Stunning home gardens open to help Albany Community Hospice bloom

Some of Albany’s finest green thumbs will open their gardens over the next two weekends to raise vital funds for the Albany Community Hospice.

The Albany Community Hospice Open Garden Festival will allow the community to explore the hidden corners of seven stunning private gardens across town.

Proceeds will support the hospice which provides palliative care and specialist medical support to improve the quality of life for people with terminal, incurable illness.

Community fundraising is essential to sustain the service with $250,000 needed to be raised each year.

Lower King’s Bonnie Ogilvie and husband Rob Hammond will open their suburban oasis over two weekends.

The garden, named Nambucca on the Rise, will take visitors on a trip around the world across a range of sections, including Japanese, Mediterranean, English and Australian.

The award-winning garden has been a labour of love for almost three years for the couple who were inspired to capture their favourite travel memories in their backyard on the south coast.

They have incorporated recycled and repurposed materials, unwanted plants and homemade mulch to create an eccentric, sustainable space.

“I love showing people my garden,” Ms Oglivie said.

“And because of the fact that people have given us a lot of timber, tin or plants I feel that it is a community garden because they have all had a little hand in it.”

Ms Ogilvie said she was excited to welcome guests and hoped the garden would give them some fresh ideas.

“Gardens are in the eyes of the beholder because it’s like art,” she said.

“It’s something a little bit different, it is not an everyday, run of the mill garden. We don’t know heaps about gardens but we have learnt along the way with trial and error and having a go.

“I’m hoping that people will look at it and want to have a go and want to repurpose materials rather than chucking them in the tip.”

All open gardens will be offering refreshments with the $5 entry fee donated to Albany Community Hospice.

South Regional TAFE will be open to garden enthusiasts this weekend, offering a line-up of free gardening presentations.

For details, visit the Open Garden Festival Facebook page.

ALBANY COMMUNITY HOSPICE OPEN GARDEN FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

October 30, 10am to 4pm:

Kalgan Downs South, 43 Ridley Road, Kalgan

South Regional TAFE, Anson Road

Nambucca on the Rise, 35 Nambucca Rise, Lower King

Julie’s Garden, 4 Quokka Place, Mira Mar

October 31, 10am to 4pm:

Kalgan Downs South, 43 Ridley Road, Kalgan

South Regional TAFE, Anson Road

Nambucca on the Rise, 35 Nambucca Rise, Lower King

Muddy Bottom Creek, 105 Frenchman Bay Road

Wayville Sur Mer, 263 Emu Point Drive

Julie’s Garden, 4 Quokka Place, Mira Mar

November 6, 10am to 4pm:

Kalgan Downs South, 43 Ridley Road, Kalgan

Nambucca on the Rise, 35 Nambucca Rise, Lower King

Whalesong, 29 Marine Terrace, Middleton Beach

November 7, 10am to 4pm:

Kalgan Downs South, 43 Ridley Road, Kalgan

Nambucca on the Rise, 35 Nambucca Rise, Lower King

Whalesong, 29 Marine Terrace, Middleton Beach

Wayville Sur Mer, 263 Emu Point Drive