Christmas spirit coming into bloom

A feature of Dorothy and Lindsay McIntosh’s cottage garden is the pond, which is being rebuilt and revamped. PHOTOS: GERRIT DOPPENBERG

Dorothy McIntosh’s cottage garden is a peaceful haven by day and a fun Christmas display by night.

The East Gore garden has a variety of garden beds, a vegetable garden, a pond and lots of roses, and is a popular part of the Christmas lights display in Gore.

Mrs McIntosh said the garden was a "work in progress".

Dorothy McIntosh is busy prepping her Canning St garden for the Gore Christmas lights display.

"There was barely anything here when we moved in 14 years ago," she said.

"Both Lindsay and I have designed, built and maintained the garden over the years. It’s taken a lot of work and has been a team effort.

"We’ve planted lots of roses, including ‘Blackberry Nip’ and ‘Freesia’, which are my favourites. It’s full of colour and smells amazing. My favourite place to be is by the pond, which we are currently rebuilding and revamping. It’s a tranquil place to be at any time of the year, watching and listening to the waterfall when it’s going.

Strawberries are thriving in the vegetable garden.

"Our goal is to make the garden more easy-care."

Mrs McIntosh said they first entered the Christmas lights display three years ago and won.

"It’s a bit of fun. We don’t have any particular theme — anything goes, whatever makes people happy. The most popular part of the display, though, are the Santas in the front window. We also have a motion-activated Santa Claus which is quite popular."

The cottage garden has plenty of roses.

She said she and Mr McIntosh usually start preparing for the display in mid-November — weather-depending.

"We use solar lights that light up later at night. We put them up everywhere, on the clothesline and the tunnel house. It takes about three weeks to get it up."

Gore residents can check out the McIntosh’s Christmas light display at 7 Canning St, East Gore.