It's a Ying and Yang harmony thing!!! The house provides a context for the garden and the choices I make about what to plant in it. I have unconsciously tried to create a garden that is in keeping with the era of the house. Our house is what's described here in Oz as 'a traditional Queenslander'. It's a type of house that is unique to this state of Queensland and it has certain features which I love.
- it's a timber home, usually built in the period 1890-1915
- it has tongue and groove walls or VJ ... vertical join walls
- it has a steeply pitched tin roof ... usually a corrugated tin roof
- it's high set and built on stumps to cool the building through ventilation
- it has verandah space that wraps around three sides of the house to provide a cool place out of the sun
- it has polished timber floors
- it has french doors
- it has a central hallway to encourage cool breezes to flow through the house
- it has high ceilings indoors, usually around 10 feet high
- it has distinctive features such as breezeways above the doors, pressed metal or plaster ceilings, verandah balustrades, window hoods
- and internal decorative features such as ornamental ceiling roses and picture rails.
Ooohhh, I feel so much better now ... there's a perfectly good reason why my garden doesn't look all that 'tropically trendy' even though I live in the tropics. So .... is there harmony between your house and garden? It's food for thought!
What a beautiful house. Why did we stop building like that and put up brick veneer monstrosities so unsuited the the climate?
ReplyDeleteVery nicely matched with your choice of plants.
Paul ... couldn't agree more! This style of house is so much more suited to the northern tropics ... they really did design houses that were environmentally friendly back then!!
ReplyDeleteYour home is beautiful and perfectly suited to the Queensland climate, just as your beautiful garden is perfectly suited to your home. Some people, I think, just like being critics. I get asked why I don't grow flowers (meaning annuals) and I've just realised, it's for the same reason - They wouldn't suit our house, yard or lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteMissy ... great minds think alike ... ha, once we realize what we were thinking in the first place! We'll be the home and garden harmony sisters!!! Lol!
ReplyDeleteLove the verandah and ornamental rose ceiling very much. Your roof design makes your house looks grandiose... love this too! I can imagine the sight of your beautiful garden from the verandah to be quite impressive in real.
ReplyDeleteNever thought about this, just planting what I like, with a white house nearly every plants fits.
ReplyDeleteYour house looks great for me, enviting to rest, especially the veranda.
Your house is beautiful! and I love the flowers and landscape! Enjoyed the mosaics, what a pretty part of the world you live in :)
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed the post you did showing your courtyard garden from all the different rooms. Your pretty house is just crying out for colourful flowers and ferns such as you showcase. Just as well we are not all the same - it would be very boring, and dont you go changing a thing! I love seeing your home and garden.
I love these Queenslander houses. Just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWow! What a fabulous Queenslander. It looks like a magazine house. It is an interesting point about gardens and plants even becoming out of date. Personally I don't care. I plant plants that I know are hardy and can survive drought, plants that I like, whether fashionable or not. I think of my garden as a canvas and try to make it look like a picture. Not sure if I've been successful In some parts yes in other parts there is still lots of work to do.
ReplyDeleteIt looks a lovely home and very inviting. I understand what you mean about the planting, I do not have that problem here as it is a 1960's bungalow. When I lived in London in a much older house I loved having old fashioned roses etc... much more in keeping, when I had a cottage I had more of a cottage garden with lots of Delphiniums,Lupin, Foxglove, Penstemon and Lavender. Thank you for sharing pics of your house and garden. The veranda is lovely, I would enjoy a sit down there with a cup of tea and watch the world go by!! Have a good week, Jackie in Surry UK.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty house. It reminds me of houses I've seen in movies set in Australia - they must all be Queenslanders.
ReplyDeleteStephanie ... the verandah is one thing I would find it hard to do without now! There is a great view over the surrounding bushland and an outlook onto the surrounding ranges as well ... it's quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteAnja ... yes so many plants would suit a white house. There would be lots of great choices to be made.
Thanks Dishesdone!
Africanaussie ... thanks for your supportive comment. Yes I rather like the choices I've made so far ... of course, I do actually have two Gingers out in the Shadehouse Garden. I just can't see myself getting any more.
Thanks you for your kind comment, Jill.
Diane ... yes I also plant for the climate and conditions which does restrict choices quite a bit. I do feel comfortable with the choices I've made even if they're a little old-fashioned. I'm really not one to follow trends at all.
Jackie ... a cottage garden around a cottage is something I would absolutely adore. Not to be in this part of the world, but I can dream!
Pondside ... there probably are a lot of Queenslanders popping up in Aussie movies. It's a bit of an icon in Australian architecture.
Hi, Bernie ~ I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog. Your home is as stunning as is your garden. I adore the style of your home especially the fretwork details on the breeze ways and on the veranda it just adds to the beauty of the place, what you have in my opinion is a harmonious sanctuary. We all dream of that somewhere special and I think perhaps more than one or two of us are just a little bit envious of what you have. The union between home and garden is perfect and that perfection juts sits in a beautiful landscape ….even if it is a bit tough sometimes.
ReplyDeleteSue
G'day Sue. You're so right ... this house is a marvellous thing to live in. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and I've been grateful for the experience of living in it ever since. Whilst it's certainly not paradise ... ugh, summers put paid to that! ... I couldn't think of living anywhere else right now. I think I would get really claustrophobic ... spoilt aren't I??
ReplyDeleteBernie, what a stunning house! Just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI'm rather fond of the 'old-fashioned' tropical gardens. Plenty of them up here on the Tablelands, especially around Yungaburra.
Hi Snail ... I think the old classic style of tropical garden is still very popular and not just with me, obviously! I haven't been up around Yungaburra in a long, long time ... you've just reminded me how lovely it is up there. I'll just have to make the effort to visit soon.
ReplyDeleteBernie, your house is charming! I live in an area with lots of older homes, mine is much newer now, but I grew up in an old home. Ferns and hydrganges always look great around an old victorian, but I use these same plants. We tend to use just about every plant here. Your plants always look wonderful.
ReplyDeleteEileen
LOVE that style house! Beautiful features~ love the corbels on your verandah!
ReplyDeleteYou home is absolutely beautiful!!! Your garden is oh so lovely! And together you have shared a wonderful part of who you are!! Thank you! Cathy
ReplyDeleteI just love your home Bernie. It looks so cool and serene. I could sit on that porch all day and watch the world go by.
ReplyDeleteYipe, mosaic monday is here! As usual bernie, your pictures are BEAUTIFUL. I love the wrap around veranda with all the beautiful ornamental trim, reminds me of the old victorian era homes here in Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteI love your cool, inviting Queenslander and learning about what makes it so distinctive. You now have me thinking a lot about tying the style of the house and the style of the garden together.. interesting!
ReplyDeleteDear Bernie - your house is too gorgeous to focus on any particular feature but all that space and light - wow. No wonder you want plants that are in keeping with this vintage style - so many of us forget that the house is an integral part of the garden and just go for planting trends or whatever takes their fancy. However, I live in a sixties block of flats and nothing harmonises with that!
ReplyDeleteMarvellous mosaics as usual :)
Laura x
What a great post to wander around in.
ReplyDeleteBernie, your gardens are lovely and I love the palm plants. I would love to have the verandah wrapping around the house. That is my favorite part. Wonderful photos and thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love your house! It is exactly what we Americans think of as an Aussie house (thanks to movie portrayals, I'm sure). The wrap-around porch and the Victorian details make it so perfect! I live in a contemporary Florida-style-stucco home that is quite tall (not so Florida-typical). It needs tall landscaping, a very tough feat on such a small lot.
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful home Bernie, so peaceful. Have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteBernie....This collection of mosaics is unbelievable. Your house is gorgeous both inside and out. The veranda, high ceilings, French doors, roof, plus everything else is making me drool with envy. Now you have both a garden and a house I would love to have. By the way...I fell in love with the old blue hand pump the minute I was it...glad you approved.
ReplyDeleteGenie
That is quite a brilliant idea of taking into consideration the architecture of your house in choosing which plant to include in the garden.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty and spacious house.
Hi Bernie; Your home is very beautiful. The original Queenslander architecture has so much charm, beauty and comfort. We should have taken in account the knowledge of the people who have lived here and build houses to suit the climate. It should have been law to build houses in the Australian style. In Switzerland people never could build nilly willy. Houses have to suit the ambiance of the village or town. You have found a comfortable way to suit your garden to your home. It is an enchanting place to be.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful house. Looking forward on reading more about your garden.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful house! Your world is so different from mine. Interesting to visit your blog and learn about Australia.
ReplyDeleteNancy in New England