An ode to the homes and gardens of the Blue Mountains
And how it is slowly changing
Every morning, I take a walk around the area, and every morning, I'm reminded how inspiring the landscapes and cottage gardens are to live amongst.
Truth be told, I've been of the opinion that we are losing access to our unique home builds these last couple of decades. All you need to do is drive forty minutes down to Western Sydney to see some of the new developments that have popped up; their depressive grey uniform blocks inspire no creativity, and lack of trees and large unique plantings show a sign of the dwindling middle class.
It’s a sign of the robber barons in our modern times, with get rich quick, unartistic, corrupt, property developers having a stronghold on the architecture of the landscapes. Still, the contemporary garden designers are doing something wonderful with these blocks, which I will write about another time... but I digress.
The houses up here, some heritage listed, are a sign of a time past, where the middle class was dominant, and most individuals had more of a chance at buying the land and building their own home through their self-expression and creative ideas.
You only need to walk a few steps down a street in Leura to see a Canadian style log cabin, a classic English cottage, and then an Australiana house on the same road. How I envy the owners and those who had a choice to build something beautiful and unique.
Photo: Wooden Log Cabin, Leura
And then there's the gardens, which reflect the same sentiment. Many follow a repeated pattern of similarities - big blooms of pink and blue hydrangeas everywhere, camellia hedges and trees, rosebushes, neatly trimmed and unruly box hedges, the dreaded agapanthus, and commonly, a deep red Japanese maple on the nature strip out front.
But still keeping to their own, complimenting the houses and landscape surroundings through clever designs and well-thought-out plant schemes.
The legacy of many of the gardens lives on through their owners, but the demographic is shifting. As a gardener here over the last year, I witnessed more wealthy Sydney siders (enjoying an artificially inflated property boom) move up and inquire about ripping out the old garden and changing it to a native garden. I understand this sentiment for environmental purposes, and lord knows we have enough environmental weeds up here that need to be eliminated, but some of these gardens are treasures of the area and reflect a time in history that should be appreciated too.
When you walk through Leura, and parts of South Katoomba; you are led by giant pine trees, magnificent and mighty in their own right. The neighbourhood is built within a national park surrounded by highly flammable gum trees, the second highest bush fire zone in the world (after california), so one can appreciate the woodland, cottage and fairytale feel of the area even more.
Then there's Mount Victoria, and Mount Wilson in particular. A cottage fairytale fantasy, a relic of the 1800s and 1900s, and those who built the homes and gardens in this quaint part of the mountain forests. I picked up a book about the early residents there, which focused on the gardens planted: masses of sweeping bluebells and rose gardens. Such gardens can still be found there today, with one cottage used for a scene from The Great Gatsby.
So, I shall continue my morning walks, observing and appreciating each unique home and garden, treading its hills and meandering its many pathways and roads to uncover more magic in the mountains, and hope its beauty is somewhat preserved and appreciated for many generations to come.
Photo: Japanese anemone, Katoomba.