Too Much

As I mentioned yesterday, there are so many things on this weekend that it became impossible to do them all. We could have got up early today and gone for a bird-spotting walk around Lake Wendouree. But we skipped that one.

Today is the annual Lal Lal Market. We had to pop in and have a look there, just because there aren't many things that happen in Lal Lal:

Notice that grey sky and how rugged-up everyone is. That will influence how many of today's events we actually get to.

There are three gardens open in Buninyong today, so we decided to go and check out one or two of them.

The first one is the garden of the Old Vicarage - formerly the Anglican vicarage. The house was built in 1857, and several of the trees date from that time.

This is probably not the best time to see this garden - the roses are not open yet, but the bulbs have all finished.

The 160-yr-old trees are impressive though. The back yard was not open to the public unfortunately. I'm not sure why this garden was open, as you can see all of the front garden from the street.

While we were in the area we popped in to the Buninyong Festival. I think it is a shame that it is on on the same day as Lal Lal market. I wonder if that was accidental or a deliberate choice. Perhaps the organisers of one or the other thought people might go to both, as they are only 10 minutes drive apart?

There were a lot more people and stalls at Buninyong than at Lal Lal:

 We took a quick walk though but didn't buy anything.

The second open garden, Mossmont, was worth seeing because it is hidden away from the road, so you would never know it was there. The driveway is lined with sugar maples:

This house was also built in the 1850s, and the garden features a 160-year-old elm tree:

Not in leaf yet, but it must give wonderful shade in summer.

A Victorian-style circular garden and fountain:

Orchids in flower close to the house:

I wonder if they move those pots somewhere in winter, or if this spot is sheltered enough for them to be OK all year round?

Garden bed with irises, euphorbias and proteas:

I was surprised to find that this weeping cedar is a deodar:

I've only seen them as upright giants in the Himalayas.

We decided we may as well take a quick visit to the third garden. We drove to the parking area, then walked and walked and walked. The property is on a narrow dirt road, with no room for parking anywhere nearby. So the walk to the front gate took longer than we had planned to spend on the whole visit.

Once at the property, there was a walk along the drive:

Stone walls:

And an amazing view across the valley:

Also a pizza oven, a swimming pool and lots of fairly young trees dotted around between the stone retaining walls.

The garden beds near the the house are in a cottage style, which is surprising given the modern building and the dramatic setting on the side of the hill.

My plan for the afternoon had been to visit Steiglitz for their quilt airing, on the way to the Geelong Patchworkers and Quilters exhibition. But after the busy morning, and given that I still have lots to do to get ready for our own exhibition next weekend, I decided to skip Steiglitz (today is not good weather for an open-air quilt show anyway) and Geelong as well.

Instead I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the binding on Bloom:

Just a few hanging sleeves to do now.

Unusual House and Garden

Last night we had the opportunity to tour a rather amazing place.

"The Old Curiosity Shop", built by James and Caroline Warwick in 1855, and decorated with "stuff" for the next 40 years.

The view of the outside today:

The oldest part of the building is covered in mosaics of shells, glass, and broken crockery. The temporary fencing in front is for safety reasons. The actual fence is a bit fragile at the moment.

This is part of the inside of that fragile fence:

Bizarre!

I've turned up the contrast on this shot, so you might just be able to make out "1855 WARWICK" in light stones in this corner of the garden:

The original shell mosaics are looking a bit sad, with many lost and broken shells, and all looking rather grey:

But the glass mosaics have kept their colour:

Some fascinating pictures taken in 1913 when everything was much newer can be seen here: State Library


This plate advertising the Coles Book Arcade caught my eye:

The Book Arcade closed in 1929. You can read about it here: The incredible Coles Book Arcade. Don't you wish you could visit a book shop with "a menagerie featuring a monkey house, a fernery, a toyland, a stationery department, a second-hand book department, a glass and china department, a refreshment room, and a confectionery department." Plus comfy chairs and a sign saying, "Read As Long As You Like – Nobody Asked To Buy."

The current owner of the house has added lots of her own whimsical touches to the garden:

One of several places to sit and enjoy the atmosphere:

Note the quinces ripening on the tree visible at the top left. That is one of two giant quince trees in the garden.


Another shady spot to sit and relax:

We went through the house as well, but I didn't feel comfortable taking photos because the owner actually lives there. But there is a newspaper article which includes better pictures than mine, and some inside the house, here: Warwicks Old Curiosity Shop.

It is an amazing place, and I'm very glad I got to see it!

Lal Lal Estate

This morning I stumbled across the information that the gardens of Lal Lal Estate are open this weekend as part of Garden Designfest.

I drive past this gate regularly, but I've never had the opportunity to drive through it before:

Once inside, we spent 2 hours wandering around the garden, talking to the designer, talking to the gardener, and taking photos. Lots of photos. But I will try to restrain myself here!

The approach to the house:

Deep garden beds surround the lawn area:

That lawn is so huge that it has a redwood as the central specimen tree, flanked by a pair of weeping elms the size of houses:

This enormous oak was planted in 1911, when the house was built:

 This yellow azalea not only looks amazing, it has a beautiful perfume:

Fallen petals under a giant rhododendron:

This side of the house looks out over a huge dam, which is the source of the water that keeps the garden looking so lush:

I am so glad I found out about this open garden this morning, and not next week some time when it was too late.

Melton and Macedon

We had a beautiful sunny day for a Horticultural Society bus trip to Melton Botanic Gardens and Mount Macedon.

Morning tea on arrival at Melton:

I have been to the gardens before, but I can't find it on my blog. Somehow must not have blogged about it.

The gardens are new, with the first eucalypts planted in only 2011. There are sections dedicated to plants from various parts of the world with similar dry climates, and an amazing collection of unusual eucalypts. See a map of the gardens here. The volunteers behind the garden have done a fantastic job so far, and have plans for more development in the future.

This is part of the garden devoted to plants from Western Australia and South Australia:

I was very taken with the grevillea in the centre of the photo. Below is another one by itself:

Isn't that an amazing plant? It is Grevillea magnifica. It comes from the south of W.A., and likes sandy soil. So that means it probably wouldn't survive in our clay. Too bad!

The gardens are full of colour:

Intense blue flowers on Lechenaultia biloba.

Intense gold of Banksia ashbyi:

Information board about the dryland eucalyptus arboretum:

 The biggest gum flower I've ever seen, with my hand for scale:

I'm not sure what species it is. The label I photographed was for Eucalyptus pyriformis, but pictures of that I've found don't match this one.

Another amazing flower:

This one is Eucalyptus rhodantha, or rose mallee. These flowers are also very large, about 7cm across. You can see an unopened bud below the open flowers (it's the pointy thing pointing down).

Last picture before we move on:

Fascinating gumnuts on Eucalyptus kingsmillii.

There is lots more to look at at the Gardens. Well worth a visit if you can get there. The nursery wasn't open today, which was unfortunate. But all the plants we have purchased there in the past are doing really well in our garden.

Our next stop was lunch at the top of Mount Macedon. I haven't been here since about 1982 - not long before everything was burnt in the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983.

Even the Memorial Cross is new since my previous visit - it was re-built by the Grollo brothers in the 1990s.

Young people:

This lookout is about 980 metres up, so is it worth risking your life to be a couple of metres higher than that? Is the view any different? Anyway, one of those lumps on the far horizon is our local mountain, Mt Bunninyong.

We left the mountain and went on to the town of Mount Macedon, best known, according to Wikipedia, for its "collection of 19th-century gardens and associated extravagant large homes". Here we visited the garden of Tieve Tara, which I have not been to before.

This bridge is covered in wisteria, which should be beautiful in a few weeks when it is out:

It is quite early in the season, so a lot of the deciduous plants are still bare. But there are touches of colour here and there, like this rhododendron:

And these yellow flowers on a tree (Corylopsis sinensis, fragrant winter hazel, according to Google):

Nothing was labelled in the garden, which was frustrating at times. Even the plants for sale had no labels.

A faint green tinge on the trees, and a bit of blossom:

The leaves and flowers on this rhododendron are very large. This time with a ruler for scale!

Another case where a label might have been nice.

The gardens are open in spring and autumn. It would be nice to see it in both seasons, to compare and contrast.

The last stop on the tour was a quick visit to two nurseries in town. On one side of the road, Stephen Ryan's Dicksonia Rare Plants, where he had a peony already in flower in the garden:

And across the road at the Mount Macedon Nursery I admired these garden sculptures by Jason Shaw's Freestyle Art of Sunbury:

But they wouldn't have fitted in the bus. (And were probably also quite expensive.)

Congratulations if you made it to the end of all that!