Narrow Leaf Spider Lilies, Hymeocallis narcissiflora, flank the entrance, while scent from the jasmine cascading over the arbour is a joy for passersby.
Behind this West End cottage entrance lies a botanical treasure trove.
Glenn Cooke, former Curator of Decorative Arts at the Queensland Art Gallery, has developed a delightfully quirky garden on the undulating, narrow strip behind his West End workersâ cottage. Itâs only a few minutes drive to the centre of Brisbane but a world away from the hurly burly.
The back deck, Glennâs âtreehouseâ, looks out into the canopy, and over the garden.
Quisqualis, aka Rangoon Creeper, rambles over the trellis.
As a lad, Glenn was introduced to gardening by his dad, a shearer who each weekend tended the familyâs vegie garden in their western Queensland town of Blackall. He and his brother vied for the opportunity to mow their patch of lawn, but soon that novelty wore off. Glenn did however take over the rest of the garden, learning how to cope with sticky clay soils, when occasionally it rained, plus the sulphur-scented bore water used in town.
âAt least we were blessed with unlimited supplies; you only had to look on the edge of town to see how desperately water was needed,â Glen says.
From the deck â clever use of plants in drifts.
Glenn at the entrance to the Secret Garden â which isnât any more!
Another of Glennâs fabulous mosaic pots.
Glennâs Aunty Bub who also lived in town not only had a vegie garden, but an extensive collection of decorative plants as well. âI marvelled at the colour of her massed displays of annuals which had the most miraculous names: dimorphotheca, schizanthus, calendula. She also grew the âTropical appleâ marketed by Langbeckerâs Nursery, Bundaberg.â The first bottlebrushes to grow in Blackall came as tiny seedlings from Southport where Bubâs sister Lisle grew them beneath the shade of a large date palm. âAunty Lisle was a bit of a collector and in her mind there were two categories of plants: I have one of those, or I donât have one of those!â
The mobile, made from stump caps and aluminium pot-lids, creates a vertical element at the junction of the gravel and leaf-paths.
Glennâs mosaic structures adorning the garden are sometimes functional as well as aesthetic.
After a working lifetime spent mostly in galleries and museums, both in Australia and America, Glenn retired in 2013 and now has more time for pure fun in the garden. Heâs produced a collection of mosaic pieces, from pots to ponds â and even a kangaroo.
West End has unique character and its residents cover a wide cross section of the community, but with more creative people than average. Thereâs a strong neighbourly network reflected in the gates that connect each of Glennâs neighbours. Sadly missing in many urban blocks these days.
A pair of mosaic pots support hardy cordylines.
Hidden amongst the foliage: a kangaroo.
Glennâs planted favourites such as old-fashioned crotons, and lots of white plants that bring light to the understory. Many are fragrant including including brugmansias, frangipani, honeysuckle; and the âperfumeiĂšresâ jasmine, known locally as Greek jasmine, was added in deference to Greek migration to the area just after the Second World War.
Most of the plants grew from cuttings from family and friends: cream musseandra and mock gardenia, Tabernaemontana corymbosa come from Glennâs parentsâ Rockhampton house, crotons and firespike, Odontonema striatum, from West End gardens, and the species bauhinia began as a seed from Wellington House, Buderim.
Thereâs no grass, not just because of Glennâs childhood memories pushing the Victor; the garden is quite shady so plants have been selected to suit. *Gravel pathways blend in with *leaf-strewn paths that wend through to a raised, hidden garden at the back of the block. *Natural surfaces help retain any rain that falls.
Various shades of purple and red coleus make striking highlights.
A wiggly purple painted fence is the gardenâs backdrop.
Recycle and re-use is Glennâs theme. The higgledy piggledy purple fence is made from palings rescued from skip bins in the neighbourhood. Green bottles, emptied and upended, form steps and edging. âIâm only responsible for emptying some of them,â Glen says.
Colours in the mosaic reflect the hues in the surrounding stacked stone wall bordering the upper terrace.
Stacked, upended bottles form steps at the back of the garden.
The fountain in the tear-shaped mosaic pond is activated by a solar powered pump.
Ground covers have been choreographed colourful, texture drifts.
Blue ginger, Dichorisandra Thyrsiflora, thrives here.
Scrub-turkeys cause grief in many Brisbane gardens. Glenn uses several deterrents: bird netting under mulch, woven branches in the undergrowth; young plants are protected under upturned wire baskets; collars of green wire protect pot plants; and a motion-sensitive water jet occasionally hits its mark.
Two-toned frilly edged coleus.
Detail of mosaic and bottle steps.
A garden bench made by Jon Harris
Flotsam â a mosaic wall piece made from objects found onsite.
The collage of broken ceramics and glass decorating the entrance to the Hidden Garden were found when the area was levelled for the mosaic pond and circular gravelled area.
The tear-shaped pond is the central feature in the Secret Garden.
West End was one of several Brisbane suburbs to suffer from a severe hail storm last November (2014). Glenn lost trees, (one was repurposed as garden edging) and foliage was shredded. The garden was photographed ten weeks later after good summer rains so the new growth concealed much evidence. Only plants like bromeliads with their hard leaves show any sign of the havoc that had been caused.
Apart from his delightful and eclectic garden some of Glennâs âretirementâ projects include producing a catalogue raisonnĂ© of the work of our much-loved Australian still life painter, Margaret Olley (1923 -2011). He also continues to be involved in The Australian Garden History Association, and several of his publications reveal an increasing emphasis on garden history interpreted through art.
West End Creative: A Garden Pocket Behind this West End cottage entrance lies a botanical treasure trove. Glenn Cooke, former Curator of Decorative Arts at the Queensland Art Gallery, has developed a delightfully quirky garden on the undulating, narrow strip behind his West End workers' cottage.
