Our small Asian garden
Our 1,500 square metres (half as much again as a quarter acre block, the great Australian dream) is mostly natives and much is self seeded, but we have a large vegetable garden and two small orchard areas and a white garden of exotics, oh, and a small rainforest garden.
We left Sydney behind for our dream, which was not a 1/4 acre block, but somewhere intimate with a rich biodiverse environment. We are incredibly lucky and are growing a garden to promote biodiversity as well as our enjoyment. We live in a Koala corridor that has been partly destroyed by buildings that came after us.
The Asian garden with Chinese/Japanese influences faces Jagun Nature Reserve. Shakkei refers to borrowing scenery outside a garden’s physical boundaries, to enhance its scale and aesthetic appeal. Buddhists also exploited this aesthetic device to illustrate the interconnectedness of all things in the world. They believe everything is part of a larger continuum.
The Great Australian Dream of a quarter-acre suburban detached house is ‘unjust’ and needs to be challenged, Planning Minister Rob Stokes said. (Domain, Sep 21, 2016). Well it is certainly unsustainable. Luckily, for Australia’s amazing biodiversity under so much threat, the majority of people put up (quite happily it seems) with living on top of each other in urban centres. 7.4 billion people in the world all need water, food, power, wood, fuel and accommodation – and nearly all would like mobile phones, their own transport, entertainment, holidays, flights etc. There seems to be no future for any dream of a quarter-acre block.
