A colourful cottage garden surrounding a picture-book pretty straw bale house designed for sustainable living

There are ornamental and productive plants including 13 fruit trees, a frog pond, small lawn and entertaining area packed into the 700 square metre block.

A white picket fence separates the densely planted verge from the small front garden, both areas crammed with an abundance of annuals, perennials, roses, iris, lavender, gardenias and the crabapple tree that gives the cottage its name.

Entry is through an arch covered with pink climbing roses and blue clematis and centred in the path to the front door is a large urn filled with flowering annuals. Matching the colours of the cottage, flowers are predominantly blue and white with touches of pink and apricot in the roses and foxgloves.

To the side of the house is a small lawn and an entertainment area shaded with an ornate iron work pergola and bordered with more flowering plants and several fruit trees. Beyond is a shallow frog pond planted with water plants, a productive vegetable garden which is partly within a shade cloth tunnel, and more fruit trees. Strawberries are grown in a vertical planter cleverly created from an old pallet.

The garden is maintained using organic and environmentally friendly principles. There are water tanks, worm farms, and compost heaps – an example of living and gardening sustainably in an attractive setting.