Rare plant sales at Paul Bangay’s Stonefields Open Garden Weekend

Visitors to Paul Bangay’s Stonefields Open Garden Weekend will get a unique opportunity to buy some of the plant varieties used in the garden, so they can recreate a little piece of Stonefields at home!

The Open Garden Weekend on April 16 & 17, which is the Kitchen Garden Foundation’s major fundraiser, will feature plant stalls by Smith and Gordon Nursery, Drewitt’s Bulbs and The Diggers Club.

Once visitors have finished exploring Paul’s magical garden they can purchase some of the same types of plants the renowned landscape designer has used at Stonefields.

With Smith and Gordon’s production nursery usually specialising in the growing and supply of ornamental plants solely to the retail and landscape industries, the opportunity for home gardeners to purchase their plants is a rare one.

Teena Crawford, of Smith and Gordon, said their stall would stock many of the beautiful plants featured in the Stonefields garden and would be set up in sections to match the sections of the garden.

“The plants used in the White Garden will be grouped together, and all the garden border plants will be together,” Teena said.

“It means you can take a memory home and you can recreate it in your own garden.”

Teena said plants for sale would include Autumn flowering perennials such as windflowers, aster daisies and agastache, creepers such as Boston ivy and wisteria, Autumn foliage shrubs such as viburnums and hydrangea, hedging plants such as box, privot and osmanthus, and perfumed flowering roses.

Drewitt's Bulbs’ Tim Drewitt said their stall would feature some rare and unusual stock such as liliums from Holland, dog tooth violets and Autumn flowering galanthus (English snow drops).

Tim said they would also have 60-70 varieties of Spring flowering favourites daffodils and tulips.

“We’ll have really unusual, really different stock that you can’t just get from anywhere,” Tim said.

“People can expect to get really high quality bulbs at wholesale rates.”

Diggers will also be selling a select range of seeds and plants at the Stonefields Open Garden, and offering visitors the chance to sign up to their club membership.

Anita Fabos from Diggers said they would have a selection of heirloom seeds for sale, such as lettuce, red drumhead cabbages, beetroots, carrots, purple sprouting broccoli, purple cauliflower, five-coloured silverbeet and broadbeans.

She said they would also be selling verbena bonariensis and catmint 'Walker's Low' plants.

As well being as chance to take home a memory of Stonefields, buying plants will also help support the Kitchen Garden Foundation’s work, as all three plant stalls will be kindly donating a portion of the profits from sales to the Foundation.

Tickets for Paul Bangay’s Stonefields Open Garden Weekend 16 & 17 April are $25 online until April 15 and $30 online or at the gate on April 16 & 17 (cash or credit card only for gate sales, EFTPOS not available on the day).