Dream Gardens ep 5: since ancient time’s gardens have been celebrated for their healing power and more recently they’ve been shown to relieve stress, provide comfort and a sense of calm. For Roberto Masnata and his teenage children they are hoping that the transformation of their block will do exactly this and more.
The dream was to create the new garden with Karen, wife to Roberto and mother to Jordie and Lucca. It was to be the final stage of an ambitious project that had seen them work together to turn a dilapidated house near the Brisbane River into a gorgeous family home.
Dream Gardens ep 5
Tragically, just as the house was finished and the garden was starting, Karen lost her fight with cancer. Devastated at their loss but wanting to honour their loved one they hope that a new garden will help them heal and provide a fitting tribute to Karen.
But to get there they face an uphill battle, the block is on a madly challenging 45-degree slope and wild winter storms create design headaches. Luckily Roberto has employed a team that want nothing more than to do justice to the garden and to Karen.
Join leading landscape designer Michael McCoy as he showcases some of Australia’s most lavish and magnificent gardens from the first spade hitting the ground to the incredible end result. What does it mean to make a garden? What longings do gardens fulfil ? These are the question at the heart of a new show, Dream Gardens, launching on ABC TV this week. Eschewing how-to tips on growing plants (done so well by ABC’s other garden offering, Gardening Australia), this is a show that looks instead at what we want from gardens and how clever garden design can deliver it.
The host is the ebullient Michael McCoy, a garden designer and writer. McCoy has a degree in botany, long experience as a hands-on gardener and sought-after garden designer, and a passionate curiosity about what makes good garden design work. He’s empathetic, enthusiastic and opinionated – the perfect guide to lead viewers around eight gardens-in-the-making.
