Trailfinders Australian Garden by Flemings Nurseries

By garden designer Ian Barker. The 2011 ‘Trailfinders Australian Garden presented by Fleming’s’ garden is based on the voyage of discovery undertaken by Captain James Cook and the renowned botanist (and joint founder of the Royal Horticulture Society), Sir Joseph Banks, in the 18th Century.

It was a voyage that would vastly map the east coast of Australia and produce the largest collection of flora and fauna from the Southern Hemisphere.

Uniting Australia and England in a love of horticulture forever, many of Banks’ discoveries are common within gardens today although many of us are unaware of their origins and that these plants were first discovered by ‘The Father of Australia’ and lauded 18th century English aristocrat, Banks.

The garden is centred on plants with very little hard landscape. A pathway of discovery meanders through an elegant garden depicting the voyage intercepting a genteel pond which represents both the ocean and the 18th Century English love of water in formal garden design.

Plant species first discovered on this voyage will be represented throughout the garden from lands including England, Tahiti, New Zealand, Madeira and Australia.

Plants list    

Aquilega 'Hensol Harebell'
Hosta 'Halcyon'
Rodgersia pinnata
Helleborus argutifolius
Pratia penunculata
Tellima grandiflora
Libertia grandiflora
Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum'
Betula pendula
Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'
Echium candicans
Iris laevigata ‘Variegata’
Gunnera magellanica
Gunnera manicata
Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae
Elatostema rugosum
Marsilea quadrifolia
Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’
Hydrangea paniculata ‘Kyushu’
Miscanthus floridulus
Actaea simplex ‘Brunette’
Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans
Anemone x hybrida ‘Whirlwind’
Heuchera ‘Black Beauty’
Pennisetum orientale ‘Karley Rose’
Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Mariesii’
Hydrangea quercifolia
Astelia banksii
Geranium maderense
Polygonatum x hybridum
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Krinkled White’
Pterocarya fraxinifolia
Cornus controversa
Magnolia ‘Galaxy’
Disporopsis pernyi
Disporopsis aspersa
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae
Silene fimbriata