A PASSION FOR PLANTS

Plantspeople Wayne and Sue Tapping have spent the past 30 years refining their sprawling garden in the NSW Blue Mountains.

- KIRSTY MCKENZIE

There's a feast for every sense in Wayne and Sue Tapping's garden in the heart of Bilpin's apple and stone fruit farms. Called Wildwood for the fact that it's surrounded by native eucalypt forest, the garden is an amazing amalgam of the couple's long careers in the nursery business. The sight of spring blossom or autumn colour clamours for attention against the heady scent of roses, daphne and weeping cherry, and the sound of water tumbling through the cascades and bellbirds chiming. There's touch in the cool calm of the shade and the many seats dotted throughout the grounds, and taste in the delicious meals served up in the tea rooms the Tappings run in conjunction with a gift store at the entrance.

The Tappings bought the 10-hectare Wildwood in 1980. In the years between the wars, the property was part of the Powell Estates where timber cutters logged the native trees and many of them ring the property to the present day. By "starting at the front and working down the hill", Wayne and Sue have gradually filled in the garden, leaving a parkland expanse that rolls down to the dam at the bottom of the property. They now have about two hectares of the entire property devoted to formal plantings.