Perth Voice Interactive

GARDEN enthusiasts who mourned the collapse of Open Gardens Australia will be thrilled to learn there’s a new, WA-based replacement.

Open Gardens West Coast is a not-for-profit group of keen gardeners.

“It’s based on a similar model to Open Gardens Australia, but where they had a paid co-ordinator in each state Open Gardens West Coast is completely run by volunteers,” member Deryn Thorpe says.

An award-winning print and radio garden journalist, Thorpe will open her Mount Lawley cottage garden for the first time in 11 years to celebrate the budding organisation.

A fanatical gardener, she also works as a tour guide and garden consultant, providing advice on design and planting.

For a $10 entry fee visitors get a guided walk around her garden full of old roses, mature trees and extravagant displays of perennials and annuals.

“I’ve been a keen gardener for a very long time, and in garden journalism since the 90s, so I can really show people about how building a really beautiful garden is all about the soil,” she says.

For the non-gardener there will be a collection of restored Model T Ford’s on display. The cars were chosen to complement the heritage of her 100-year-old Federation home.

Two more open gardens are planned for the following weekends with a full schedule of openings planned for Autumn and Spring next year.

For more information visit http://www.derynthorpe.com.au or the organisation’s new website http://www.opengardenswa.org

by SOPHIE MITCHELL