It was a dull day in April when we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, but our enthusiasm was not dampened by the louring clouds as we wandered around the 38 hectare site with its Autumn leaf-covered lawns, its lofty trees and waterways. The RBG was founded in 1846 and is an idyllic oasis…
Category: Out and About
Traversing the Flat Land
Our recent touring holiday, a journey of about 3 500 km, took us on a round trip to Melbourne and back, stopping at eight different towns and seeing a lot of Australian countryside in the process. From arid marginal land to rolling countryside of glorious green on the coast, we covered a lot of ground,…
Lambley: late Autumn Garden.
I’ve been inspired by David Glenn’s Lambley Garden in Central Victoria ever since I became a serious (but uneducated in the science of horticulture) gardener about eighteen years ago. I’ve bought quite a few plants from there by mail order. So it was with much anticipation that I approached Lambley a couple of weeks ago, during…
Japanese Gardens in Red Earth Country.
Dubbo (red earth, in English) is a city of nearly 40 000 people 90 minutes’ drive from where I live. The red earth of Dubbo is very fertile and in good seasons the countryside around the city abounds in wheat rippling in the breeze and fields of canola adding a brilliant yellow to the landscape….
One Central Park
As the Sydney visitor grinds by bus along Broadway (we’re often not very imaginative in our naming of streets or buildings here in Australia), he or she passes a sight that gladdens the heart of those who are interested in, indeed passionate about, sustainable architecture. I’m a visitor to Sydney myself these days, and I…
Late Summer blossoms in Sydney
Being on the coast, Sydney has a completely different climate from where I live. Hot, humid Summer, glorious Autumn, not-very-cold Winter and Spring filled with every kind of flower. Almost anything can be grown in Sydney. The inner suburbs of Sydney are amongst the oldest in the city. A great many of the dwellings…
A Splash of Colour
During this driest of dry Autumns, when many plants are struggling, it seems nothing can stop the red iron bark (eucalyptus sideroxylon) from flowering in a splashy way. This splendid tree is a short walk from our house. Thousands of bees are bustling around its rosy pink blossoms going about their nectar-gathering business while the…