for bold plantings, creating a wonderful sense of place. The garden in its current form is derived from the environmental factors the landscape now faces and the desire to have a garden suited to the period of its architecture. Entering from Blake Street, through gates that now sit in the location of the original grand entrance, you enter what appears less like Balmain and more like a private parkland. The drive turns hard right inside the gates and follows a line set by Ewenton's original architect James McDonald. Mature camphor laurel trees (Cinnamomum camphora) bathe the drive and garden with filtered light and a hint of the harbour can be seen through their branches. A mass of understorey planting of exotic sub-tropical perennials and heritage shrubs complements these trees. Originally planted by gardener and passionate tropical plant enthusiast Brendan Lewis, the palette of plants is extremely suited to life under the competitive camphor laurels. As a boundary planting Lewis used shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet), propagated from tubers he found when clearing out decades of overgrown bamboo, privet and rubbish. The white flowers provide screening from fencing while creating a sense of depth. In the body of the garden Lewis combined drifts of shade-tolerant and flowering semi-hardwood perennials Mackaya bella and giant fan palms (Chamaedorea costaricana) and a purple form of Ctenanthe setosa. Lower on the slope these plantings are also bolstered by clumps of giant bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia nicolai), Justicia sp. and more ginger. Recent plantings in the drive garden include masses of Hydrangea and specimen plantings of Camellia japonica, angel's trumpets (Brugmansia cv.s), sweet viburnum and evergreen magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), to add colour, seasonal variation and permanency to perennial drifts and palms. Although not the original driveway surface but built in the same location, the drive passes through the garden and feels more of the garden than a thoroughfare. At a junction in the drive adjacent to a contemporary garage designed by architect Peter Tonkin, the site's steepness becomes a significant feature. A large floating boulder opposite the garage supports a lead-roofed pavilion also designed by Tonkin for the Yiannidises. Footing it is a mass display of Philodendron x "Xanadu", a clipped Japanese box hedge and a collection of Agave attenuata. Around the pavilion plantings of cape leadwort (Plumbago capensis), Viburnum, bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) and day lilies (Hemerocallis cv.s) grow under a black locust (Robinia). A circular garden