From its iconic Dry Garden to exciting new features, our Essex garden goes from strength to strength. From its iconic Dry Garden to exciting new features, our Essex garden goes from strength to strength.

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Australia and New Zealand Garden

Located upslope from Clover Hill, just to the west of the Hilltop gardens, the Australia and New Zealand Garden has a very different feel to the rest of Hyde Hall

Looking its best in...

Spring Yellow blooms of Acacia, flowering shrubs and perennials, an evergreen backdrop of Eucalyptus and Wollemi pine
Summer Layers of rich colour and contrasting texture, look for Olearia traversii and Dianella caerulea in flower

Gardening on a slope

The concept of the Australia and New Zealand Garden was to create a collection of plants native to Australasia, around a number of established Eucalyptus trees planted by the Robinsons.

The area contains unusual shrubs and perennials, and is an inspiring and successful demonstration of gardening on a slope. In time, the planting will be extended to include plants from the wider Southern Hemisphere.

Thriving against the odds

About 30 per cent of the plants in this space are not considered reliable in a UK climate. Despite this, the garden performs well, especially considering that few plants are singled out for extra attention from Hyde Hall’s gardeners. Dianella tasmanica, for example, thrives here but is more usually found growing in glasshouses.

A cascade of textures

Cascades of grasses weave in and out of the shrubby plantings, and large trees create much needed shade on the south-west facing slope. Many of the plants have attractive foliage, colourful stems and interesting textures. The evergreen nature of the Antipodean plants – such as Pittosporum and Hebe – make for spectacular displays year-round.

In particular, look out for the cloud-pruned hedges of plants such as Corokia and Grevillea and the unusual Muehlenbeckia hedge.

Foliage is the main attraction here, so when selecting plants look at the foliage colour, size and texture of your selections. Many of the shrubs respond well to clipping so can be used in a formal or informal way to create hedging or topiary. If you yearn for flowers, Grevillea ‘Canberra Gem’ produces exotic red blooms nearly all year round.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall Horticulturist

Plants in the Australia and New Zealand Garden

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.