Summer Movies 2016: Around the World in 80 Gardens – Australia and New Zealand

This summer I’m heading to the movies to enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful gardens. My travel partner and guide is Monty Don, and the movies are his horticultural travelogues from the BBC series "Around the World in 80 Gardens". I've picked three continents of special interests, all of which include Mediterranean climates. I'm hoping to have some fun, and learn more about the movie star plants and gardens from these regions. Grab your sun screen, and join us for some summer travelling!

Australia and New Zealand (Season 1, Episode 2)

Monty first visits the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia. The garden is beautifully situated, very near where Captain James Cook landed with his crew 200 years ago, and where botanist Jonathan Banks and his team collected many plant specimens on the shores of Stingray Bay (later renamed Botany Bay). Eighteen years later settlers began to arrive. They struggled to survive, learning how to obtain food and water  in the strange new land. Monty visits several other gardens near Sydney, and notes that early public and private gardens were made by homesick settlers who attempted to recreate the water-loving English country gardens of their homeland in a harsh, dry land.

Later Monty visits several gardens that celebrate native plants and environment. Landscape architect Vladimir Sitta’s personal garden uses red rock quarried from the interior of Australia, and drought resistant succulents. The Alice Springs Dessert Park in the interior is styled on the ecosystems in the outback, including a salt pan and streams that flow under the sand. Monty meets with Doug Taylor, a park ranger to learn about the park and how indigenous people lived in harmony with the environment, working with the land and using the native plants to survive.

On to Melbourne, Australia where Monty visits Cruden Farm and The Garden Vineyard, both of which are a hybrid of exotic and native plants, but with a strong sense of place and identity. He speculates whether this represents the evolution of gardening in Australia.

Monty ends his tour in New Zealand, visiting Ayrlies Garden in Auckland, and a private garden in New Plymouth. Both gardens fully embrace the plants and environment of New Zealand. At Te Kainga Marire (Maori for peaceful encampment) in New Plymouth, native plants and birds flourish. Owner and creator Valda Poletti observes that young people especially no longer see the garden as a flower garden, and instead embrace gardening with native flora and fauna.

I have watched several of the episodes of “Around the World in 80 Gardens”, and really appreciate Monty Don’s commentary. I like his quest for what really embodies the Australian and New Zealand garden, and his observations about the evolution of gardens for homesick settlers, to gardens that fully embrace the land and its amazing plants. Penelope Hobhouse is listed in the credits as a consultant, so the series is a collaboration of two of my favorite gardeners! Thank you for joining me on this tour: https://youtu.be/fyxgZT1j_6A