The front cover picture of this month's magazine was taken by a camera attached to a drone and flown over our garden at St Erth.
Guided by Claire Takacs in the early morning light of February, the drone makes the garden shapes and colours look similar to the textures of a coral reef in the tropics. It is incredibly rare for a garden in Australia to reach its peak in the brutal months of summer, and even rarer for that garden to be surrounded by bush on the same very site of the Gold Rush at Simmons Reef about 160 years ago. The garden features daffodils, gigantic oaks (planted before WW2) and choice deciduous trees planted by Tommy and Penny Garnett in 1973.
When the Garnetts retired, The Diggers Club continued opening the garden and have welcomed about 200,000 visitors. This collage of pictures will give you an idea of why it features in books of world-class gardens, so if you haven't visited be sure to come in spring, summer and autumn. Each season has something to offer, including carpets of daffodils in spring, long-flowering borders in summer and magnificent autumn colour.
Stroll around the Diggers Garden Shop for a wide range of incredible edibles, hardy perennials and shrubs and stock up on seeds for the vegetable and flower garden. Relax over coffee in the café and stay on for morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea, all while enjoying the surroundings of the beautiful gardens and Wombat State Forest.
