Van Loon's nursery a winner

from w

Congratulations to Van Loons Nursery for winning a gold medal.  Their nursery is a very beautiful place and I have visited there several times, made drawings, and taken photos there. I'm still not sure whether I like the walls with the circular holes.  A bit strong I think.

-from the Geelong Advertiser Tuesday 31 March.

Van Loons Nursery's award-winning garden display at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. A LOCAL nursery has won one of only three gold medals at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, beating a large field of contenders.Wallington’s Van Loon’s took out the top gong, Best Show Garden, with its display called Resonate.

Nursery owner, Heidi Martin, said the philosophy underlining the colourful garden was to make something which could be replicated by home gardeners.“Some (of the other entries) use fancy and high-faluting plants but we wanted to use plants that we felt were good performers, good and reliable, and were easy to supply to the home gardener,” Ms Martin said. “We wanted it to resonate with memories from out childhood but put them in a contemporary setting.”

The Van Loon show garden features sundae fraise, a sun-hardy hydrangea which fades to pink; a geranium called big red which is a great seller in the nursery; and a variegated golden foliage plant called abelia kaleidoscope.These plants are showcased in a setting styled with brick paving and a garden pavilion.

Actually Van Loon didn't do it all by themselves. According to one report it was a collaboration with some Melbourne nurseries. The Advertiser seems to have highly exaggerated the Wallington nursery input.
“Resonate” by Local Nurseries (a collaboration between 8 Melbourne garden centres) was  designed by Vivid Design and constructed by Semken Landscaping.  Large stone steps led up to a retro inspired pavilion, surrounded by mass plantings in garden beds that undulated up and down around the central structure.  Circular shapes and arcs were central to the theme, resonating around the space in various forms.  I particularly liked the water cress cleverly used as a ground cover within circles cut into the pavilion floor.