Black Mary’s umbrella

“By 1998, the corpse of “Black Mary” still lay rotting, taking up an entire bay of this building.
Tons and tons of soil were trucked in to form the mountainous backdrop to the story of Australia’s First Aboriginal Lesbian Bushranger. It held great theatrico-socio promise.
If our seating hadn’t collapsed on sponsors’ night, it might have been a different story and Carriageworks in its present gleaming form might not exist … but that’s speculation.
The lake they made downstage of the mountain had long since dried up. The live horses and their riders had disappeared. In their place were the ever increasing piles of waste and building materials from the workers who continued to use the building in its quiet years.
Rats were numerous
The hailstorms had punctured the skylights and let in rain. The rain fell on the mountain of unrealised potential.
Out of the old soil and filth grew this.
The mountain is gone (thank you Sydney Olympic Organising Committee – Ceremonies Department).
But this remains.”

Steve, Redfern

Mr Horizontal

“Mr Horizontal was salvaged from the hard rubbish from just up the street from my house. He was pretty sick & is still lying down”

Marty, Forest Lodge

Alex’s succulent

“This plant came to live with us and is now very happy.”

Alex, Marrickville

Charlotte’s Garden

“Even though I don’t have a garden nature has provided me with these plants that never seem to die, they need very little looking after. I am 83 years old and I have lost much agility that is required to look after a garden. Therefore these evergreen succulents provide me with much pleasure and will do so in the years that I have ahead of me.”

Charlotte, Bondi

Aechmea

“My plant Aechmea is my foster plant. I became its foster mother when my friend Zanny went to Indonesia for a few months. I think it will enjoy its plant holiday in the hanging gardens.”
xx

Claire, Marrickville

Ali’s friend

“I met Sierra when she lived at Lanfranchi’s. She lived in the front room that looked over Cleveland Street. Her room was cozy and colourful and had lots of great light. When she moved to a darker room she really started cultivating the little garden under the stairs and all the poor house plants trying to survive in the warehouse. I think this plant was originally one of them, but I’m not exactly sure. After Sierra moved to a ‘proper house’ I went to visit her and there was this huge plant growing in her bathroom. It was so tall it had reached the ceiling and was beginning to end over with nowhere else to go. She sliced off the top with a knife and gave it to me. ‘Stick it in a pot and it will grow’, she said. I also lived in a new house by this time and was trying to establish a garden in the courtyard so it felt more homely. I stuck the cutting in a pot and it withered and disappeared … Even after six months I couldn’t bring myself to face the fact that it had died … And then miraculously … it came to life … Thank you beautiful Sierra.”
x

Ali, Enmore

Cherie’s ponytail

FRIENDSHIP – LOVE – HOPE
“I love plants. After 7 years in one house, I had many … then there was a house fire … Sitting amongst the ashes a friend asking how I was going I answered that I mostly missed my plants … especially my ponytail plant. In my new house I was beginning to start my new collection … My friend came around with his beloved ‘ponytail plant’. He gave it to me as a token of new beginnings.
What a beautiful friend. Thank you Chris. I gave my plants away when I moved to Sydney … but this one I kept.”

Cherie, Strathfield

Privet rave

One Bonsai Privet’s Story

“Twenty-five years ago I was removed from a chook pen in postcode 2454
and put in a pot.

What could I do to stop it? Nothing.

What have I done about it? Adapted

The carer is not so smart and endlessly resists the reality of being
root bound in a pot.

But we Privets are hardy, so I soldier on, or endure, as a less war
like species would probably say.

If they could.

And it’s not all bad. I listen to Bach, and am treated with moderate
respect.”

Paula, Redfern