The Ultimate Seachange Destination

Garden Suburb

This year's Sunshine Bay Garden Competition was a great success. The theme was a play on the popular television show Dancing with the Stars. The residents of Sunshine Bay were asked to razzle dazzle the judges with their dashing floral moves and jazzy garden designs. As always the judges had a tough time making their decisions with so many wonderful gardens on display.

Jenny McGrath and Julie Deane.gif Everyone at the presentation agreed that First Prize winner Jenny McGrath had the most fabulous garden. Jenny has worked tirelessly to create a garden that radiates peace and tranquillity. She first caught the judge's attention in 2002 and was given an Encouragement Award, in 2005 she won a Highly Commended Award for her efforts.

Her garden sweeps around her corner block and there are three focal areas planted with mainly natives. The judges also noted that regardless of the season this garden always has something in bloom. There is an archway of blossoming jasmine, a vibrant red grevillea, striking silver foliaged acacia, roses, weeping cherry, tibouchina, diosma, azaleas, camellias, a fantastic dwarf pine tree and ground covers of flap jacks and echeveria. The centre garden has a magnificent display of temple bells, prostrate juniper, china doll, frangipani, wisteria, metrosideros, may bush, maple, clivias, magnolias and hydrangeas. There are also many statues that compliment the surrounding foliage and lend to the peaceful ambience of her garden.
We congratulate Jenny and thank her for creating this magnificent garden.

Mr Teece of 88 Hume Road was awarded second prize with his amazing front garden.

The centre piece is a large sweeping bed that is accentuated with burgundy china doll, contrasted with white flowering English daisies and callistemon, lavender, burgundy flowering pelargonium and yellow flowering gazanias.

The elevated garden bed that acts as a background to this main area compliments its colour themes with a beautiful array of deep red pelargonium, kalanchoe, roses, lavender and bright pink marguerite daisies.

One of the two Highly Commended awards goes to Mr Sorrenti of 17 Sunshine Bay Road. A relative new comer to the Estate, Mr Sorrenti has achieved amazing results in just a short space of time.

A well manicured lawn leads the eye to stunning side garden bed filled with hot pink petunias, lavender, bright yellow gazanias, silver leafed carnations, burgundy flax and golden westringia all contrasted with a border of parsley, a garden of beauty with added culinary benefits.

Mr and Mrs Barker of 11 Stuart Place were awarded the second Highly Commended prize. They have used the topography of their block along with colourful foliage to create a striking garden.

Accentuating the driveway on one side is a pathway of hebe, kalanchoe and purple flowering grasses. On the other is a wonderful rockery garden planted with red flowering kangaroo paw, azaleas, diosma, white and hot pink flowering pelargonium, camellias and orange portulaca. The lawn is also well maintained and there are garden beds of nandina and also burgundy pots filled with silver leafed succulents and cordyline.

Encouragement Awards go to the following wonderful efforts.

The colourful blooms of Mrs Kelly's garden (4 Stuart Place) attracted the judges. A well kept design with a mix of native grasses and grevillias and annuals including lobelia, sweet pea, pansies, irises and anemones really made this display shine.

Mr and Mrs Music of 3 Dampier Place have a garden with a radiant mix of orange and pink mesembryanthemum as well as a wonderful weeping acacia, white standard roses and conifers. Their lawn is well kept and the garden beds are well mulched.

A very new garden but very well designed, Mr and Mrs Woodham of 10 John Forrest Place have done an excellent job. Foliage such as conifers, metrosideros, prunus, philotheca is contrasted nicely with pink flowering floribunda roses, carnations and other roses as well as lavender and white flowering convolvulus.

Mrs Evans of 45 Sunshine Bay Road has worked very hard in her garden for the past two years and has an amazing display to show for it. Planted mainly with natives such as red flowering grevillias and callistemons as well as pine trees, deep pink daisies, orange clivias, bright yellow gazanias and red flowering kangaroo paw.

In just a few months Mr and Mrs Hatton of 9 Freycinet Drive have done an incredible job with their garden. Well designed and planted with metrosideros, conifers, camellias and olives as well as purple flowering hebe and convolvulus that wrap around this corner block.

Ms Cherie Clarke of 6 Gray Place recently constructed a wonderful kidney shaped front bed filled with colourful annuals including petunias. The side bed of deep burgundy china doll contrasts well with the yellow and red flowering nasturtiums. The garden also has a wonderful hot pink flowering boronia.

Petra and Gerhard of 3 Giles Place are very garden proud and have planted a terraced garden of grevilleas, lavender, hebe and westringia. The striking colour of red and orange mesembryanthemum really highlights this garden.

Islands of colour and a curvaceous garden bed that leads to the front door shows great garden design by Mrs Forsyth of 11 Batman Place. Lush gardenias are contrasted with burgundy kalanchoe. There are brightly coloured pansies and roses just about to burst into bloom.

The first of the water wise encouragement awards was awarded to Mrs Baresic of 2 Gosse Place. Burgundy dracaena and callistemon stand tall in this terraced garden. The burgundy foliage is contrasted with succulents including agave and aeonium, native grasses as well as lavender.

Congratulations also to Mr and Mrs Prkic of 25 Canning Crescent for the second water wise prize. Their garden of striking strelitzia, yucca and jade tree as well as gazanias, westringia and hebe shows that with good design and foresight a garden can use little water and still be an impressive show.

Again the judges thank all the gardeners of Sunshine Bay Estate. This year it has been especially hard with the drought conditions as well as the economic hardships and still the gardeners of the Estate do an outstanding job. Next years competition there will be changes to the awards with one Highly Commended prize for a water wise garden as well as the two encouragement awards, till then happy gardening.