This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Another into - garden description



Hi

Reading the recent number of interesting introductions and garden
descriptions has inspired me to add mine:

I live at McCrae, on the Mornington Peninsula, about 70km outside Melbourne
in the state of Victoria which is located in the south eastern corner on
the mainland continent of Australia.

Conditions across the state vary. For instance at the end of October (mid
Spring) the maximum daily temperatures across the state varied from 13 deg
C in the Great Dividing Range, 30-33 deg in the north of the State (about
300km from Melbourne) and in Melbourne about 20 deg C . Today (5 Jan - mid
summer) Melbourne is expected to reach 22 deg C, but in the north the
temperature is expected to reach about 30.  While these two sample days are
similar, summer monthly average temperatures are much higher. I haven't
checked this but at a guess average day summer temperatures are probably
around the mid to high twenties (with days above 30 deg C reasonably
common) and mid- winter temperatures perhaps between 8 - 12 deg ?.  We get
our weather from the west and on the other side of the continent, Perth is
likely to get up to 35 today (it was 34 yesterday) so we are likely to get
hotter weather later in the week.

The weather, particularly around Melbourne, is noted for being quite
variable - non-Melbournians joke about the so called 'four seasons' in one
day effect!  But regardless of the whether the joke is accurate or not, the
variability of the weather is one of the things that I like most about this
part of the world.

Typical of Mediterranean climates we have cool wet winters and hot dry
summers - but in Melbourne the variations aren't as extreme as other
places. This means that I cannot easily grow some of the bulbs from
Turkey-Iran which I hanker for (the Rix/Phillips book called 'Bulbs' is a
constant companion) some species of tulips require cold treatment every
year in my refrigerator and I have yet to find anyone who can grow Eremurus
any where around  Melbourne (except in mountain districts) as the winters
just don't get cold enough - I have germinated them from seed a number of
times but they tend to fail in the second year (major disappointment).

My garden is close to the beach at McCrae and the soil is quite sandy and
almost pH neutral (very slightly alkaline). I only moved here in November
1996 so there is lots to do as the site hasn't had a serious gardener
looking after it for about 30 years (since my husband's grandmother died in
the early 1960s). Coming from an area of heavy clay I have been on a steep
learning curve re water requirements and what I can now grow easily (and
what I cannot! - my cardiocrinums no longer like me for instance). The soil
is very hungry and just eats compost - last summer as I started digging
garden beds (not the best time - given that we had one of our hottest
summers in years) I used about 10 cubic meters of compost - it has just
disappeared.

As to what I grow - well I have very eclectic tastes - while I have a
preference for species - I also grow hybrids and have some wonderfully
garish cannas and dahlias which friends have looked down on for years but
now (thanks to the efforts of gardeners like Christopher Lloyd) are
becoming more respectable. Genera which I particularly like include Salvia,
Artemisia, Euphorbia, Centaurea, Nepeta, Verbascum, Kniphofia, Eryngium,
Cycleman, Tulipa, Narcissus, Phlomis, Acanthus and Iris - but I grow many
others. Being an avid collector the risk is that the garden will look like
a hotch potch rather than something  attractive that has some design
thought behind it - I must admit this is one of the ongoing tensions in my
garden.

The recent discussion about Xanthorrhoea australis reminded me that about
two months ago I was privileged enough to see a stand of many hundreds
flowering for the first time in may years in their natural environment in
the Point Nepean National Park about five kms from my home.  Last summer
(96-97) there were a number of fires in the area including one on the
slopes of Arthurs Seat just above my house and garden - the Grass Trees in
the National Park were burnt which is why they flowered this spring (Oct -
Nov 97).   If any one is interested I have the photo I took as a .gif file
and would be happy to mail it - I tried to include it with this message but
the server has a byte limit.

Happy Gardening



Susan George



susan.george@dtf.vic.gov.au
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index