Gardens of WA: John Doncon and Janice Foulkes-Taylor’s garden is a must-see for every Perth plant-lover

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Gardens of WA: John Doncon and Janice Foulkes-Taylor’s garden is a must-see for every Perth plant-lover

To the uninitiated, growing a garden amounts to nothing more or less than chucking plants in the ground and hoping they stay alive. And I think the reason I cannot seem to stop talking about gardening, thinking about gardening, ranting endlessly about gardening, is that this is just so far from the truth.

Gardening, as any plant-lover knows, touches all aspects of your life, leaving many small marks of joy, connection, and beauty.

It offers a way to commemorate loved ones, to rekindle memories from childhood. It is a creative outlet, a form of pleasurable escape. It is exercise, it is therapy, it is intellectually stimulating. It is something to share with the people you love, but equally something that you can do on your own, without ever feeling lonely. It is, simply put, about so much more than the plants.

If anyone knows this, it is Janice Foulkes-Taylor and her husband John, whose enthusiasm for growing things eclipses even mine, as evidenced by the fact that for the last 17 years they have been growing one of the largest and most impressively beautiful gardens I have encountered.

“We’ve planted hundreds of plants on the property, from exotics to native trees and shrubs, bulbs and succulents — all sorts of plants,” Janice says.

“Originally we were just going to have the area around the house, which is quite a big garden anyway, but as time went on we took down old fences and expanded the garden. John always wanted roses — he loves roses, he has about 120 — and irises. He wanted red roses so he could pick me a red rose and bring it in to me.”

Janice and John’s garden is expansive and eclectic, filled with rambling cottage garden perennials, native shrubs, archways, fruit orchards, strawberry patches, towering sweetcorn, fields of flowers, and everywhere, trees, trees, trees.

Camera IconThe garden belonging to John Doncon and Janice Foulkes-Taylor. Credit: Riley Churchman/The West ***********

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The property — which, in 2008, was in decline with dead lawns and a bad reticulation system — has been brought fully back to life thanks to Janice and John. The addition of countless flowers, trees and shrubs has attracted wildlife (bandicoots, birds, insects and lizards), and every season brings a new show of colours, blooms and beauty.

“I think our garden is really a four-season garden, and I love that about it,” says Janice.

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“There’s always something in the garden that’s flowering, there’s always something happening.”

This is a garden every Perth plant-lover must see. Happily, Janice and John are more than willing to share the spoils of their labour.

“We didn’t grow and develop the garden with the idea of necessarily sharing it with other people,” Janice explains.

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“But over the years we’ve come to realise how special that is as well. We regularly have garden groups and have had weddings and other events, family events, on the property. John and I both feel that it’s been a joy to create and build a garden, but an even greater joy to share it rather than keeping it to ourselves”.

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#Gardens #John #Doncon #Janice #FoulkesTaylors #garden #mustsee #Perth #plantlover

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