Musk Cottage - Spring season launch
371 Musk Creek Road, Flinders
Saturday 1 September, 2018 to
Sunday 2 September, 2018
10.00am – 4.30pm
Entry price $10 (Under 18 free) Students $5
OGV is delighted to be launching its spring 2018 open gardens season at Rick Eckersley’s inspirational Musk Cottage in Flinders.
Musk Cottage has been a pet project of Rick Eckersley and the Eckersley Garden Architecture design team for the past 10 years.
Sadly, this will be one of the last times Rick opens the garden to the public as the property is to be sold – so please relish this opportunity to experience Musk Cottage.
The 10-acre property was purchased in 2008 with the intention of creating a different approach to garden making in Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. The plan was to ignore the latest fashion trends and to create something uniquely Australian: strong, tough and sustainable.
The palette of plants is not restricted to native or indigenous. Rather, they have been selected for whether they will grow well in the particular conditions of the Musk Cottage grounds. Plants from around the world have been knitted together to create a rich textural landscape of imaginative combinations.
Visitors will find a geometric grid of rugged black-trunked ironbarks underplanted by wave-pruned Tuscany Privet. Lime green bracts of a Linden tree are reflected by a bold sweep of lime-green lomandra. A boardwalk winds around a wetlands area.
Colours in bark and leaves as well as flowers meld the garden together. Greys, olive greens, browns and brindles make up the base colours and give the garden its unmistakably Australian flavour.
Talk by Andrew Laidlaw will be held at 11.30am both Saturday and Sunday:
'Plants matter' in landscape design – Looking at the rich living fabric of plants and how they are often the difference between good and mediocre design.
Tours by Scott Leung and Myles Broad, Eckersley Garden Architecture will be held at 11.00am, 12 noon, 1.00pm and 2.00pm both days.
Things to enjoy at the garden opening are plant sales, local produce, wine sales, sausage sizzle, Devonshire tea and a coffee cart. Please note that the garden is only partly accessible only wheelchairs.
Other places of interest which you may wish to visit as part of your visit to the open garden include:
- Merricks General Wine Store and bistro
- Flinders cafes
- Point Leo Estate – vineyard, sculpture park and restaurant
- Heronswood Gardens, Nursery and Restaurant – The Diggers Club
- Seawinds Gardens – Arthurs Seat Summit
- Many other Red Hill and Main Ridge wineries
Photos by Alison Hoelzer Photography
Garden Notes
Information and advice on garden visiting