Robert and Belinda Neal

When Rob & Belinda first married the garden consisted of a few trees and shrubs, a bed of fruit trees (apricots & peaches) on the southern side and three or four citrus trees on the western side of the house. Most of these have died or have been removed.

Belinda then added a garden around the tank stand on the eastern side of the house (which is no longer there) and the rest of the garden was mostly trees and shrubs.

In October of 1994 the house dam dried up and in November it was cleaned out and enlarged. Luckily storms in January filled the dam and to date it has never dried up.

In 2004 a garden design began with the help of Carey L’Estrange. Approximately 60% of the plants died in that year. Not a good idea to start a garden in the middle of a drought!! Beds were completed on the eastern and northern side, and continued around the western side in 2006. A pop up sprinkler system was installed at the same time for the eastern and northern areas; the western and southern sides are yet to be done. On the western side of the house most of the plants are native as the conditions are harsher. The rocks used in the garden come from our hill; all care of my husband.

Around 5 cedar trees have been taken out as it was a battle containing the white cedar moth. Chinese Tallow and Chinese Elm trees do very well in this garden as do gardenias and roses. There are a variety of Ash trees which do well, although do not grow as quickly as the Tallows and Elms. The Camellia sasaquanas that line the path to the back door are the major surprise because they have done so well.

Daisies, agapanthus, Bird of Paradise, seaside daisy, liriopes, mondo grass and natives plants have survived through the drought except the grevilleas. They look like they are doing very well and then suddenly the next day they’re dead!

You may ask why we have so much lawn since we only rely on dam water; it’s our little oasis in summer that looks cool and refreshing – better than looking at a dry, red dirt paddock.

One of the best things we ever did was to put in an underground sprinkler system. Without this the whole garden would have died during the past 7 years.

We also put a colourbond fence up on the northern and western sides of the garden which has been a great wind break and given more protection for plants. Without this the whole garden would have died during the past 7 years.

My garden is very hap hazard and still evolving – not totally filled in and definitely not a formal garden. The Southern and western sides are still to be finished.


Report Time	05:00

Condition	---
Wind Chill	13 °C
Dew Point	13 °C
Wind Direction	100E
Variable Wind	---/---
Wind Speed	2.6 m/s
Wind Gust	---
Visibility	10 km
Pressure	1018 hPa
Humidity	87.8 %
Humidity Index	17.8 °C
Heat Index	---
Precipitation	---
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Condobolin 15 °C

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