The Ulladulla and Districts Garden Club has drawn up plans for a wedding garden as first stage of the project to create what it described as “a living work of art”, and club vice-president Val Tranter said there had already been strong support from the region’s businesses.

Many had come to the party drawing up designs and plans to help create a special place offering an ideal garden setting for weddings, musical performances, poetry readings, artists and much more, Val said.

Those plans are centred around using selected plantings to create waves of foliage and colour from the creek, leading to a sea of green beside the path running from the Princes Highway to St Vincent Street.

An entry arch is planned for the garden, along with a gazebo designed to match the style of the recently redeveloped Ulladulla Civic Centre next door.

A bridge over a culvert in the ground is also planned.

Val said she wanted the garden furniture to be made out of wrought iron, creating the perfect setting and atmosphere for a range of community events and personal celebrations.

Now that she has been given council’s in-principle support, Val is able to start applying for funding towards the estimated $100,000 cost of creating the garden.

Organisations including the Veolia Mulwaree Trust, state and federal government agencies, Shoalhaven City Council and the IMB Trust are being approached for funding, while Val is also looking at possible fundraising events.

She hoped the various funding agencies would be as supportive as the local business community.

“They’re just so generous, all the people,” Val said.

What has been dubbed the wedding garden is just the first stage of what is planned to be a major horticultural development and attraction directly opposite the Ulladulla Harbour and beside the civic centre,

Val said the second stage might include a shade house and propagation area to help educate children, with further stages to include an international garden.

The international flavour started last week when a descendant of the Lone Pine from Gallipoli was planted in the garden area.

“There will be many other stages of development in the future that might embrace sculpture, sunken gardens, water features, pioneer history, our Italian community and indigenous history,” the garden club said in its submission to council.

It pointed out the importance of creating “a beautiful garden by the harbour; a calm place to stop, refresh and wander, a place to inspire and learn about who we are, and to allow us to recall our dreams and our memories.”

The club said the location would provide an ideal stopping point for tourists travelling through the region, as well as complementing the civic centre as a venue for wedding and their receptions.