Design By Nature in Rushworth, Victoria | Gardener

Design By Nature

Locality: Rushworth, Victoria

Phone: +61 437 153 203

Address: 25 Perry Road 3612 Rushworth, VIC, Australia

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• Home improvement
• Gardener
• Botanical garden

22.01.2022 Hi all Les and I will be at this event tomorrow with a few of our bits and pieces for sale. We'll also have a preview of a couple of our works in progress for the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton - to be installed in the coming weeks in the children's space. Come and have a play and say g'day!

21.01.2022 In the still morning on Friday the 15th of December the giant frog sculpture took up its position of quiet reflection. Looking towards 'Ferg' the flying fish and beyond to the wetlands, he sits pondering. He is strong and wise but friendly. His body is made of a mixture of steel up to 6mm thick and is painted inside with 3 coats of bitumen paint to stop him rusting from the inside out. He has ventilation holes behind his 'fishing-buoy' eyes to keep him cooler and dry on th...e inside. His legs are made from car exhaust pipes. His body is painted with a ‘rust laque’, paint which is a steel sealer that will slowly wear away and allow him to age gracefully. He is super tough and loves kids climbing over him and hopes that the vantage will impart them with wisdom. If you rub him just right you may get him to croak.or turn into a Prince. Many thanks to Lyndal Davison for the initial design, maquette and pattern. Another unique collaboration for the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton. See more

20.01.2022 Congratulations to all the hard-working folk who manage and maintain the gardens. A well deserved award.

18.01.2022 Recently released from the workshop at King Billy Retreat, Rushworth, the amazing wishing tree is now installed at the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton! Designed and built by Chris Avard, Les Pelle, Sarah and Bonny from Worktrainers and myself and made almost completely from reclaimed materials, this sculpture has been a labour of love. The many copper leaves that were made by members of the public now hang with their stamped wishes from the branches and chime when the wind blows. The photos also show the finishing touches on the cubby. Thanks to Friends of the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton for commissioning this project. Watch this space for more exciting installations coming soon.

16.01.2022 In the still of the morning on Friday the 15th of December the giant frog sculpture took up its position of quiet reflection beside the bed-spring cubby. Looking towards 'Ferg' the flying fish and beyond to the wetlands he sits pondering. He is strong and wise but friendly. He is made of a mixture of steel up to 6mm thick and is painted inside with 3 coats of bituminous paint to stop him rusting from the inside out. He has ventilation holes behind his 'fishing-buoy' eyes t...o keep him cooler and dry on the inside. His legs are made from recycled car exhaust pipes. His body is painted with a ‘rust-laque’ paint which is a steel sealer that will slowly wear away and allow him to age gracefully. He is super tough and loves kids climbing over him and hopes that the vantage will impart them with wisdom. If you rub him just right you may get him to croak.or turn into a Prince. Many thanks to Lyndal Davison for her initial design, maquette and pattern. Another unique collaboration for the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton. See more

14.01.2022 Les has poured his heart and soul into this latest installation at the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton. After many, many hours in the workshop, the 'message pipes' (fondly called The Minions) have safely landed in the Childrens Garden. The space is really starting to take shape now as we slowly add more elements of the design. We also brought in a load of concrete pieces, carefully selected from the mountain of recyclable concrete at the Shepparton Transfer station. (Th...anks to City of Greater Shepparton for allowing us access) With only a few minor adjustments, these pieces of scrap concrete transformed into tactile boulders and will eventually be part of the dry creek-bed / sand-pit that flows under a bridge between two elevated island decks. (You'll have to imagine that for now) The message pipes are interactive sculptures made completely from recycled bits and pieces with handles that turn and peep holes to draw you into the site. One of them has a little cupboard which will hold ochre and chalk for kids to draw pictures on the surface. Visit the garden on the North East corner of the wetland and have a play - and watch this space for more additions coming soon!

06.01.2022 Thanks a million to everyone who came and added a leaf to the Wishing Tree today for the Splinter Art Path event at the Shepparton Botanic Gardens. What a great day with a constant stream of little black-smiths, embossing copper leaves. By the end of the day, when the wind blew, the leaves made their own music as they danced; full of inspiring messages and lovely wishes for nature and the future. If you missed out, don't fret, we will have more workshops in the children's nat...ure play-space and watch the Wishing Tree come to life. We raised almost $240 for the Friends of the Botanic Gardens to go towards the construction of the children's garden. Keep watching this space. Love from your friendly Wombles at Design By Nature.

02.01.2022 Once again we try to reinvent the wheel! This 'Flying Fish' sculpture has just been installed at the children's garden area in the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton. Hundreds of hours in the making, we are all very pleased with how it has worked out and we look forward to having some time to watch the kids interact with him and the space in general. The feel and play-value of this sculpture was very important to us and we hope perhaps that it can be used as a learning too...l. Being able to control something as big as this, (with a 5 metre wing-span) for kids of all ages, has been something like science fiction. Striking the right balance in all the components, the finesse and ensuring durability and serviceability has been an interesting challenge. Getting the fish flapping is a bit like getting a swing to move. You have to be patient and co-ordinated and work at it to get the desired effect. On another note, we are very happy knowing that there are a lot of recycled materials in the area and we love the opportunity to be part of that transition and awareness. As much as possible recycled product has gone into this sculpture. Offcuts of pipe, old windmill blades, tin from old water tanks, scrap steel, old garden equipment, old diamond tipped blades, old flan dish edges, old cup cake forms, car fly-wheels, salvaged mini-orb, ford valve springs, old nuts and old rope. Other structural things were not compromised; 316 stainless steel and new machined mild steel shafts were used where appropriate. The use of the same type of bearings and housings as used on the irrigation derrick wheels and other agricultural components also help to locate the sculpture within its environment. Now we move on and a giant frog is hopping not too far behind the fish. History tells me not to predict a date, but just to say "I hope that it will be worth the wait". It has been our pleasure to be a small part of the wonderful and transformative space that is the ABGS. A million thanks to Ralph Vegtor from Albury, for his engineering skills, patience and good humour throughout the tireless hours of design and construction. See more

01.01.2022 Come along to the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton tomorrow and stamp your wish, name or message onto a leaf as part of the SheppARTon festival Splinter Art Path event. The leaves will then go onto the amazing 'Wishing Tree' when it is installed. This is a fund-raising activity for the new Children's Play-space at the gardens which we have designed and are in the process of constructing. Leaves will be $2 (tin) $3 (copper) Event open from 10am.