Densey Clyne is a national treasure who loves living just outside Wauchope.
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The 94-year-old has written more than 30 books and has plans for more. Earlier this month, she welcomed 300 visitors from the National Trust to her gorgeous garden.
For 65 years, Densey has been a writer, photographer, speaker, TV presenter and producer, with a special interest in insects and other mini-beasts.
She is well-known for her entertaining approach to the study of natural history, producing books with titles like ‘It’s a Frog’s Life’ and “Flutter by, Butterfly’.
Densey has scripted television documentaries and worked with the legendary Sir David Attenborough, and the place she loves most is her garden.
“The first thing the visitors saw was my lovely Bismarckia palm. It’s grown from being tiny to being a feature of the garden and everyone admires it,” she said.
I have got the urge to grow beautiful things. And they are beautiful. What could be lovelier than flowers?
- Densey Clyne
“I’m very fond of bougainvilleas and they get enough rain. They have different leaves and they just keep flowering. They’re amazing,” says Densey who has lived just outside Wauchope for 17 years.
“I have never regretted coming here from Sydney for one moment. Sydney is a big, bustling city now and I would never want to go back there, so here I am with my birds and flowers, my trees and a healthy kind of lifestyle.
“I always wanted to have a cottage garden and never had an opportunity before. Now I have one, built around what was a swimming pool, which I have turned into a frog pond and a lily pond. It’s beautiful.
“My cottage garden is flourishing. I have shrubs and perennials and annuals and a lot of salvias. Purple Majesty is one of my real favourites.”
Densey loves mixing low-growing annuals with taller flowers like foxgloves and snapdragons. She has a shade house where she grows bromeliads and she plans to keep on gardening and writing books for years to come.
“My mother was a great gardener and I think from her I have got the urge to grow beautiful things. And they are beautiful. What could be lovelier than flowers?”