Our garden is a mixture of cottage and Australian native, dry sunny spots and shady spots.

Over 600 varieties of bearded iris are scattered throughout the garden and form two large beds of their own making a spectacular and colourful display during October and November. 

The garden area covers approximately 1.5 hectares (out of a total of 9 hectares of land).

Water comes from our own bore which has a fairly low salt content and has no adverse affects on any of our plants.   All watering is overhead.

We normally have approximately 550 mms (22 inches) of rain per year.

Soil type is alkaline, being a heavy loam over a limestone base.  Compost is incorporated into the soil for new plantings or re-planting and we also use gypsum in heavier soil areas.

We mulch heavily with wood mulch purchased by the truckload from the local tree felling contractor and the occasional emptying of pea straw from the floor of the chicken shed.

The garden generally receives two doses of Rapid Raiser per year.  The roses get a more regular (six weekly) feeding during spring and summer, and the irises receive Phostrogen in August/September each year in addition to their Rapid Raiser in September and April.

All plants are treated equally and if they cannot survive the heat or frosts we don’t persist with them. 

Being relatively open we tend not to have too many disease or pest problems and, once again, if a plant is prone to disease or pest it doesn’t remain here long as, being such a large garden and as we both work, there is not the time to give them any special treatment.

Having said that we do have one major pest – rabbits!  The paddocks are full of green grass but they prefer our garden!  Kangaroos are also increasing in numbers and starting to cause a few problems.

We have lived here for 28 years but most of the garden has only been developed over the past twelve years or so.
 

  Please feel free to email us with any comments or queries

Copyright 2001. Yarrabee Garden & Iris. All rights reserved
This page last updated on 30 Jun 2008