La Trobe’s Garden
The garden was important to Charles Joseph La Trobe and his wife Sophie. It was a place where they relaxed from the pressures of government and entertained their friends. They were keen to re-create a garden with plants similar to the ones they remembered at home. At first the garden was very ornamental with star and moon crescent shaped beds full of hollyhocks and flowering annual plants. But due to lack of man power (the
gardeners having left for the goldfields) and also lack of water, their garden changed to a romantic and slightly wild garden, where Charles planted species that were drought tolerant. He also grew to love native plants - three plants were named after him.
- Acacia acinacea syn. Acacia latrobei (the Golden fields wattle)
- Grevillea rosmarinifolia subspecies rosmarinifolia syn. G. Latrobei (Rosemary grevillea)
- Eremophila latrobei (Crimson turkey bush)
The Friends of La Trobe’s Cottage gardening group, with the help of our Garden Ambassador Neil Robertson, are aiming to re-create a romantic wild garden using plants that we know he had and have been identified in the sketches of his garden. His cousin Edward La Trobe Bateman, a well accomplished artist, drew many scenes of the garden and we are able to identify some of the plants.
The Friends have planted four heritage apples: two Pomme de Neige, dated 1709 and two Ribston Pippin, dated pre-1800 in front of the kitchen and are establishing a Latrobei bed, which will be planted out with the species named after him.
We have also planted six heritage roses in the garden. From the George Alexander Gilbert pastel drawing of the cottage in 1843-44, we can see La Trobe loved roses. We do not know what species he had, but we have chosen ones that were obtainable in the 1840s.
Our aim is to create a romantic garden using plants that were available to him in the 1840s and 1850s and improve our visitors' experience of the cottage. It will also show visitors that you, too, can have a beautiful garden using old fashioned and drought hardy plants.
If you would like to help in the garden, donate time, money or plants please contact Sandi Pullman on garden@latrobesociety.org.au
We would love to hear from you.
Garden news
There has been a lot happening in the garden over the last two years. On the 3 October 2010 we celebrated the 171st year of La Trobe’s arrival in Melbourne by planting a cutting of an Olive tree Olea europaea. It came from Ballam Park in Frankston that was owned by the Liardet Family in the late 1840s. Georgiana McCrae gave her friend there a cutting from one of the olive trees growing in her orchard at Arthur’s Seat. The tree at Ballam Park still stands and is very old. (‘Olive Tree returned to McCrae Homestead’, Victorian News/National Trust, November 2010)
Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria
These pictures were drawn by La Trobe's cousin, Edward La Trobe Bateman in 1853.
Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria
