Gay Klok's Tasmanian Garden Story: Garden #1 on the Virtual Gard

moist and acidic conditions. They intertwine through many perennials such as the lovely blue or yellow Himalayan Poppy Meconopsis, Trilliums and Helleborus [called Christmas Roses in Australia though the brave flowers thrill us in June, the middle of our Winter!] and Digitalis, apricot and white foxgloves, seed themselves in just the right places. Making delightful hazes of blue, pink or white are those endearing thugs of the natural gardens, the forget-me-nots,species geraniums and aquilegias, (named granny-night-caps in Australia).

Most of the Primulas are the candelabra sort with whirls of flowers ascending the stem in shades of orange, red, pink and yellow. Some grow to one foot high with seven or more circles of colour. Above the perennials are flowering trees and shrubs.

The collection of Acers growing in various parts of the garden is large and varied. One of my favourites is Acer 'Senkaki', the fine coral bark Japanese maple. The vivid scarlet branches are such a welcome slash of colour in Winter and the glow of orange leaves is wonderful in Autumn. They make splendid accents within the garden scene. I grow them, oddly enough, within my general beds. Magnolias and their sisters Michelias revel in the conditions at "Kibbenjelok". The magnificent Michelia denudata's large brown, furry buds cheer me in the middle of winter and later the large white, softly perfumed blooms herald in the new Spring.

Across the grass path, the showy Camellias challenge the Michelia with their huge blooms of red, white or pink. The Magnolia stellata, so useful for smaller gardens stand up to the changeable weather of early Spring; after all, their skirts are already cut by crimping shears.

In 1996, seven years after it was planted as a very small tree, Magnolia campbellii "Charles Raffil" bloomed with twenty-seven beautiful, dinner plate sized pale pink blooms. They are notoriously very slow to flower, normally taking fifteen to twenty years to gladden your heart and amaze your eyes.

A large collection of rare conifers is used to give interest when all else is gathering breath [including the gardeners] for a very brief period in Winter. We have a large collection of rare species Rhododendrons, including the tender plants sp. Nuttalli [Dalhousiae] with chartreuse yellowish-green with a pink blush perfumed flowers, subsp. Lindelii, waxy white tulip shaped bells, "Fragrantissimum", perfuming the whole garden and the huge leaved Asiatic tree Rhododendrons to mention only a few amongst the hundreds growing in the garden at "Kibbenjelok".

Formality was introduced when we created two heart shaped Rose beds [one for Kees! and one for me!] which are formed by using Buxus {Box} shaped into little balls surrounding

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