Diane Cummins' Garden

Location: East Doncaster, Victoria

Sustainable Gardenings 2005 Award Winner
Diane Cummins garden in East Doncaster, Victoria was awarded the Middle Yarra 2005 Sustainable
Residential Garden Award (shared with a garden from Montmorency) recently, for the second year
in a row.
The Sustainable Gardening Award is a regional initiative of Banyule, Manningham and Nillumbik
Councils with support from Sustainable Gardening Australia.
SGA featured this garden when it won the 2004 award but Diane has added a few more beds since
our last visit and the plants have grown too. Seen here is the front garden, now starting to look very
well established, although there are still plenty of immature shrubs and trees that will grow much
bigger.
Theres close to ten years work in this garden, gradually evolving from a garden with numerous
exotic plants to one with mostly natives. Diane is keen to point out, though, that she still has a mix of
both.
I just want to show that you can still have a mix of plants. I still have some azaleas around the
front, Diane says, but they dont get any special treatment. When exotics die, they are replaced
with indigenous plants.
Dianes brother, environmental writer William Lines, has generously assisted with the restructure.
He has done much of the major work over the years, replacing sleeper retaining walls, building the
stone walls (from local Warrandyte stone), and installing rainwater tanks.
There are two rainwater tanks, one large galvanized iron
and one smaller plastic one, and although she confesses
to having to use some mains water on the garden, the
tanks have considerably reduced Dianes reliance on this
source.
I still use some mains water because of the vegetable
garden, she explains, but the tanks really help.
Water features prominently in the garden too. There are
numerous bird baths dotted around, which attract (along
with the garden) quite a variety of birds.
In the previous garden tour, Diane lamented that no
frogs had taken up residence in her garden. However,
she struck it lucky recently when a woman offered her
tadpoles from a swimming pool that was being pulled
out. Diane now has frogs!
Dianes garden not only features lots of local indigenous
plants, she also has a healthy and expansive vegetable
garden and fruit trees (including a Macadamia and a
grafted Avocado, which are looking robust and healthy).
The garden is well mulched and Diane is also an avid
composter. She has a worm farm and a Tumbleweed
Compost Maker.
This is a great compost system, she says. Its easy to
turn and because its sealed theres no problem with
vermin.
Diane also has chickens, which dispose of kitchen scraps
in return for eggs.
Everyone will have an opportunity to visit Dianes
garden, as it has been accepted into the Australian Open
Garden Scheme and will be open on the weekend of 31
March/ 1 April 2007.
Its an eclectic plant collection, featuring native and
indigenous plants. Theres several types of grasses,
including Themeda triandra (Kangaroo Grass), Epacris, a
variety of grevilleas, banksias (shown here is Banksia
ericifolia), eucalypts, eremophilas, Alyogyne, and correas
(shown here is Correa Fat Fred), to name but a few.
There are several Acacia cognata Green Mist in pots
near the front entrance, which are starting to look very
elegant.