Jackie French's garden...

on Sunday, November 13, 2011

I spent yesterday with a group of lovely friends on an Open Garden Scheme tour of Jackie French's garden...
For those who don't know, are too young to know, forget they ever knew, never knew...
Jackie French is a well known and award winning author, columnist, speaker, presenter. She's been on the tv and on radio...she writes and talks about a lot of things, especially the bush and fruit trees...and historical fiction and non-fiction, children's stories, gardening...she's pretty extraordinary.
Jackie's home in the beautiful Araluen Valley near Braidwood NSW was open over the weekend and she was the hostess. So generous with her time and clearly an expert with a vast knowledge honed by an inquiring mind...
 
I lost count of the hundreds of trees, shrubs, plants that she and her husband Bryan care for. You can read a lot more about it on her website as well as about the 140 books she's written...yes 140!  It was a fascinating talk, most of which went right over my non-horticultural head, but wow, what a lovely place to spend a few sunny Sunday hours.
Of course I had to buy a book :-) 
This is part of the foreword ...
"Once upon a time I bought some land. I wanted to build a house, an orchard, a world of peace and plenty..."
Can't wait to read it.
Bless.