GARDENERS throughout the Scenic Rim will make their annual trek to Tamborine Mountain this September to enjoy the Springtime on the Mountain’s Open Gardens Trail .
The good news this year is that four of the six gardens selected have never been visited before and the trail has once again be extended to three days running from Friday, September 26 to Sunday the 28th.
On of the new gardens featured this year with be that of Lenore and Ros Los.
Their garden has literally sprung to life after 18 months of painstaking work and planning.
Lenore tells the story of their garden in her words:
Garden reflects joy and peace
By Lenore Los
When we bought our sad home in June 2023 it needed a ton of inside work so we turned our attention to that project first.
During the renovations I couldn’t help but look out the windows and agonise at the ugly untouched land.
We inherited just three eucalypts and a tree fern on our half acre from the previous owner and the thick, rough weedy bush grass was the lawn.
All I knew was we needed to be more private from the street views, as both Henri Roberts and Celebes roads looked right up into our home.
We also realised we needed to terrace the property if we were going to walk and relax in the gardens one day.
Our first task was to fence the property to keep our adventurous dog from escaping onto the busy road.
My engineer husband ably tackled that job, as well as putting in a new post box and fencing the next-door property to keep us safe and private.
The house was angular and stark up on the hill and we needed to soften the lines around it and we also needed to fix the soil too as it was hard clay filled with stones, rocks and weeds.
We brought in an excavator to dig holes for compost, and to dig out a rounded stairway from the street to the front door.
Then we dug out a rounded fire pit and also got rid of lots of weedy trees.
My long-suffering husband built and engineered the fire pit and rounded stairway with help from a few young people abounding with energy and endurance.
We then got advice from a horticulturist friend on how to shape the beds, where to plant trees and shrubs, where to put lawn, pathways and a veggie patch.
He provided us with invaluable information and patiently guided us through many pitfalls.
We dug and composted and planted and planted.
We got lawn clippings, leaves, mulch from wherever we could find it and put in lots of blood and bone, dynamic lifter and rock minerals.
We planted a lot of bottles brush plants as a hedge, and then we had a long period of drought.
Our plants started dying, one after the other and we had to buy water for our tanks so we could save as many plants as possible, we still lost a lot.
Then the rain started and we were saved.
Next we started work on our lawns.
We got a machine to dig out the old grass and after that we trucked in good soil and ordered our new lawn.
Six of us carried the grass lovingly and laid it carefully and watered incessantly in the heat so it survived.
Our young landscaper came to help build a lovely deck and with that we were finally finished with the big jobs.
Our garden has evolved over less than 18 months into a place of joy and peace.
Lots of experiments and some failures but lots of successes.
We love it and the rains have blest us with growth and health.
Our home is named Ikhaya Lami which is Zulu for “My home”, but can also mean “a place of love and safety”.
It’s meaningful to us as I studied Zulu for a few years back in South Africa.
The tornado and cyclone both were tough on the garden but we’ve survived.
Lots of prayers and lots of hard work and now we are excited to see our garden mature and develop over the next few years and also to share it with the many visitors who come to the area for Springtime on the Mountain.
