Southern Highlands Gardens: Whitley, Oldbury Road, Sutton Forest

Whitely is a large Arts and Crafts House on the side of the hill at Sutton Forest, recently opened for charity. We went over for the first time and are grateful to the owners for letting us see it.

The first thing that impresses you is the immaculate hedges bordering the road. We understand they were relaid by an English professional at the request of the owners. Lovely, low but nevertheless effective - no rows of dull conifers. There is Leylandii but it is tightly cut to a smooth finish and looks remarkably good. The only way to treat it in my view.

The next thing is the garden's size and the number of garden "rooms". The house and garden immediately surrounding it look as though they were laid out together and are well structured. The wrought iron and statutory are to die for and the tennis court with its original pavilion is a gem.

View to the tennis pavilion at Whitley

But what I noticed was the structure fell away as "rooms" or areas had been added without the essential link to the original design - that includes the nut orchard and a native area that was somewhere in the distance without even a gravel path to lead one to it. The tennis court needs a stone path and steps to link it to the house.

Another gem was left wanting - an obelisk in a field visible from the belvedere. That obelisk needs framing. When it is it will provide a focal point from the belvedere that will then carry the carry the eye to the valley beyond. At the moment it's wasted.

I'd change the planting as well. The planting is in places a bit busy and there were hybrid tea roses in the formal garden surrounding the gargoyle fountain.

Look, I admit to loathing the teas and preferring old roses but for good reason. Old roses may flower only once or for a shorter period but they have more interesting foliage and fabulous hips in the autumn that more than make up for any lack of flowers. Hybrid teas are out of synch with the age and design of the house.They're also prone to disease that makes them look awful and increases their upkeep.

Next time this garden is open have a look, particularly at the original stone work and wrought iron - fabulous. Structure in a garden is everything. Even cottage gardens need it. At Whitley it's essential.

A Tree for Southern Highlands Gardens - Liquidambar Formosana

We recently had an enquiry about screening out a neighbouring house. The folk wanted something quick (as most everyone does) and preferred an evergreen planting.

Evergreen is fine but can be shade casting and repetitive. We had other ideas and will recommend a short list of mixed planting (some evergreen) that will include the deciduous Liquidambar Formosana. We have two of these trees, still young but growing apace.

The virtue of the Formosan Liquidambar is they colour late and hold their foliage during the winter but not the way beech or pinoaks do, with dead looking copper leaves, no Formosana holds claret and deep purple leaves that light up the dullest winter day and keep on screening.

It can become large as liquidambars do but it is a rewarding versatile tree that will provide dense cover for screening and a beautiful shape if grown as a lawn tree or part of a woodland.

Pruning Time for Hydrangeas in the Southern Highlands

When to prune hydrangeas in the Highlands is a vexed question - do it too early or too late and the results are few flowers.

When we were at Exeter we had some very old hydrangeas growing on the eastern side of the house. They were six feet high and thick with old wood. It took me a number of years to thin them out so they continued to flower but were renewed with fresh growth. I used to cut them back in August but by then they had leaves.

Since then I've had a rethink on the timing and have come to the conclusion that mid June is the time to prune in the Highlands, when the stems have buds but no leaves as yet. But, it may vary depending on where you are. Parts of the Highlands are colder than others and your plants' situation may affect the formation of the new shoots but June is probably the earliest time to prune.

What you're looking for are pairs of new shoots, pairs opposite each other on the stem. Take the cutting back to a the plumpest pair. When summer comes your plants should look like those in the picture. Fresh, prolific flower buds that will give pleasure right through the summer.

Raised Seed, Cutting and Herb Beds

One of the best things we've put in recently (and it needs a coat of paint) is a raised garden bed. It's in two layers, underneath is a lattice shelf for terra cotta pots and trays.

I recommend it. It saves the back and provides a soft, continuous area for planting. Things don't dry out as much and are easier to tend. If you have limited space as I do, it's the Tardis of planters.

I grow kitchen herbs in it and start cuttings of box which are later potted up individually.

I can see a variation of the concept in a garden built in stone, as a low wall in a kitchen garden. What a useful and impressive feature it would be.

A Gorgeous Tree for the Southern Highlands - Cornus Nuttalli

A lovely friend gave us a seedling of Cornus Nuttalli when he sold his old and very beautiful garden. His tree was huge, dwarfing his tiny weekender. In spring we had to crane our necks to see the flowers high on the tree which was competing with a woodland for light.

Once our friend brought me a long spray for a vase. It's white beauty was breathtaking. Thereafter I coveted a tree of my own and when we received the seedling I potted it up and kept it safe out of the sun for a number of years.

When we came to Bundanoon it was time to plant it and we did, in the best spot we had, not ideal but in it went with our fingers crossed. We waited for a number of years for it to flower. Last year some green flower replicas appeared, not the real thing but promising. Now it's flowered. The tree is about 2 metres high and throwing up a tall shoot from the top. I so hope it continues to be happy.

I recommend this tree, which I have learned is a North American native, declared endangered in British Columbia. It grows from seed. I must try it and populate some gardens in the Highlands with it.

Screen Planting - New Fences, Unsighlty Objects and for Privacy

Gardens are enclosures from the world, they surround our homes and provide an oasis of calm. They in turn are usually enclosed by fences of some kind, open rural fencing, palings or, for those who can afford to lash out, brick or stone.

On village or suburban blocks hardwood fences are a reality as are views of neighbours and increasingly unsightly intrusions such as communications towers plonked on a bare hill or in the neighbourhood. We need to screen them out but in some cases they can be used as a part of the garden design.

For instance a  new or existing fence sans planting is not a disaster - it's an opportunity. True, fences can create dry inhospitable areas that are difficult to tackle but are not impossible. For instance a fence on the south side of a house in dry shade will, if properly prepared, support hydrangeas (including hydrangea petiolaris), fuschias, calla lilies, violets and babies tears. Voila - a multi-layered picture.

A bare fence in the sun can be transformed by installing supports for climbers and then planting shrubs or trees that create a miniature woodland in which the fence disappears. It's all in how you tackle it.

For a single unsightly object think of a single tree or planting that will obscure the offending item. Often the problem can be solved by planting or placing something in the mid ground, not necessarily on the boundary. 

If your garden is on a large scale and you need a quick screen please resist the Leylandii solution - the trees are uninteresting, take up huge amounts of space and may create a headache later on. Leylandii on properties are reaching huge heights and creating mono cultures where nothing lives. And they're young yet, how big will they be in 20 years?

Out on Range Road at Mittagong a screen of the Leylandii pests is obscuring not only the property it bounds but a previoulsy gorgeous view to Sydney. There's not even a break in the screen, nothing that creates interest for the occupants or passersby. If I was coming home to that at night it would depress me.

We owe something to the community when we hold large tracts of land bordering roads, to enhance the landscape, not create the country equivalent of a  high rise ghetto of one very dull tree.

There are alternatives, all it needs is imagination. Try thinking of screens as woods or hedges in which nature has had a hand - a very light hand. Try mixing things up a little.

Planting Rampaging Roses - Rosa Brunnonii

Our cottage, Rosewood, is a quarter acre sub-divided from the house's original nearly 2 acres. Although it's small the land surrounds the house well, allowing us good access on both sides with broad front and back areas. There's little depth but we've coped with that by clothing the fences in foliage which makes them disappear. It's now very private with a cottage feel but it was a battle to begin with.

When we bought the small but lovely house the garden, with the exception of a large conifer in the backyard and some lovely camellias, had been removed - not a rose bush, perennial or shrub remained. When the fence of the sub-division went in the place looked like a prison camp.

We'd brought a lot of plants and cuttings with us and they sat huddled against the fence waiting for us to get on and give them a home. Among the cuttings was Rosa Brunonii,  a Himalayan musk rose, it flowers once a year at our place, in November. Yes, it's gorgeous now as the picture shows.

I brought a cutting of this rose from  Exeter where a pair had been in the ground for three years on our windswept acres. The new hedges of Portuguese laurel we put in were finally doing their job when we left in 2005 and Brunonii is probably doing quite well now.

However, I wonder  if it's doing as well as the cutting has at Bundanoon - it's past the height of the gutters on our 1900 house, about 20 feet wide, crowding a Constance Spry and swallowing a large azalea as well as a number of smaller things that went in with it. The position in full sun with the house protecting it from any southerly or westerly winds has engerised this plant to throw out 20' shoots this spring.

I made a big mistake with this plant and I'll have to do something about it in the winter - prune it right down and move it. In the meantime it will have a deep summer prune so we don't lose the small things underneath.

There's a lesson here. I allowed the rose what I thought at the time was plenty of space but it's so happy in its position it has become something of a triffid. I'm pragmatic up to a point and will let things rampage so long as they contribute to the overall plan.

When they don't it's off with their heads.