To Walter de Grasse
Dear Walter,
Here we are on our last couple of days in Australia. Six weeks on and what a trip it’s been. Grand daughter Freya is a month old and doing well. We’ve seen some wonderful places and met some lovely local people.
The weather has been very kind, even though it’s midwinter here. Bright sunny days and on occasions warm enough for shirt sleeves- though many of the locals have remained well wrapped up and think we’re crazy!
I won’t attempt to cover everything we’ve done, but suffice to say that I’ve found much of horticultural interest here along with all the other famous landmarks we’ve visited. Though there wasn’t much colour (with the notable exception of a superb, huge, vertical display of leaf and flower colour at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens), there was a lot of plant interest, often well presented by some very knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides. It was also great being able to compare botanical gardens in the local area as well as in the three cities of Melbourne (very large and beautifully presented), Sydney (smaller but with some impressive focal points including a garden featuring vegetables grown- several unsuccessfully- by the first colonial settlers) and Canberra (the National centre which is striving to present a wide range of plants from across the country and is pursuing an exciting Master plan to renew and expand its collections).
In addition, many public parks and gardens are very well looked after. I especially enjoyed the Chinese Garden in Sydney and I was pleased to see at least one Green Flag flying- at the fabulous Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne. There is also a very impressive Community Gardens in St. Kilda, on the edge of Melbourne. And, as I mentioned last month, Aussies are very proud of their domestic gardens, especially those on public display in small town and suburban streets.
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As we adjust towards our return home in the next couple of days I’m wondering what Old School Garden will look like. The grass will certainly be long and I dread to think what carnage the moles have reaped in our absence, though our neighbour did kindly offer to try to ‘get them to move elsewhere’…we shall see.
Hopefully you’ve had some good weather to enjoy your own garden. With some of the summer to go- at least in theory- I hope that we too can get out in the warm sunshine and see the colours of the flowers.
Old School Gardener
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To Walter de Grasse
To Walter de Grasse
Due to other commitments my sessions at Blickling Hall have been somewhat curtailed recently. but I had a very enjoyable morning there last week initially planting some Asparagus and later edging the borders in the Parterre. It was good seeing my fellow volunteers once again.
Back to the home garden. Well, I was getting quite anxious about getting on top of weeds before they take hold, in advance of our older daughter’s wedding in early July. Having put in some hours (some days with a very early start to avoid the worst of the heat), and in the middle of last week giving the grass its first cut , that I feel that ‘a corner has been turned’. However, I may regret saying that in two weeks time, when we return from our trip to Ireland! It always amazes me how cutting the grass (and if time edging it too) makes a major impact on how tidy the garden looks.
To Walter de Grasse
As you can see the upright I had to fix in concrete hasn’t survived the winds and so its back to the drawing board; I think I’ll level off the base with mortar and drill some pilot holes for the bolts, then try placing these in a resin compound that my builders’ merchant says will ‘do the trick’! We shall see….
To Walter de Grasse
To Walter de Grasse
To Walter de Grasse
To Walter de Grasse
To Walter de Grasse
To Walter de Grasse
Old School Garden 