Bill Bewley

Bewley’s Upright Red Maple at Waldorf

Caroline Druce, the great niece of Bill Bewley, has moved in next door. Bill Bewley was a well-known nursery owner in the Blue Mountains skilled in grafting maples. Before beginning the maple grafting nursery at Warrimoo he and his family are remembered for the daffodils they grew and sold from what is now the TAFE site in Wentworth Falls.

Bill was born in Cowra in 1909. His interest in horticulture dates from around 1927 when the family was living in Luddenham and Bill was working in Hazelwood and Body’s Nursery in Pymble.  By the time Bill had a family of his own he had moved to Fletcher Street in Wentworth Falls where he developed a nursery and landscaping business. His daughter Cathy Challiner remembers him doing some work at Everglades in Leura.

Bill was employed as a ranger by the Wentworth Falls Reserve Trust from 1933 to 1941. He excavated the circular drive, built tracks and viewing platforms and looked after a small refreshment shop. During this time Bill studied plant propagation and practices by borrowing books from the Mitchell Library in Sydney, the books being delivered by train.

In 1949 Bill purchased 32 acres of land where the Wentworth Falls TAFE now stands. He cared for the orchard of the neighbouring boys boarding hostel, now Blue Mountains Grammar School and grew daffodils for the Sydney markets. All his children helped pick daffodils before and after school.

In 1955 Bill moved his family to Epping, continuing to run a nursery on 5 acres at Castle Hill.

Caroline writes:

“In 1966 Bill decided to move back to the Blue Mountains and so he purchased 12 acres at Warrimoo and developed a nursery there. It was here in the early 1980s that he started to graft and develop Japanese maples and supply many plants to the mountains area including residential gardens in Leura. I remember running around the rows of plants in the nursery as a child when we visited in the late 1960s and returning again with young children for a family reunion in the 1990s. My Nanna, Bill’s older sister, aged 93 and one of her younger sisters were also present.

Bewley’s Upright Red in autumn

Bewley’s Upright Red in winter

Bill developed the WJ Bewley Green Weeping Maple and the Bewley Upright Red Maple (Acer Palmatum) which continues to grow in the gardens of the mountains today. The green weeping maple is green with bronze tips in spring, green in summer and very red in autumn. The upright red maple is bronze red in spring, red in summer and orange red in autumn.

Bill developed the variegated Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus Bewley’s variegated) from a variation on a local mountain Brush Box. His daughter reports there to be one in Sydney’s Botanical gardens. Gt. uncle Bill also grafted Blue Spruce to Cedrus deodara which was popular then (1980s) as well.”

There are three grafted maples on the Waldorf site that I think are Bewley’s Upright Red. Two are in raised garden beds created when the car park was last renovated in the 1990s. The third is in the Fairfax garden. The photos above are of the maple in the Fairfax garden.

Thanks to Caroline Druce and Cathy Challiner for all the Bewley family history in this post.

 

Three houses that were here

Having accumulated some history about the houses previously here I have now lost the account that accompanied some of the old photos. The photos with lost information are of St Andrews and  a cottage previously facing onto Chambers Road.

Front view of St Andrews 1929 courtesy of Margaret Hughes

Front view St Andrews 1938 courtesy Margaret Hughes

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Andrews occupied the block on the corner of Fitzroy St and Chambers Road. The source for these photos is Margaret Hughes whose family were connected with the house. Margaret’s family also lived in the more modern cottage that faced onto Chambers Road.

Margaret Hughes and her brother outside the cottage facing Chambers Rd, courtesy of Margaret Hughes

This cottage I think must have been located to the left of the Chambers St access to the resort, with St Andrews to the right of the Chambers St entrance.

 

 

 

 View of Sospel 1950s
courtesy the estate of Hector Hood

Sospel side view 1950s courtesy of the estate of Hector Hood

While I am sure there are many photos of Sospel in various archives the ones we have come courtesy of the daughters of Hector Hood. Hood gardened for Lady Fairfax 3 days per week from 1927 until 1957 when Sospel was burnt in the bushfires of that year. The current dwelling now housing the Olive Tree Restaurant was built on the site of Sospel and there are still burnt timbers underneath it. This dwelling was built by an opthalmologist who owned the property for  10 years before selling to the resort consortium.

Front view of Olive Tree Restaurant 2016 (Resort roof behind)

The new turquoise bridge

Our Monet inspired bridge

bridge close up

We have a new bridge! The old red bridge had become too rotten and it has been completely removed. Our carpenter Dave has built a replacement. We decided on a level deck for safety (especially for brides in high heels) but Dave has curved both the upper and lower rails. We have followed up on the thoughts in the blog A little bit Monet where we wondered about extending the waterlily theme to a Monet bridge. It is now a reality.  Monet’s water garden was Japanese inspired so this theme introduced to the gardens in the 1960s is still referenced but through a French perspective. The French perspective references the travels of Lady Fairfax and the naming of the property Sospel in memory of the town above the French Riviera where she spent part of her honeymoon.

A little bit Monet

The Rock Pool garden is at the moment being complimented by visitors as having a feel to it like Monet’s Japanese garden.  The Japanese influence dates from Margaret Steven’s time  when she established her 1966 garden  where the Gazebo now stands.

The lantern in winter 2011

The lantern at the rock pool was added early in the life of the Resort so we presume by Margaret Stevens.

The rock pool at Resort take over (late 1960s), low stream crossing visible behind rocks on the right, lantern top visible on left

The wooden Japanese bridge replaced what looks in the old photos from early Resort days like a stone crossing similar to the one remaining. The wooden bridge was originally painted Brunswick green.  We painted it red and lowered the handrails to try and integrate it a little with the pool and brighten the area in winter when the plantings at the bridge end have all died back.

Rock pool waterlilies and iris with astilbe still to flower. The red bridge is just visible in the background behind the ferns.

Japanese iris

  The Monet feel comes mostly from the water lilies planted by Hector Hood  for Lady Fairfax, the Japanese iris that have been planted more recently and the whole linked by the lantern and bridge.

We are trying to establish some evergreen perennials at the bridge end – white Daphne and Buxus sempervirens to be trained into balls. Lady Fairfax had a buxus ball in her flower border, it is now a small tree! If these plantings are successful we may be able to repaint the bridge, maybe even Monet’s turquoise. There is some repair work required to the pool edge at this end which is not visible when the plants have grown. It is the spot where the wood ducks slide into the pool.

Margaret Stevens Garden Entrance

The current entrance  to the Margaret Stevens Garden is still approximately in its original position to the left of the Resort driveway entrance on Fitzroy St. Since Waldorf have been here we have repainted and renovated the pergolas and attempted to tame the Wisteria floribunda. This week we uncovered the old sign in the mower shed, glued it and Lexie has repainted it from the old Brunswick green to the current pergola colour (urban grey).  We have hung it from the front pergola. There are now 4 pergolas where there was previously one and the first pergola is closer to the drive than the original.

Entrance photographed by Bill Trow 1994

The conifers are Abies nordmanianna, Picea abies and looming at the back is Sequoia sempervirens.  They are all still there  as is the yellow flowering rhododendron. The roofing on the right is around the original reception area, now removed.

Entrance photographed by Michael Small 1996

Margaret Stevens Garden Entrance October 2015

Peter Jackson reminiscing in 2015

The brook with lawn right up to the edge. as Peter remembers mowing it with a cylinder mower

Peter was gardening at the Leura Gardens Resort from 1972 -1975. He was 16 years old when he started. Alan Kopp was the head gardener. Peter says that Alan came to the Resort after working with Ib Sorensen. Alan taught Peter all he knows about hedging. The many hedges were beautifully maintained and all with hand shears. They used cylinder mowers on all the lawns and had two, one for the putting greens and the front lawn and another for the rest of the lawns.

The hedges still carefully trimmed in 1996. Photographed by Michael Small.

 

 

The lawns and hedges took up a lot of their gardening time and were very hard work.

The North garden terraces were in place when Peter arrived as was the concrete path. The squash courts were built while he was here.

 

 

 

The espaliered Malus floribunda with extruded mortar terracing behind

 

The Director Ted Stevens  requested the bricklayer building the terraces leave the mortar extruding from between the bricks.

 

 

The big magnolia photographed in 1996 by Michael Small

 

The big Magnolia was in place when Peter arrived. It had been dug up by Ib Sorensen from another Leura garden and stored for a few months in sawdust at Sorensen’s nursery while the terraces were built.

 

 

Peter said he and a truck driver would go down to the Lawson chicken farm and load up the truck with chook poo for the garden. We still use chook poo on the garden in pelleted form.

Alan Kopp left the Resort a year before Peter. Peter then left to continue green keeping around the mountains golf courses. Peter is now the gardener at Mountain Heritage.

We have a typed list of “Plants of Special Interest” from this time with the manager listed as Mr Baverstock and the gardener as Alan Kopp.

 

 

 

History of the Fairfax brook and pond at Leura Gardens Resort

In the 1930s the gardener Hector Hood created a brook and pond for Lady Mabel Fairfax . This work is sometimes wrongly attributed to Paul Sorensen. When the pond was created the trees were still small and the pond received full sun. Now the trees have grown to the east and north and sun has become limited on parts of the garden around the pond and on the pond itself.  The pink water lilies still flower but the show may be reduced because of reduced sunlight.  In the oldest photos the plantings around the pond are of daffodils.

one of the earliest views across the pond toward what is now the bluebell wood (courtesy of the estate of Hector Hood)

A little later and the daffodils still seem to be there, the water lilies cover the whole surface and polyanthus have been added

probably 1950s planting (courtesy of the estate of Hector Hood)

 

In a photo that Hector Hood kept framed the shade seems to be increased although there are still a couple of daffodils flowering in the front

A favourite view (courtesy of the estate of Hector Hood)

The photo below is one of the earliest taken after the garden was integrated into the resort. It seems the trees are bare so it does not look as shaded as the previous photo but a summer time shot might have similar shade.

Leura Gardens Resort ownership with the Japanese lantern added by Margaret Stephens in place, possibly 1969

In the 1970s a Japanese style bridge was added over the brook (this bridge was originally painted Brunswick green) and much more recently a picket fence hedged with Camellia sassanqua has been installed around the pond.

Hector Hood’s aspect 2015

There are still some daffodils remaining from the Fairfax garden but they are all beyond the current picket fence.

The view across the pond 2015

Then and Now, 1960s to the present

Margaret Stevens conifer collection planted in 1966 and photographed by Bill Trow in 1994

The Eucalyptus mannifera was in place when Stevens planted her garden. This tree was in the garden of St Andrews – the holiday house that occupied the block before the resort was built. This photo looks across the putting green to the plantings along the Fitzroy St boundary.  The boundary plantings remain but the near conifers have been removed and the putting green no longer exists. A covered garden function centre has been built on the site.

Hardenbergia violacea “Edna Walling Snow White” is planted on top of what used to be the drive circling the putting green in the Stevens design.

The conifers pictured remain from the Stevens design and are those planted to the right of the Eucalypt on the Fitzroy boundary in the older photo. The snowflakes were also part of the older design and have been realigned to suit the newer planting scheme.

 

 

Then and Now, from the 1950s to the present

Buxus sempervirens in the 1950s with purple cut leaf maple visible beyond the buxus ball (photo courtesy the estate of Hector Hood)

The above photo was taken in the Lady Fairfax garden in the 1950s. The buxus ball has since grown into a small tree and the cut leaf maple is now a magnificent specimen with beautiful twisted trunk and branches. The conifers are gone. In the foreground of the old photo is a section of Hector Hood’s lovely border plantings.  The yellow iris are still in the garden but relocated.

The buxus is now a small rounded tree, the wall was relaid in 2012

The twisted trunks of the cut leaf maple Acer palmatum var. dissectum “Ever Red”in winter 2015

In younger days!

One of the earliest photos we have of the Fairfax garden. Hector Hood built the pond, Lady Fairfax supervised the acquisition of the bush rock. The rhododendron in the background is still there, the juniper is gone. The stone wall with the concrete capping was in situ when Hector Hood started working in the garden in 1927 and remains there today.

photo courtesy estate of Hector Hood

The Margaret Stevens pebble garden in it’s inaugural year 1966. The weeping elm in the foreground is now a magnificent specimen and  barely visible on the far bank is a staked Shogetsu flowering cherry now spectacular in spring if the crimson rosellas leave any buds.

photo courtesy Margaret Hughes