Thankfully the sign coming down didn't mean Ken was ready to hang up his gardening tools just yet.

While their garden may not have been on show to the general public in many, many years it has still had a steady stream of visitors through word of mouth, buying orchids and Cliveas.

"Everyone says when are you going to retire and I say, 'when I'm dead'," Ken laughed.

The Russells' garden - and their thousands of orchids and Clivias - will be on show during the Dungog Garden Ramble on October 26.

Ken is an internationally renowned clivia and orchid hybridiser. His love affair with orchids started when he was courting Noelene before they married 59 years ago.

"In the old days they always thought if you give an orchid, it's love. It started when I gave Noelene a couple when we were going together. That kicked the button. She loved them and we have both stayed with it."

Backed by the Australian Orchid Society, Ken hosted an orchid show in Dungog for many years in the mid 1980s which attracted 3000 people before he moved the whole show to Devonport Tasmania where he ran it for another 11 years.

Bill Morris from Medowie was the first man in Australia to perfect the yellow Clivia and the man responsible for switching Ken's attention from solely orchids to Clivias. That was around 25 years ago.

"He was a character, he always bought orchids off me and then one day he said why don't you take up Clivias?"

While Ken recalls his response was along the lines of "not bloody likely" the beautiful flower won him over and he inherited a couple of hundred of Clivias from Bill and followed his breeding lines. Ken has now moved on to breeding dwarf Clivias and to perfecting the perfect shades beyond the usual orange and yellow - pure white and green in particular. The greenhouse roof is his limit.

Through Orchid Glenn Nursery the couple used to export orchids, but now specialise in producing unusual colours - rare red and black included.

The Dungog Garden Ramble will run from 9am until 4pm on Saturday, October 26. The gardens to be featured are: 9 Carlton Avenue; 134 Fosterton Road; 43 Fosterton Road; Oakdale on Majors Creek Road Marshdale; 72 Dowling Street; 77 Mary Street; 28 Mary Street and 82 Mackay Street.

The cost is $25 for entry to all gardens and a $20 pensioner ticket with individual gardens able to be accessed for $5 each. Tickets will be available at each of the gardens on the day - or you can pre-purchase your "all garden access" from the Dungog Visitor Information Centre.