and his staff in relation to what to plant and where, and how to maintain and water these new beds. In Winter, temperatures plummet to well below freezing and hard frosts are commonplace. Conversely, in the Summer months temperatures soar from the high 30s into the 40s and it is not uncommon to experience these temperatures for days at a time.
One of the new garden beds at “Norville” , before planting – the black tub is full of “frost hardy” native plants….well, we hope they are anyway!
It has been decided to plant mainly flowering native shrubs and groundcovers suited to the climatic conditions of Rock Dhu, but also to plant a number of different garden flowers to bloom in Spring and Summer. As the soil is typically basalt clay, the beds have been treated with gypsum and potting mix. Sheep “poo” is used extensively as fertiliser – after all, there is an abundance of it on Rock Dhu! A new watering system will soon be in place to support these new gardens.
Come along to the Exhibition and see for yourself!