When we bought our house fifteen or so years ago, the back yard was lawn with a few shrubs around the perimeter and a clothes hoist in the middle.
We wanted to use the space more productively. So, I called for the help of a dear friend who is a landscape architect. She measured – a nine metre square. This suggested to her a small, central square in the middle with a fishpond and pergola; then raised beds for vegetables projecting either side. From these simple elements we were able to establish a wonderful, productive, but also restful, back garden.
Just like our experience of establishing and maintaining a beautiful garden, the landscaper-host of this website, acknowledges the generous contributions of ‘garden-lovers’ to the whole endeavour, the benefits of sharing our little seeds and cuttings, and the free sharing of the garden’s fruitfulness to enrich and nurture the lives of others.
The Landscapers
Geoff Boyce was chaplain to Flinders University at Flinders University in South Australia from August 1997 to January 2017 during which he established Oasis on campus as a centre of unconditional support for staff and students. He now works independently offering his experience, knowledge and connections with others concerned for human flourishing.
Formerly, Geoff was a secondary school teacher for 25 years.
Dr Steve Parker was a Senior Academic and Teaching Specialist in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University for 33 years. Most recently, in that job, he was the Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) in the School of Nursing & Midwifery. He was a Registered Nurse, has a Bachelor of Education (Secondary Education), and a PhD in nursing which explored the challenging issue of professional autonomy. He taught critical thinking, communication/interpersonal skills, ethics, and supervised several research higher degree students. He is now retired and enjoys reading, visiting the cinema, watching TV series, heading to the gym, walking the dog, volunteering for Adelaide’s amazing festivals, and the Rotary Book Exchange at Edwardstown in the beautiful city of Adelaide, South Australia. He contributes to Root & Branches as a film reviewer and blog poster, and supports Geoff Boyce in managing the Root & Branches Web site.