io 
THE AUSTRALIAN — GARDENER. 
May 14, 1903s 
==Si., CATHERINE'S. = 
“St. Catherine’s’ is the residence of 
Mrs. Angas Johnson and her son, Mr. 
Lisle Johnson. It was one of the first 
of the few genteel residences built in what 
was then known as Prospect Village, ad- 
joining the northern boundary of the City 
of Adelaide. It stood in a group of five 
or six estates, surrounded by large areas of 
fields. During the past twenty years 
these fields have been cut up into -build- 
ing allotments, and, although the larger 
houses still retain considerable ground sur- 
roundings, the place became thickly popu- 
lated, and Prospect Village, as a beauty - 
spot, had to give way to what is now 
known as the District of Prospect, embrac- 
St. Catherine’s, Prospect, S.A. 
ing a considerable population, with the 
usual tramway service which follows in the 
wake of closer settlement. 
When the late Mr. James Angas John- 
gon purchased ‘St. Catherine’s” with about 
five acres of land,-he set to work at build- 
ing on to the original house and planning 
out the grounds.: The plan embraced the 
idea of planting a hedge of boxthorn all 
round, and in the subdivisions of the 
estate’s garden and paddocks. | The hedge 
grew to splendid proportions, and some 
twelve or fifteen feet of its height hides 
the public gaze from the roadway. The 
front entrance is from the Prospect-road, 
or, correctly speaking, Eliza-street, named 
after a daughter of one of the pioneer 
settlers of the district. There was ap- 
parently no attempt at landscape effect in 
the design of the garden or the approach 
to the house, which consists of a long, 
straight drive to ‘the southern corner. 
-Jchnson’s pleasure. 
SO . 
This is continued along the front of the 
house, and with a sweeping curve joins the 
straightway again for exit. This arrange- 
ment left a heart-shaped centrepiece of 
cousiderable size, which is planted with a 
miscellaneous collection of trees, shrubs, 
and flowers, with a small lawn and foun- 
tain facing the front of the house.  Al- 
though lacking in design either in the lay- 
ing out or in the planting, there is a pe- 
cuhar charm about the place, easy to 
realise, but difficult to describe. And 
therein lies the secret of the late Mr. 
He apparently dis- 
liked anything in the way of artificial 
gardening. Allow the things to grow 
PST sag ee 
naturally was the age of his gardening 
pleasure, and the gardener became pos- 
sessed of an absolute fear to put a knife or 
shears into any tree or shrub. This idea 
of natural growing is abundantly manifest 
in a section of the garden devoted to the 
growth of forest trees and shrubs, which ~ 
has never been touched by a garden tool 
of any description after the first planting. 
Mr. Johnson’s idea was that if one pruned 
or cultivated the soil about the Australian 
shrubs they died; since they are dependent 
on their surface roots for nourishment. The 
idea igs borne out by the late Professon 
Tate, who argued upon the same lines. 
This part of the garden was known as ‘“‘the 
scrub.” It is about a chain wide, and 
runs the whole length from the street to: 
the back of the house. No attention’ 
whatever was allowed to this section be- 
yond keeping the fencing in repair to pre- 
vent the escape of some emus that were 
kept wandering there to possess the place 
of an air of natural originality. 
Another striking feature of the garden 
is a large, unapproachable, vicious-looking 
Cactus bed. Taking, then, the large _ 
centrepiece in front of the house, the na- 
tive reserve (or scrub), and the Cactus bed, 
we have the three principal features of 
the garden, though not all of it. These 
features may certainly combine to make a 
garden in the domain of a gentleman’s re- 
sidence, and as such may give infinite plea- 
sure to the proprietor, which it apparently 
did, but from an artistic gardening point - 
of view. it is badly within the bounds of 
comment. The charm of it, however, is 
Ji ea 
The Residence of Mrs. Angas Johnson. 
yuan: and may possibly lie in the dis- 
‘covery *of unsuspected treasures, which 
meet the search here and there. 
Entering by the front gate we note first 
that the box hedge forming the front fence 
hides an area of lucerne, adjoining which 
is the tennis court. Immediately inside the 
gate ista Buddleia Madagascarensis. This 
had grown to immense proportions before 
a storm capsized it. Cart loads of it were 
taken away, and, the stump being left, 
threw up a nice new growth, promising to . 
reinstate its previous glory. Looking up 
the drive the old native pines do not strike 
the eye as being either useful or ornamen- 
tai, their only redeeming feature being that 
they are at home in their own land. And 
we also note another homeland plant 
(Tecoma Australis) twining it tendrils 
affectionately around its stronger support- 
ing native brother. An effort was made 
to get a bordering of plants alongside the _ 
