Our guest speaker was Paul De La Motte. Paul teaches horticulture at Holmesglen College of TAFE and he promotes the health and healing benefits of gardening across the board.
Paul has a farm at Macclesfield, with sheep, horses and cows and grows vegetables and roses. He is Garden Advisor to Yarra Valley Water and provides their tips for water-wise gardening.
Paul is concerned with sustainability, the environment and micro-climates.
He spoke of four therapeutic gardens – the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Providence Farm in Canada (near Vancouver Island), the Wundergarten at Hellbrun Palace, Salzburg in Austria and Alnarm Healing Garden in Sweden.
We then discussed sensory gardening and Paul showed us his ‘Top Ten’ Sensory Plants. They were Peppermint Geranium, Lamb’s Ears, the Proteaceae family (including proteas, bottlebrushes and grevilleas), She Oaks, Roses, Gardenia and Daphne, the Lamiaceae (mint) gamily (including rosemary, mint, thyme and lavender), lemon tree, nasturtiums and the red flowering gum tree.
