• Gardens
    • The Gardens
    • History
    • The Seasons
    • Gallery
    • Rangeview
  • Upcoming Events
  • Summer Twilight Events
    • 2020-2021 Season
    • Previous Seasons
  • Art in the Garden
  • Diggers Garden Shop
  • Seasons Restaurant
  • Weddings
  • Plan Your Visit
  • Coach Groups & Contact
  • News & Articles
  • OPENING HOURS
    Seven Days 10am - 4pm
    ADMISSION
    Adults: $10 Children: Free
    Diggers Club Members: Free
    DISABILITY ACCESS
    DIGGERS GARDEN SHOP
    (03) 9751 0584
    SEASONS RESTAURANT
    Seven Days 9am - 4pm
    (03) 9751 0168

89 Olinda-Monbulk Rd, Olinda
Victoria, Australia (03) 9751 1009

Photography by
Claire Takacs & Jeremy Francis

Website by Diversity Group

Copyright © Cloudehill
All Rights Reserved

July in the Garden

By Jeremy Francis
9 July, 2016
July in the Garden

Visitors these last weeks will have noticed changes to Cloudehill. For one, the Thuya Smaragd hedge between the water garden and the warm borders has vanished and been replaced by several pots on plinths. This is the first significant alteration to this area in 20 years. A less obvious change has been the ‘nymph of the grot’ sculpture. To our surprise we sold this some months back. It wasn’t really for sale you see, except a customer was keen to have it and happy to pay and we thought, “well, why not? This might be reason for a re-arrange!” So out came the poor old hedge.


Thuya Smaragd hedge

The ill-fated Thuya Smaragd hedge.

Nymph of the grot

Our lost 'nymph of the grot’ sculpture.

First, the hedge! It’s been giving problems for ages and all because Thuya Smaragd has a very fastigiate growth habit. Upright growing plants make lousy hedges. This is true despite nurseries full of such plants bristling with labels boasting they’re fabulous for hedging. Fastigiate plants branch at the base. As they reach full height wind and rain always pulls them apart and once they’re apart, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot get them back together again. The moral – the best plants for hedges are those with a conventional growth habit. Allow a leader to reach desired height, clip the lateral (sideways) growth to a vertical (or better, a slightly battered) face, and voila – you have your hedge. And it will never fall apart.

So our thuyas has gone to the bonfire and now we have a very pleasing arrangement of pots on handsome plinths, mostly by Graeme Foote (of Hawthorn Studio and Gallery – thank you Graeme) and the chance for some fun planting them this spring with colours appropriate to the warm borders just below. Mind you, there’s also the vacant water temple. Here I have very grand ideas. At present I have a strange ‘mask’ affair floating near the rear of the temple in front of the blue-stone wall. Strange because, whatever it is, it’s covered with aluminiun foil! Under the foil there happens to be a fiberglass copy of a famous sculpture held by the British Museum: the Satala Aphrodite.

The original was found in eastern Turkey and dates to 100 BC. My copy is a lovely thing and something I’ve prized since visiting the museum back in 1981.


Satala Aphrodite in the British Museum

Satala Aphrodite in the British Museum

Little Sparta

Apollo, Little Sparta, Pentland Hills of Scotland.




In its shady nook and covered in silver foil Aphrodite shows up nicely from the far end of our main terrace. This is what I was hoping for. The plan is to replace the ‘Al-foil’ with gold leaf so that then our gleaming Aphrodite will pay homage to the extraordinary golden Apollo one finds in some shrubbery in the atmospheric garden of Little Sparta, in the Pentland Hills of Scotland.

I expect our Satala Aphrodite to add considerable drama to Cloudehill as she glances enigmatically along the main terrace (and I'm hoping Graeme Foote will help me with the gold-leafing).

Oh! And our snow drops are flowering gloriously and will be good for the next three or four weeks. Come and see!


Snow Drops
Snow Drops

This is our rare double snowdrop which was kindly donated to Cloudehill by Otto Fauser!

See you in the garden – Jeremy Francis


About the Author

Jeremy Francis
Jeremy Francis, for over 20 years, farmed a wheat and sheep property in Western Australia, a few minute's drive west of the Benedictine Community Monastry of New Norcia. Selling the farm he and his family moved the the Dandenongs in 1990 and after two years hunting for a property on which to make a garden, bought what is now Cloudehill in 1992 and commenced making the garden that Easter. Jeremy Francis covers the making of Cloudehill in his first book, Cloudehill: A Year in the Garden, published by Images in 2010 (See below). Cloudehill: A Book of Days is the working title for his second project which it is hoped should be available during 2016.

Cloudehill: A Year in the Garden
90,000 words over 264 pages by Jeremy Francis, with hundreds of pictures and some two dozen ‘hero’ shots by photographer, Claire Takacs. Claire has been hugely successful in the International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition and her work is very familiar in garden journals around the world. Signed copies of the book can be ordered for just $50 + $15 P&P by calling Jeremy Francis on 03 9751 1009. View some sample Pages >
Previous Post
Next Post

Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter

We'll let you know when a new article is published as well as special events that are happening in the gardens and Jeremy's own Gardening Tips.
SUBSCRIBE HERE

For regular updates, Like Cloudehill on Facebook.

Cloudehill Nursery & Garden


News Articles

  • On Landscape - The Bush House
    On Landscape - The Bush House June 7, 2020
  • On Landscape - Towers of Reculver Revisited
    On Landscape - Towers of Reculver Revisited May 25, 2020
  • On Landscape - Ron Tremlett
    On Landscape - Ron Tremlett May 8, 2020
  • On Landscape - Desire Lines
    On Landscape - Desire Lines May, 2020
  • On Landscape - Hidcote
    On Landscape - Hidcote April, 2020
  • August in the Garden
    August in the Garden August, 2019
  • October in the Garden
    October in the Garden October, 2018
  • August in the Garden
    August in the Garden August, 2018
  • Winter in the Garden
    Winter in the Garden July, 2018
  • November in the Garden
    November in the Garden November, 2017
  • August in the Garden
    August in the Garden August, 2017
  • June in the Garden
    June in the Garden June, 2017
  • March in the Garden
    March in the Garden March, 2017
  • February in the Garden
    February in the Garden February, 2017
  • January in the Garden
    January in the Garden January, 2017
  • December in the Garden
    December in the Garden December, 2016
  • November in the Garden
    November in the Garden November, 2016
  • October in the Garden
    October in the Garden October, 2016
  • September in the Garden
    September in the Garden September, 2016
  • August in the Garden
    August in the Garden August, 2016
  • July in the Garden
    July in the Garden July, 2016
  • June in the Garden
    June in the Garden June, 2016
  • May in the Garden
    May in the Garden May, 2016
  • Autumn in the Garden
    Autumn in the Garden April, 2016
  • Christmas Newsletter
    Christmas 2015 Newsletter December, 2015
  • December 2015 Newsletter
    December 2015 Newsletter December, 2015
  • November 2015 Newsletter
    November 2015 Newsletter November, 2015
  • August 2015 Newsletter
    August 2015 Newsletter August, 2015
  • The Towers of Reculver
    The Towers of Reculver August, 2015
  • Hay Meadows
    Hay Meadows July, 2015